Using peer feedback in a Master's programme: a multiple case study

This article draws on the findings of a longitudinal case study, which investigated the writing experiences of five students who spoke English as an additional language (EAL). The major interest was in examining what it was like to be an EAL writer and what changes occurred in EAL students' perceptions of academic writing and of themselves as academic writers during their one-year Taught Masters course at a major UK University. This article reflects on the perceptions of peer feedback held by research participants and their engagement with providing and receiving peer comments. Although peer feedback is often viewed as an attractive tool for supporting student writing, most participants did not fully capitalise on the benefits of these practices. Such factors as students' lack of prior peer feedback and their perceptions of peers' ability to provide valid feedback constituted potential barriers to the success of peer feedback. The article suggests that the use of well-structured collaborative activities and tutors' intervention are required for peer feedback to be effective.     

Assessing postgraduate student perceptions and measures of learning in a peer review feedback process

Peer review feedback, developed to assist students with increasing the quality of group reports and developing peer review skills, was added to a master’s level Climate Change Policy and Planning unit. A pre- and post-survey was conducted to determine whether students found the process a valuable learning opportunity: 87% of students responding to the post-review survey indicated they saw benefit in both developing and receiving peer review feedback. Peer review design minimising the potential for plagiarism resulted in low levels of student concern surrounding plagiarism. Marks allocated by students were valid (consistent with the lecturer) and were generally reliable; however, distribution of marks had a higher variance where group report quality was low. Training on completing the peer review template could result in more reliable feedback. Consistent with the literature, the feedback developed during the peer review process focused on style and presentation preferentially to content. Seven out of eight group reports improved between report submissions, with all groups responding to peer review feedback. Peer review feedback and changes made to group reports indicated students had limited capacity to judge the quality of referencing and critical analysis.     

Rethinking feedback practices in higher education: a peer review perspective

Peer review is a reciprocal process whereby students produce feedback reviews on the work of peers and receive feedback reviews from peers on their own work. Prior research has primarily examined the learning benefits that result from the receipt of feedback reviews, with few studies specifically exploring the merits of producing feedback reviews or the learning mechanisms that this activates. Using accounts of their experiences of peer review, this study illuminates students’ perceptions of the different learning benefits resulting from feedback receipt and feedback production, and, importantly, it provides insight into the cognitive processes that are activated when students construct feedback reviews. The findings show that producing feedback reviews engages students in multiple acts of evaluative judgement, both about the work of peers, and, through a reflective process, about their own work; that it involves them in both invoking and applying criteria to explain those judgements; and that it shifts control of feedback processes into students’ hands, a shift that can reduce their need for external feedback. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed. It is argued that the capacity to produce quality feedback is a fundamental graduate skill, and, as such, it should receive much greater attention in higher education curricula.     

The role of feedback in cross-cultural learning: a case study of Chinese taught postgraduate students in a UK university

Insufficient attention has been given to the role of cultural differences in feedback communication with the UK’s increasingly internationalised student body. This issue is particularly significant for international students taking short – one-year – postgraduate taught courses and we illustrate this in a study of Chinese students at a UK university. We draw on Holliday’s notion of ‘small cultures’ and Berry’s model of cultural adaptation to analyse how they perceive, react to and gradually adapt to the provision of formative feedback as a key aspect of the new academic culture. Our data reveal that such feedback presents the students with cognitive challenges and psychological and emotional struggles, especially in the early months of their courses. Avoiding culturally essentialist explanations for this, we focus on differences in the ‘small cultures’ of academia in China and the UK. Feedback is not only a part of the new academic culture itself, but can act as a bridge between norms, rules and practices of the two cultures. This bridge is often poorly constructed. Tutors need to be more aware of the nature and sources of stress that such students face and to which feedback may often be adding rather than contributing to enhanced learning.     

Academic socialization of doctoral students through feedback networks: a qualitative understanding of the graduate feedback landscape

ABSTRACT

Scholars focus on the social nature of academic writing to refine an understanding of feedback interactions in higher education. However, studies on the various sources of feedback – feedback networks – have been scarce, particularly during the initial years of doctoral education. Using a qualitative case study approach, multiple sources of feedback for four students in one doctoral program in the United States were identified in line with broader trends focusing on feedback as a social practice. Informed by the academic socialization framework [Duff, Patricia A. 2012. “Second Language Socialization.” In Handbook of Language Socialization, edited by Alessandro Duranti, Elinor Ochs, and Bambi B. Schieffelin, 564–586. Malden: Wiley-Blackwell], this study aims (1) to navigate the landscape of graduate feedback, including interactions beyond class as well as oral and written feedback, and (2) to elucidate the socialization process. Findings suggest that academic writing development is defined as how feedback is situated within disciplinary, academic communities of interaction. This article describes how the larger network of feedback creates the types of interaction that characterizes the community.     

网络环境下同伴反馈与写作焦虑关系的实证研究

本研究探讨网络环境下同伴反馈对写作焦虑的影响。研究采用SPSS统计软件对受试者在实验前后的写作焦虑程度进行对比分析。同时,辅以访谈方式了解学生对该模式的态度。研究结果表明,网络环境下的同伴反馈在一定程度上能缓解学生写作焦虑,大部分学生认可该模式。     

Dialogue within peer feedback processes: clarification and negotiation of meaning

Peer feedback carries a number of potential benefits to students, yet how they learn in the process remains under-researched. Building on ideas of feedback as dialogue, this study aims to unpack the respective perceptions of the provider and the receiver of peer feedback in relation to the benefits and challenges of dialogue about academic writing. Data were collected through classroom observations, interviews and journals at a university in southern China. Two key inter-related benefits emerge from the qualitative analysis of students’ perceptions of verbal interaction about written peer feedback. The provider of written comments obtains feedback on their feedback and the receiver has the opportunity to clarify or negotiate meaning with the feedback provider. Contextual challenges include students wanting more guidance about peer feedback and desiring more teacher input to the process. The study adds to the knowledge about the significance of peer dialogue in mutual clarification and negotiation between the provider and the recipient while emphasising ongoing teacher guidance in the process.     

Using and rejecting peer feedback in the science classroom: a study of students’ negotiations on how to use peer feedback when designing experiments

Background: Research on peer assessment has noted ambiguity among students in using peer assessment for improving their work. Previous research has explained this in terms of deficits in the student feedback, or differences in student views of what counts as high-quality work.

Purpose: This study frames peer assessment as a social process in the science classroom. The aim is to explore peer assessment in science education as social practice in order to contribute to an understanding of the affordances and constraints of using peer assessment as a learning tool in science education.

Design and Method: The study was conducted in four lower secondary school classes, school years 8 and 9, in two different schools. An intervention study was designed focussing on the topic of experimental design. It involved the students in a process of peer assessment where they designed experiments individually, and then exchanged their designs, conducted each other’s experiments, provided feedback to each other and revised their original design after discussing the feedback in groups. Data were collected in the form of audio recordings of student discussions and written work.

Results: The results show that, although not all peer feedback resulted in revisions, peer feedback was useful to the students in group interaction when negotiating quality in their work.

Conclusions: To conclude, the potential for using peer assessment in science education should not only be evaluated through the students’ revisions but also in terms of in what ways the feedback constitutes interactional resources for defining quality in student work.     

Increasing the uptake of peer feedback in primary school writing: findings from an action research enquiry

This article reports on how an action research strategy was used to increase children's uptake of feedback during peer assessment in primary school writing. Several different strategies were used in the study that had been successful in increasing students’ uptake of peer feedback in contexts such as higher education. In order to evaluate how successful these actions were, several different data collection methods were drawn upon to triangulate findings including children's work, observations, informal interviews and mind mapping. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the data generated. Findings are consistent with those from research in other settings which suggest that pupils make better use of feedback if: it is task-involving and useful; there is sufficient time given for them to act on it and discuss it with their peers; and they are asked to reflect on how it has been used to improve the quality of the assessed work.     

The effects of feedback from students to university instructors: An experimental study

This article reports the results of an experimental study of the effects of students' evaluative feedback to university instructors. Data obtained indicated that feedback from students did not have any significant effects on the instructors' teaching performance and their perception of teaching. Some limitations of the study are discussed with suggestions for further exploration of the problem.     

Substantive editing as a form of plagiarism among postgraduate students in Australia

In university plagiarism policies, and in the research into plagiarism, one form of collusion remains virtually unacknowledged: substantive editing performed by editors. While almost all Australian universities allow postgraduate students to have their thesis professionally edited, substantive editing is prohibited. This article discusses the problems inherent in this arrangement, given that most students and supervisors, and some editors, are not clear on where the line is between the two. Moreover, it is evident that there are a myriad of social and economic pressures that lead to substantive editing being performed even when all three parties are aware that it is occurring. Substantive editing is a particularly insidious form of plagiarism since it has received so little attention by universities, it is seen as less serious than other forms of plagiarism, it requires high levels of vigilance to detect and there are no deterrents in place. This article argues that there are significant numbers of students engaging in this form of plagiarism. This study aims to shed light on this issue by examining the nature, motivations behind and prevalence of substantive editing, while recognising the social context and negative effects of the issue.     

EFL学习者在学术写作中的主要问题及对策

EFL学习者在学术写作中还面临着诸多问题,突出表现在写作文体非正式性、过分强调写作＂成品＂性自主性动机匮乏上。在此情况下,实施以＂过程写作法＂为中心的学术写作教学势在必行。＂过程写作法＂大致包括六个写作阶段,其反馈方式主要有三种（教师编辑、同伴编辑及自我编辑）。正确实施运用＂过程写作法＂可以提高EFL学习者的英语学术写作能力。     

Perceptions of quality in staff-student written feedback in higher education: a case study

This paper reports on the results of an embedded, multiple case study that investigated the views of both lecturers and students on written staff-student feedback in three postgraduate programmes at one UK university. The study sought to uncover how ‘quality written feedback’ is perceived in the higher education environment under investigation. It found that tutors and students were broadly aligned in the features that they identified as constituting quality, which could be categorised within three dimensions: the affective or interpersonal, the orientational and the transformational. The findings suggest that feedback needs to incorporate each of these dimensions if it is to be perceived as being of good quality.     

Incorporating formative assessment in Iranian EFL writing: a case study

Undergraduate students' experience of assessment in universities is usually of summative assessment which provides only limited information to help students improve their performance. By contrast, formative assessment is informative and forward-looking, possessing the leverage to inform students of their day-to-day progress and inform teachers of how to better tailor their instruction to students' immediate learning needs. Despite these potentials, studies carried out on the use of formative assessment in English as a foreign language (EFL) contexts are somehow rare. The current study reports on incorporating formative assessment in an L2 writing course in Iran. The analysis of data from pre- and post-study writing tasks, pre- and post-study questionnaires, and semi-structured interviews revealed that first-year undergraduate students were offered opportunities to improve various aspects of their writing and to develop positive attitudes toward writing as well as formative assessment. However, the students reported several challenges that could have implications for the further implementation of formative assessment in similar contexts.     

Feedback,feedforward: evaluating the effectiveness of an oral peer review exercise amongst postgraduate students

Assessment for learning approaches, such as peer review exercises may improve student performance in summative assessments and increase their satisfaction with assessment practices. We conducted a mixed methods study to evaluate the effectiveness of an oral peer review exercise among post-graduate students. We examined: (1) final assessment grades among students who did and did not take part in the peer review exercise; (2) student perceptions of the impact of the peer review exercise; and (3) student understanding of, and satisfaction with, this new assessment practice. We found that students who took part in the exercise had a significantly higher mean grade in a subsequent summative oral presentation assessment than students who did not take part in the exercise. Students gained a better understanding of assessment and marking criteria and expressed increased confidence and decreased anxiety about completing the subsequent summative assessment. Assessment for learning improves academic attainment and the learning experience in postgraduate students.     

Cultural dimensions of feedback at an Australian university: a study of international students with English as an additional language

International students with English as an additional language face transitional challenges when entering a new academic culture. One such challenge involves optimising feedback to help foster their academic development, bearing in mind that feedback is not a culturally neutral entity (Nazif, A., Biswas, D., &; Hilbig, R. (2004–2005). Towards an understanding of student perceptions of feedback. Carleton Papers in Applied Language Studies, 21/22, 166–192). The current study of 134 postgraduate international students examines pre-course and in-course perceptions, experiences and expectations of feedback at university in Australia. Responses to questionnaires and in focus groups revealed that students’ previous feedback experiences had largely been summative, with an emphasis on error correction, but they expected to receive more feedback, particularly formative, throughout their courses. They also had concerns about understanding feedback, and about potentially negative remarks. These concerns were partially borne out by a follow-up survey (n?=?43) in which only 29% said they understood everything their lecturers said. Teachers giving feedback to international students may, therefore, need to consider the nature of their comments, their method of delivery and how their feedback affects student development.     

Developing a framework for effective audio feedback: a case study

The increase in the use of technology-enhanced learning in higher education has included a growing interest in new approaches to enhance the quality of feedback given to students. Audio feedback is one method that has become more popular, yet evaluating its role in feedback delivery is still an emerging area for research. This paper is based on a small-scale study which examined the perceptions of first and final-year undergraduates who received feedback from tutors in audio form and considers the impact of this method of feedback delivery as a formative process. The paper examines the extent to which students respond to and engage with audio feedback, and how the method might facilitate a better understanding of the role of feedback amongst teachers and students alike. The two cohorts in the study express differences, but also commonalities in what they require from audio feedback. A conceptual framework is developed from the study’s findings, which highlights best practice and guides practitioners in their effective utilisation of this form of feedback.     

Teacher feedback to student oral presentations in EFL classrooms: a case study

Whilst much research has been conducted on teacher feedback in various teaching and learning contexts, little is known about how teachers give feedback on student oral presentations to enhance students’ oral communicative skills in second-language (L2) education. Drawing on data from semi-structured interviews, this case study investigated the methods used by an experienced Chinese teacher of English as a Foreign Language to provide feedback on student oral presentation tasks. Data analysis revealed that the teacher gave oral comments mainly on pronunciation, content and logical thinking, and focused on PowerPoint design in his written commentary. The analysis also revealed that the teacher used the specific pattern of ‘praise-criticism-suggestion’ to comment on the students’ oral presentations. Relevant pedagogical implications for L2 teacher feedback practices and teacher-education programmes are discussed in the paper.     

Feedback on feedback practice: perceptions of students and academics

While feedback is widely considered central to student learning, students across the higher education sector commonly report dissatisfaction with the feedback they receive. In contrast, academics often feel they provide quality and informative feedback. This article explores and compares the perceptions of students and academics with regard to feedback practice. The paper presents the results of questionnaire surveys conducted with academics and students at the School of the Built Environment, Liverpool John Moores University. It highlights the perceptions of academics and students with regard to preferences for different types of feedback, timeliness of feedback, students’ engagement and interest in feedback, quality feedback and satisfaction with current practice. The findings indicate a significant discord between staff and students in relation to certain aspects of feedback practice, namely opinions on students’ engagement and interest in feedback, satisfaction with current practice and feedback preference. Similarities in viewpoints were also found in relation to quality feedback.