Peer Response in Second Language Writing Classrooms

1. Effects of Peer Response

Chapter 1 Effects of Peer Response What concerns both L2 writing teachers and students most about peer response activities is their effectiveness . This brings up a number of questions. What constitutes effective peer response in ESLIEFL composition classrooms? Are students motivated to engage in peer response activities? How do their perceptions toward peer response evolve or change as a result of their peer response experiences? What effects do peer response activities have on students' revisions? Are the effects temporary-in other words, product-oriented, in terms of yielding only revisions in the writer's next draftor can long-lasting effects be shown on a student's writing development in the second language? Each ofthese questions will be addressed as we examine the effects of peer response. Motivational Effects: Perceptions of Peer Response One primary concern of teachers using peer response activities in their L2 writing classrooms is whether their students will be engaged in the activities and find peer response activities meaningful and valuable in their learning processes. As far as students are concerned, their perceptions toward peer response in L2 writing could be either negative, positive, or a combination of both, as a result oftheir prior experience with peer response or of their inexperience with peer response. While their positive experiences with peer response can lead to higher levels of engagement and productivity, their negative experiences or lack of interest in peer response can de14 Effects of Peer Response 15 crease their level of engagement and minimize their productivity . The questions we need to ask are: • What do ESLIEFL students think about peer response activities in their composition classes? • How do the ways they receive their peer feedback affect their perceptions toward peer response activities? • When and how do we ask students for their perceptions toward peer response activities? • What are some possible factors that affect ESLIEFL students ' perceptions of peer response activities in their writing courses? What do ESLIEFL students think about peer response activities in their composition classes? The fact that ESLIEFL students at all levels have mixed feelings about the effects of peer response activities is not surprising . Their preferences largely depend on their experiences with peer response, in terms of group dynamics and task variation, and on the quality of comments they receive from their peers. In general, L2 writing students concur that peer response activities help them understand their own drafts better through critiquing others' papers and thus help them construct and revise their own drafts. As one study indicated (Mangelsdorf 1992), despite the fact that some college ESL students in L2 composition classes were unhappy with their peers' advice and doubted the ability of some peers to critique their papers, many students were positive about their peer response experiences, believing that peer response activities helped them revise the content of their drafts. Some undergraduate ESL students felt that both reading peers' papers and receiving feedback from peers were helpful, although a few students were troubled by the tone and quality of the peer feedback (Leki 1990). Students in low-level ESL classes at a community college also found peer response ac- 16 Peer Response in Second Language Writing Classrooms tivities beneficial, believing that peer response activities helped them formulate topic sentences more clearly; add details to their paragraphs; discover their own most frequent errors ; and learn new vocabulary, organizational patterns, and grammatical structures from each other (Hansen and Liu 2000). At the graduate level, some students viewed peer response activities as beneficial because (1) reading their own drafts to peers helped them see their papers more clearly and (2) reading others' papers helped them compare their writing with others and learn new ideas (Mendonga and Johnson 1994). Commonly cited concerns regarding peer response activities are mistrust of peers' feedback and fear of being ridiculed by one's peers due to one's limited English proficiency (Nelson and Carson 1998). How do the ways students receive peer feedback affect their perceptions toward peer response activities? It should be pointed out that students' perceptions of peer response activities are also affected by whether and when they receive their teacher's feedback or comments on their drafts. When students receive peer feedback at the same time as they receive their teacher's feedback, they tend to attend to the teacher's comments more carefully than their peers' comments for the obvious reason that it is the teacher who gives the grade. In comparing the...