Peer written feedback training and its impact on students writing outcomes

IV ABSTRACT This study aims at investigating the effects of training for peer written feedback on students' revising their first drafts and providing written comments on each other's writings. For this purpose, an empirical study was conducted with 36 first year intermediate level students who were enrolled at Anadolu University, Education Faculty, English Language Teaching Department. The effects of peer written feedback were investigated through a comparison of the subjects divided into two groups. One group was trained in how to provide peer written feedback to writing and the others were not trained. A writing pre-test was administered to the groups in order to ascertain that both groups were similar at the outset of the experiment. The subjects in both groups were asked to write a total of 3 different types of essays: Process Analysis, Comparison and Contrast, and Cause and Effect Analysis essay. Firstly, the subjects were asked to write an essay. Following this, these drafts were collected. The first drafts were evaluated by two scorers by using the ESL Composition Profile. Then, subjects were asked to provide written comments on each other's writings and revise their essays after having given written feedback. The revised drafts were collected and scored holistically by the same scorers in the same way as the first drafts'. The written comments on the first drafts were also collected and analyzed by three scorers by using the Coding Scheme for Students' Written Comments and the Rating Scale for Students' Written Comments. A t-test was used to find out if there was a significant difference between the control and experimental groups. A univariate ANOVA test was also used to investigate the effect of the training factor on students' writing quality and the impact of text type on the revision. The descriptive statistics on students' written comments on peer writing were presented in numbers and percentages in order to clarify the amount and quality of feedback. The statistical analysis of the data revealed that the students in the experimental group produced better writing quality than the ones in the control group. The findings also indicated that training students for peer written feedback led to significantly more and significantly better-quality feedback.