The role of teacher’s corrective feedback in improving Iranian EFL learners’ writing accuracy over time: is learner’s mother tongue relevant?

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the impact of feedback on writing accuracy over time and examine the relevance of the students’ mother tongue to the feedback effect. To this end, the study compared two groups of Iranian English majors (N = 56) over a period of four months: one with indirect grammar feedback and the other with no grammar feedback whatsoever. The results of the study did not show a significant effect for the teachers’ feedback. However, the results showed a main effect for practice and the interaction of practice and feedback as a result of which both groups improved their writing accuracy over the course of one semester, with the feedback group making more improvement. The results also showed significant differences between the two groups in reducing their errors in various grammatical categories. The study further revealed that the success ratio of error reduction in each category was highly sensitive to cross-linguistic differences. The students’ views, elicited after the study, support the findings obtained from the analysis of the quantitative data.     

Investigating learners’ use and understanding of peer and teacher feedback on writing: A comparative study in a Chinese English writing classroom

Existing comparative studies between peer and teacher feedback in English writing classes have predominantly used frequency measures of peer and teacher feedback in learners’ revisions to suggest their relative values for developing learners’ writing proficiency. However, learners do not necessarily understand the feedback that is used in their redrafts.This study distinguished learners’ use from their understanding of peer and teacher feedback. Eighteen Chinese university English learners participated in the study for sixteen weeks. Three research methods were adopted: (a) content analyses of learners’ use of feedback, (b) stimulated recall interviews on learners’ understanding of feedback, and (c) interviews on the factors that affected learners’ responses to feedback.The findings suggested that the learners used more teacher than peer feedback in their redrafts. However, interviews with these learners revealed that they used a larger percentage of teacher feedback than peer feedback without understanding its significance or value. Student interviews uncovered learners’ passive acceptance of teacher feedback and the facilitative role of first language use in peer interaction.This study suggests that learners’ understanding of feedback should be taken as at least an equally important factor as learners’ use of feedback in examining the relative value of peer and teacher feedback for developing learners’ writing proficiency.     

The effect of flipped learning on EFL students’ writing performance,autonomy, and motivation

Education and Information Technologies - Though flipped learning has positively impacted teaching English writing, its usefulness in developing students’ English writing performance,...     

The impact of an elaborated assessee’s role in peer assessment

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of an elaborated assessee’s role on metacognitive awareness, performance and attitude in peer assessment. Two intact groups (a total of 82 students) were randomly assigned to a treatment condition (having back‐feedback activity) or a control condition (not having back‐feedback activity). The results indicated that, regarding metacognitive awareness, when participants played the elaborated assessee role, they tended to report higher metacognitive awareness in their learning process. Regarding performance, when participants played the elaborated assessee role, they tended to receive better scores in making a concept map. Regarding attitude, when participants played the elaborated assessee role, they reported greater motivation towards the peer assessment. The findings of this study suggest instructional implications for those who want to employ peer assessment as a learning method by showing the effectiveness of a well‐developed role design, specifically one that includes the back‐feedback activity.     

The teacher educator’s role in promoting institutional versus individual teacher well-being

This article addresses the teacher educator’s role in defining and facilitating teacher well-being. It does so by first exploring the literature on teacher well-being, resilience, resistance, morality and professional dispositions. It then examines the policies and rhetoric of two countries, the USA and England, as examples of a global tilt towards the excessive promotion of institutional well-being at the expense of individual teachers. It concludes with specific recommendations at the university programme and teacher educator levels for bringing individual and institutional well-being into better balance. These include: innovating sustained and reciprocal university–school partnerships; helping new teachers become ‘mindful’ rather than solely resistant; analysing cases of teaching to become more aware of macro vs. micro influences; and facilitating skills in taking oppositional stances, including within the teacher educator’s own classroom.     

Peer feedback on academic writing: undergraduate students’ peer feedback role,peer feedback perceptions and essay performance

Within the higher education context, peer feedback is frequently applied as an instructional method. Research on the learning mechanisms involved in the peer feedback process has covered aspects of both providing and receiving feedback. However, a direct comparison of the impact that providing and receiving peer feedback has on students’ writing performance is still lacking. The current study compared the writing performance of undergraduate students (N = 83) who either provided or received anonymous written peer feedback in the context of an authentic academic writing task. In addition, we investigated whether students’ peer feedback perceptions were related to the nature of the peer feedback they received and to writing performance. Results showed that both providing and receiving feedback led to similar improvements of writing performance. The presence of explanatory comments positively related both to how adequate students perceived the peer feedback to be, as well as to students’ willingness to improve based upon it. However, no direct relation was found between these peer feedback perceptions and students’ writing performance increase.     

Chinese university EFL teachers’ beliefs and practices of classroom writing assessment

This study investigates the extent to which university teachers’ beliefs about classroom writing assessment are congruent with their self-perceived practices in English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) contexts, and what factors contribute to belief-practice inconsistencies. Drawing on data from a survey of 136 Chinese university EFL writing teachers and ten teacher interviews, results showed a degree of belief-practice alignment regarding assessment for learning (AfL) practices that make learning explicit, but belief-practice discrepancies were more salient. AfL practices that empower students to take responsibility in writing assessment were perceived to be more important than assessment of learning practices; however, the reverse was found in teachers’ practice. Impacts of micro-level factors including assessment training, teaching experience, student attributes, meso-level school factors, and macro-level assessment culture are discussed, and implications are drawn.     

High school boys’ and girls’ writing conceptions and writing self-efficacy beliefs: what is their role in writing performance?

This study investigated the conceptions about writing and writing self-efficacy beliefs held by high school students in relation to the students’ gender as well as their associations with writing achievement. The results show that female students have more sophisticated writing conceptions than their male counterparts but no gender differences were found in writing self-efficacy beliefs. In addition, results reveal that writing self-efficacy beliefs and gender play an important role in predicting writing performance and that writing performance is moderated by students’ writing conceptions. Educational implications and further research are discussed.     

The influences of integrating reading,peer evaluation,and discussion on undergraduate students’ scientific writing

Scientific writing is related to the practice of communicating scientific knowledge. This study treats scientific writing as a social practice, taking as its premise the notion that participating in related activities such as reading, peer evaluation, and discussion would positively affect the competence of students’ scientific writing, by developing their epistemic cognition regarding scientific knowledge communication and legitimation. An empirical study was conducted with twenty-two Chinese undergraduate students to test this premise. These students were majoring in chemistry and undertook a researcher-designed intervention course (Advanced Organic Chemistry Experiment), which embodied the integrated strategy of reading, peer evaluation, and discussion on scientific writing. Based on data pertaining to those students’ performance in terms of the normativity, objectivity, and logicality of scientific writing drawn from a previous study by the current author (Deng, Kelly, & Xiao, 2019. The development of Chinese undergraduate students’ competence of scientific writing in the context of advanced organic chemistry experiment course. Chemistry Education Research and Practice, 20, 270–287), alongside data drawn from students’ written texts in reading reflections and on-line discourse related to peer evaluation and discussion, this study claimed that the tasks of reading, peer evaluation, and discussion were seen gradually to lead to the development of Chinese undergraduate students’ greater competence in scientific writing regarding the synthetic experiments of organic chemistry.     

Use of Facebook,students’ intrinsic motivation to study writing,writing self-efficacy and writing performance

The study aimed to scrutinise how incorporating Facebook into a conventional writing class might impact on students’ intrinsic motivation, self-efficacy and writing performance, and to uncover how best to provide corrective feedback on students’ writing posted on Facebook. Sixty-four subjects from an intact group were recruited by means of purposive sampling. All participants sat the pre-test measuring intrinsic motivation to study writing, writing self-efficacy and writing performance. Following the pre-test, participants attended a regular conventional writing class incorporating Facebook for four months. At the conclusion of the study, participants sat the post-test and were interviewed regarding their learning experience. Participants were also requested to indicate which type of feedback provided on FB is preferred and to justify their responses. It was found that students’ intrinsic motivation and self-efficacy, as well as writing performance, improved markedly in the post-test and that direct corrective feedback is more favoured by students. Overall, the study suggests that not only does incorporating Facebook into a conventional writing class benefit students academically, but it also helps boost their intrinsic motivation to study writing and writing self-efficacy – two critical variables that dictate success in foreign language learning.     

Learners’ perceptions and performance under peer versus teacher corrective feedback conditions

This study aimed to examine the effects of teacher corrective feedback (TCF) versus peer corrective feedback (PCF) on Iranian EFL learners’ speaking abilities, and to explore their perceptions of the two CF conditions due to the scarcity and inconsistency of findings in the pertinent literature. To fulfill these objectives, the students’ speaking performance was assessed before and after the treatments, and a questionnaire and follow-up interviews were employed to probe their attitudes. The findings showed greater improvements in the speaking performance of the PCF group although the students had a very low opinion of PCF and favored TCF owing to their concern over issues like trust, grade and face. Although these concerns adversely affected the students’ attitudes, they created facilitating anxiety which drove the PCF learners to engage in the process of learning more actively than their TCF counterparts. Hence, even in teacher-centered cultures, there is a role for PCF.     

The development and implementation of a web-based formative peer assessment system for enhancing students’ metacognitive awareness and performance in ill-structured tasks

An assessment was conducted of a web-based formative peer assessment system (WFPAS) emphasizing learners’ metacognitive awareness for their performance in ill-structured tasks. Results indicate that the WFPAS group achieved significantly higher scores for metacognitive awareness and performance in ill-structured tasks than the traditional peer assessment group and that a traditional peer assessment group achieved higher scores for metacognitive awareness than a self-assessment group. In addition, the WFPAS group showed significantly higher scores in motivation than the traditional peer assessment group. Results are explained from the perspective of peer interaction and scaffolding. The potential challenges and implications of the WFPAS are discussed.     

The role of teacher behavior in adolescents’ intrinsic reading motivation

Given the weak intrinsic reading motivation of many adolescents on the one hand and the importance of this type of motivation for reading competence on the other hand, the aim of the present study is to identify the related role of teacher behavior. To pursue this aim, a secondary analysis was carried out on PISA 2009 data. More particularly, data of a subsample of 4,269 Flemish 15-year olds were examined by means of multilevel modeling. In line with self-determination theory, the results provide evidence for the significance of perceived autonomy-supportive, structured, and involved teacher behavior. Teacher involvement was most strongly associated with adolescents’ intrinsic reading motivation. Further, students’ perception of teachers’ autonomy support was particularly related to girls’ intrinsic reading motivation.     

The role of online games in promoting young adults’ civic engagement

In this review, we present an argument for the need to support young adult’s civic engagement and we explore the role of online games in supporting such engagement. In doing so, in the first section of the paper, we offer a definition for civic education and citizenship alongside a discussion for the pedagogical frameworks that better support young adults’ development of related skills. Following that, we synthesize existing research findings on the role of online games in supporting young adults’ civic engagement. Based on the outcomes of this review, in the last section of the paper, we offer a set of game design principles alongside suggestions for pedagogical approaches and organization of learning environments that have the potential to maximize young adults’ civic engagement.     

Effects of explicit instruction in cognitive and metacognitive reading strategies on Iranian EFL students’ reading performance and strategy transfer

This study explored the impact of explicit teaching of reading strategies on English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) students?? reading performance in Iran. The study employed a questionnaire adapted from Chamot and O??Malley??s (1994) cognitive and metacognitive strategies framework. To test the effects of explicit teaching of cognitive and metacognitive reading strategies on reading performance and strategy transfer, the study has a quasi-experimental design involving a contrast group and a treatment group, with whom an intervention program was implemented. The treatment group achieved significantly better results than the contrast group after four months of strategy-based instruction. Results of paired-sample t-tests and independent t-tests and effect size showed that reading comprehension and reading strategy use improved with strategy instruction. Moreover, SPANOVA analyses showed that the participants in the treatment group performed better than those in the contrast group in reading comprehension and reading strategy transfer. Results also showed that strategy instruction contributed to autonomous reading behaviors. Recommendations for further research are discussed.     

The impact of the teacher’s role and pupils’ ethnicity and prior knowledge on pupils’ performance and motivation to cooperate

How can the teacher bring about effective cooperative learning (CL) in multiethnic elementary classrooms? To answer this question we hypothesized that when the teacher stimulates pupils’ helping behaviour (experimental group), this increases pupils’ performance and CL motivation more than when the teacher lets pupils fend for themselves (control group). Subjects were 166 pupils from 10 schools. The results show that national pupils in the experimental group outperformed pupils in the control group and teams with low and medium prior knowledge performed better in the experimental group. Additionally, immigrant teams with high prior knowledge in the control group outperformed their low prior knowledge counterparts and had a higher CL motivation. Our results suggest that, next to the teacher’s role, attention has to be paid to both the pupil background characteristics ethnicity and prior knowledge and the teacher’s experience with CL.     

Iranian university students’ experiences of and attitudes towards alternatives in assessment

This study investigated the effect of assessment type (self vs. peer vs. teacher) on university students’ academic achievement and students’ attitudes toward them. In the main study, 82 undergraduate English-as-a-Foreign-Language students in four classes at three universities in Iran were randomly assigned into one of self-, peer- and teacher-assessment or control groups. A pre-test was designed to measure students’ initial knowledge in the subject Teaching Methods. Then experimental groups were subjected to one of the assessment types; however, the control group received no intervention. Thirty-eight students from experimental groups completed an attitude questionnaire. A similarly designed follow-up study was conducted with two classes of BA Chemistry students taking a General English course at Urmia University. The application of one-way analysis of covariance on the main study post-test data indicated differences in performances of all groups, with peer-assessment group performing the best. Quantitative and qualitative analyses indicated that both self- and peer-assessment, as well as the teacher-assessment group, had positive attitudes toward their assessment experiences. The application of one-way analysis of variance on replication study data showed that the experimental group significantly outperformed the control group on the post-test and that students in the former group had positive attitudes toward self-assessment.     

The validity and students’ experiences of peer assessment in a large introductory class of gene technology

Although studies have examined the validity of peer assessment, research including students’ own experiences of peer assessment is scarce. The present study aims to improve assessment practices in a context with a highly traditional assessment culture. The aim is first to examine the validity of peer assessment by analysing the compatibility of student and teacher evaluation and explore the differences between minor and major students’ evaluations. Second, the study examines students’ experiences of peer assessment. Peer assessment was implemented in a large bioscience course with 79 student participants. After the peer assessment, the students provided feedback. The results indicate that student subject understanding can be supported through a proper assessment practice. Peer assessment was successful in an introductory class with minor and major students, and most students experienced it as supportive of their learning.