1. MARY DAVIS, LIJUN TANG, RAWAN ALBAQAMI, TSILAZAZI ITWI OXFORD BROOKES INTERNATIONAL Peer review in the formative stage of writing

2. Benefits Possible problems Greater student participation and responsibility for learning (Hyland, 2000) Platform for collaborative dialogue between students (Rollinson, 2005) Prefer responses to their work to come from tutors (Jacobs et al, 1998) Only pay attention to feedback when it comes from teachers (Mustafa, 2012) Studies of peer review

3. Method PETAL project on Pre-Master’s programme Peer review strategy for each module Pre-activity, activity and post-activity Example from academic writing module

4. Pre-activity What is a peer review? What are the advantages and disadvantages of peer review? How does peer reviewing help with first drafts? How can you be a good peer reviewer?

5. Activity 1. First impressions Does it seem well organised, with clear paragraphing? 2. Introduction Does it present the topic clearly? Does it define key terms? 3. Review of the literature Is there a good range of citation? Is there a clear research gap? 4. Main body/ discussion of topic research Does it follow logically from the literature review? Are the main points clear? Conclusions Does the conclusion link back to the research questions? Does it offer a clear summary of the overall scope of the essay?

6. Post-activity Peer reviewee: what did you learn from this experience? Which advice do you think was useful? Peer reviewer: what did you learn from this experience? Which advice do you think was useful?

7. Student experiences of peer review- Lijun China Answers only from teachers Students do not listen to other students Students do not share answers UK Answers from lots of sources Students may have better answers than teachers As reviewer, may not be confident to give feedback As reviewee, may still be worried about the teacher’s feedback

8. Student experiences of peer review- Rawan Saudi Arabia Students think the right answer comes only from teacher Students share answers but don’t base best answers on each other’s work Students don’t like to show mistakes to other students UK Like sharing answers and find peer review interesting As reviewer, feel stress about giving the right answer, not expert, feel responsibility to give review as it may affect reviewee’s mark As reviewee, happy with other students’ feedback (though it could be wrong)

9. Student experiences of peer review- Tsila Zambia Teachers tell students if right or wrong, but give no guidance why or how Students who are friends share information, others do not share anything UK Students work together and get more feedback As reviewer, feel it is a privilege to give feedback, but worry that it may be wrong As reviewee, feel less confident in work, and think not as good as others

10. Conclusion It may add value to peer review to build pre- and post-activities around it Student approaches to peer review may be influenced by different cultural/educational experiences Peer reviewers worry that their feedback is not good enough or may lead the reviewee to problems Peer reviewees mostly feel satisfied with the experience of receiving feedback from other students, but may have doubts about it.

11. Questions What experiences of peer review have you had? As a peer reviewer and a peer reviewee, what have you found to be the benefits and problems? Do you think cultural differences need to be addressed in peer review? How can we improve the experience of peer review?

12. References Hyland, F. (2000).ESL writers and feedback: giving more autonomy to students. Language Teaching Research, 4(1), 33-54 Jacobs, G., Curtis, A., Briane, G. and Huang, S. (1998). Feedback on student writing: Taking the middle path. Journal of Second Language Writing, 7(3), 307-317 Mustafa, R.F. (2012). Feedback on the feedback: Sociocultural interpretation of Saudi ESL learners’ opinions about writing feedback. English Language Teaching, 5(3), 3-15 Rollinson, P. (2005). Using peer feedback in the ESL writing class. ELT Journal, 59(1), 23-30