The effect of teacher and peer feedback on english writing development

Abstract

This study compared the effect of teacher feedback vis-à-vis peer feedback on English writing development. The participants were 50 Mathayom 4 (Grade 10) students at a private Islamic secondary school, Yala province. The participants were divided into two experimental groups, each consisting of 25 students: the teacher feedback group and the peer feedback group. Research instruments were 1) a pre- and post- writing test, 2) dialogue journal writing, 3) language practice exercises and 4) attitude questionnaires towards dialogue journal writing, teacher feedback and peer feedback. Both groups had to write a dialogue journal once a week for 10 weeks. The journals were exchanged and corrected by the teacher and the designated peers. The findings indicated that peer feedback led to a significant improvement on the participants' overall writing ability and writing fluency, unlike teacher feedback (p < .01). However, neither teacher feedback nor peer feedback helped to improve writing accuracy. The finding also indicated that both subject groups positively viewed the use of dialogue journal and corrective feedback, and they preferred teacher feedback to peer feedback.