Research question 1: What are the effects of peer feedback on Vietnamese secondary students’ writing competence?
In order to find out (a) whether students’ writing ability was improved due to peer response and (b) if they did improve in their writing, what effects of peer response leading to students’ writing improvement, the pre-test and post-test mean scores were compared using a paired samples t-test. Only experimental group involved in this comparison between pre-test and post-test. However, to assure that peer reviews correlated to students’ writing improvement, there was a comparison between pre-test and post-test of students in control group (n=18). According to the raters, students in the control group did not improve their writing after 8 weeks though about 50% of them increased their mark from 0.25 to 0.5. Raters asserted that these students got higher mark in the post-test just because it was the monthly test and they wrote more carefully. Actually there was no change in their writing styles, neither in their essays’ organization, vocabulary, coherence, etc. 18 students also admitted the same as what raters thought.
Paired Differences t df Sig. (2-tailed)
Mean Std. Deviation Std. Error Mean
Pretest 1 result- Posttest 1 result -.09474 .35115 .08056 -1.176 18 .255
Table 1: Means of the first topic’s pre-test and post-test of experimental group
With the first topic “Write a review on your favorite movie”, table 1 indicated the mean scores of pre-test and post-test of the students in the experimental group. As can be seen in the Table 1, Sig. = 0.255 > 0.05 proved that students’ pre-test did not differ from students’ post-test. This result implied that peer feedback did not bring any improvement in writin...
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...erent EFL contexts in general (see, for example, Tsui & Ng, 2000; Grönkvist, 2006; Min, 2006). Nontheless, compared to previous studies of peer feedback’s effects on secondary students, Vietnamese secondary students did not have the opportunity to apply oral feedback to their revisions as well as to practice and enhance communicative skills through peer response like Swedish (Grönkvist, 2006) and Chinese students (Tsui & Ng, 2000) did due to the short time of class meeting. However, in the interview, 20% students shared the idea that the discussion between the writers and the commentators may help clarify the writers’ intention and avoid helpless from the commentators. Though 20% was not a big number but this could be the evidence proving that students wanted to better their writing skill and started thinking how to take advantage of peer response for their writing.
In the article of Daniel Richards, the author mentions about in-class peer review. Daniel shows the readers about two types of students who were facing the in-class peer review. One student acts very nervous and he is scared about being shamed if he read his draft in front of his classmates. Other student acts like very confident about his writing and be ready to show his classmates how good he is in writing. In-class peer review exists some social factor about feeling. It may get hurts, the emotion of your classmates and your teacher, feeling shamed when your classmates rate your draft bad. However, the feedback from your peers will motivate your writing somehow. You will know which your weak side and strong side are, then you use it in order
Several people have trouble writing college level essays and believe that they are unable to improve their writing skills. In “the Inspired Writer vs. The Real Writer,” Sarah Allen argues how no one is born naturally good at writing. Sarah Allen also states how even professional writers have trouble with the task of writing. Others, such as Lennie Irvin, agree. In Irvin’s article “What is ‘Academic’ Writing?” states how there are misconceptions about writing. Furthermore, Mike Bunn’s article “How to Read Like a Writer” shows ways on how one can improve their writing skills. Allen, Bunn, and Irvin are correct to say how no one is born naturally good writers. Now that we know this, we should find ways to help improve our writing skills, and
I came into this class under the impression that I already wrote well enough and wouldn’t need to improve. However, as I progressed through the semester I learned that there is always room to grow. The first paper I produced was not at the level I was hoping but after I actively decided to improve my writing my papers became much better. Looking back on my work in the class I wonder how much my writing has changed and where I still have room to improve. Without evaluating my work I can’t hope to become any better. Through this class I have grown much as a writer but there is still more I can learn.
Being a new teacher of English, I find the assessment of compositions to be a concept I question and struggle with on a regular basis. Having consulted several colleagues, mentors, administrators, and fellow graduate students, I have come to the conclusion that there is no easy answer to this tedious yet ever important question. While there are many inlets and outlets to this dilemma, for the sake of time I will touch on only three. While all three are very different in terms of concepts, rituals, and conducts, they all come together to one common goal - helping students express themselves in terms of writing.
Most students learn effectively through both positive feedback and a boost in academic confidence, or through negative feedback and the chance to fix and improve your literacy mistakes. In my experiences, I have grown into the writer I am today due to both positive and negative feedback through the education system. Positive ways have made my writing skills feel validated in their worth, as well as created a desire to continue in striving for the best. Negative ways have helped my ideas and structure grow stronger, and also encouraged me to do better. Embracing my writing while truly believing it to be superior in fourth grade and accepting my sloppy writing skills while learning how to improve my mediocre papers in
As a second language learner I have never expected myself to be a perfect writer throughout the semester. Even If English was my first language still, I would not be a perfect writer. It is not about first or second language, it is about how well I understand the learning objectives. Then organizing and writing with my own ideas and putting them in my paper. I am going to be honest, I am not good at English subject and English subject is my strongest weakness than the other subjects. In this paper I will discuss and analyze my own writing, reflecting on the ways that my writing has improved throughout the semester.
The social contextual perspective of writing looked at writing as situated in reflective processes of social and historical contexts, as well as reflections of classroom curriculum and pedagogy. Writing practices vary across cultures and contexts, and are shaped by writers’ social communications and interactions. Writing is also perceived as a nonlinear process and is closely related to social identities. Through the social contextual lens, the understanding of writing has been shifted from viewing writing as a personal activity or technique, to a mental, cognitive process shaped by the broader social, cultural and historical contexts. Given this, writing development should be considered as an activity that is tied closely to the literacy learning in the classrooms. Writing reflects the writers’ mental process and tells what they are at the specific moment that writing occurs, and is framed by the social, political, and cultural contexts at that moment. In particular, the social contextual perception of writing suggests that writing is a non-linear process so that there is no such a thing called template while learning to write. Students always bring in their own resources, prior knowledge and repertoire of language use to construct their own pieces and are inclined to apply diverse modes received from multi-media to their writing tasks in today’s writing practices. Framed by social contextual perspective, the development of written language is largely influenced by writers’ interactions and engagement in social communications, interactions, and
Qualitative and quantitative instruments were used in obtaining data for this instructional problem. The first instrument used was quantitative, the instructor gave students a writing assignment, and when it was graded, it was clear that there was a problem with effective topic and thesis statements, as well as general organization of the paper. To be sure that this wasn’t an isolated problem, the second instrument was developed; a quantitative instrument that surveyed the teachers, asking for information on their students comprehensive writing skills.
Writing is an important part of everyone’s life, whether we use it in school, in the workplace, as a hobby or in personal communication. It is important to have this skill because it helps us as writers to express feelings and thoughts to other people in a reasonably permanent form. Formal writing forms like essays, research papers, and articles stimulates critically thinking. This helps the writer to learn how to interpret the world around him/her in a meaningful way. In college, professors motivate students to write in a formal, coherent manner, without losing their own voice in the process. Improving your writing skills is important, in every English class that’s the main teaching point; to help students improve their writing skills. Throughout my college experience I have acknowledge that
In final analysis, my writing has greatly improved during this semester, and having looked at the area's I most need to work on has given me an awareness of what my weaknesses are. Examining what I have learned and what I need to learn allows me to generate a strategy to fortify my writing skills. Critiquing my own work has given me insight into how my writing is progressing in this class and allowed me to see short comings I had missed previously. Self-evaluation is a helpful tool for anyone who wants to continue to learn what areas they can improve upon and how much progress they are making. I believe those who appraise their own work will have a better understanding of their strengths and weaknesses then those who do not evaluate themselves.
Over the course of the semester, I feel that I have grown as a writer in many ways. When I came into the class, there were skills I had that I already excelled at. During my time in class, I have come to improve on those skills even more. Before I took this class, I didn’t even realise what I was good at. This is the first class where I felt I received feedback on my writing that helped me to actually review my work to see what areas I lacked in and where I succeeded.
Many of our students are just learning to "trust" themselves as writers.Most haven't had the opportunity in high school to explore what writing can do for their thinking; they have been taught that "writing" is a product produced for a teacher.Student-centered pedagogy seeks to de-center teacher authority, and has moved away from traditional methods such as the lecture format to more group discussion.
Sheen, Y. (2004). Corrective feedback and learner uptake in communicative classrooms across instructional settings. Language teaching research, 8(3), 263-300. Retrieved March 13, 2012 from, http://library.gcu.edu:2048/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eric&AN=EJ805614&site=ehost-live&scope=site
Hattie, J., & Timperley, H. (2007). The power of feedback. Review of Educational Research, 77(1), 81-112.
Feedback is one form of assessment that teachers think will take long, however, if given orally to the students it allows them to correct what they are misunderstanding or doing wrong. Most teachers feel that feedback is meant to be written down but it is not necessary to do so. Oral feedback as well as written feedback can be very effective and beneficial for a student if done correctly. According to Leahy et al (2005), “To be effective, feedback needs to cause thinking. Grades don 't do that. Scores don 't do that. And comments like “Good job” don 't do that either. What does cause thinking is a comment that addresses what the student needs to do to improve…” (p. 22). I felt that this quote was very fitting to what I did in the classroom while walking around and checking up on the students. Instead of saying “good job” or “looks good,” I found myself watching bits and pieces of several