ORAL PEER FEEDBACK DOES IT REALLY WORK?

1. ORAL PEER FEEDBACKDOES IT REALLY WORK? Emel Sentuna & Murat Polat Anadolu University Turkey

2. Outline of the Presentation • Our context • What made us do this research • Scope of the study • Methodology • Findings • Limitations • Suggestions

3. Writing Course • Process Writing • Portfolio Assessment Drafts Oral Peer Feedback Written Teacher Feedback Evaluation

4. What made us do this research? “Although both research and practice have generally supported the use of peer feedback in writing classes, many teachers (and most students) are less than convinced of its usefulness in their own particular situation.” Paul Rollinson, 2005

5. Constraints of Peer Feedback • Time • Quality and Quantity of Feedback • Attitudes to self • Attitudes to peer • Knowledge Heather Sparrow, 2003

6. Constraints of Peer Feedback “ Yet there were incidents of unproductive even blase’ verbal exchange and in some groups, students hurried through the peer work in a robot like monotone.” Gere and Stevens (1985)

7. Constraints of Peer Feedback “The writers did not always revise accordingly to the reactions of their peers and sometimes resented the criticisms.” Ziv (1983)

8. Research Questions 1- Do our students believe in the benefits of taking feedback from their peers? 2- Do they criticize the quality of the feedback they receive? 3- What effect does the feedback students receive from their peers have on their final scores? 4- Does the ability of the peer cause a significant difference on the final score of a student’s written work?

9. Methodology Participants • 8 ELT students (chosen among 17 ) (4 skilled - 4 unskilled writers)

10. Distinction of Skilled / Unskilled Writers 1- Scores of the pre-test (passing grade 70) 2- Pre-writing Activities “skilled writers spend time for planning and generating ideas in detail, whereas unskilled writers spend little time for planning.” (Pearl 1979, Emig 1979, Stallard 1974)

11. Distinction of Skilled / Unskilled Writers 3- Pre-observations carried out in writing courses 4- Qualities of skilled / unskilled writers

12. Qualities of Skilled / Unskilled Writers Skilled Writers • Spend time on planning for writing • Use a recursive, nonlinear approach • Are reader-centered • Review what they write • Focus more on the message itself • Use revisions to clarify meaning (Zamel 1982, Slezer 1983, Monahan 1984, Selfe 1984, Raimes 1985, Heuring 1984, Russel 1985)

13. Qualities of Skilled / Unskilled Writers Unskilled Writers • Spend little time for planning • Use linear approach • Are writer-centered • Spend little time reviewing what they write • Focus on mechanics • Use revisions to correct form errors (Zamel 1982, Slezer 1983, Monahan 1984, Selfe 1984, Raimes 1985, Heuring 1984, Russel 1985)

14. Instruments • Questionnaire on students’ perceptions • Drafts • Camera Recordings • Transcripts • ESL Composition Profile • Students’ Scores

15. Data Collection • Writing Tasks 1- Problem Solution Essay *skilled-skilled *unskilled-unskilled 2-Argumentative Essay * skilled-unskilled

16. Data Collection 1- Questionnaire 2- 1st Drafts Oral Peer Feedback (videotaped) Interviews (videotaped) 3- 2nd Drafts Oral Peer Feedback (videotaped) Interviews (videotaped) 4- Scoring (both 1st and 2nd drafts)

17. RESULTS 1- Do our students believe in the benefits of taking feedback from their peers?

19. Video clips of participants answering the question whether oral feedback works or not (5.30’)

21. 2-Do our participants criticize the quality of the feedback they receive?

23. Feedback session of a skilled-unskilled pair(4’)

25. Video clips of this pair criticizing not only their peer’s performance but also their own performances (5.40’)

28. 3- What effect does the feedback students receive from their peers have on their final scores?

29. Task 1 : Students’ Average Scores of the 1st and 2nd Drafts

30. p<0.05 * The average score difference between the 1st and 2nd drafts of the 1st Task is significant.

31. Task 2 : Students’ Average Scores of the 1st and 2nd Drafts

32. p<0.05 * The average score difference between the 1st and 2nd drafts of the 2nd Task is significant.

33. 4- Does the ability of the peer cause a significant difference on the final score of a student’s written work?

34. Table 3 : Average Score Differences of Unskilled Writers at the End of Both Tasks

35. p<0.05 ** The average score difference of unskilled writers at the end of both tasksis highly significant.

36. Table 4 : Average Score Differences of Skilled Writers at the End of Both Tasks

37. Paired t-test:Mean Score Differences of Skilled Writers at the End of Both Tasks Data source: Data 1 in peer feedback score file Normality Test:Failed(P > 0.050) Test execution ended due to low reliability (< %50) * Wilcoxon Signed Rank Test W= -10.000 T+ = 0.000 T-= -10.000 P(est.)= 0.098 P(exact )= 0.125 (p>0.05*)

38. Summary of the Study 1- Out of 8 students, 6 of them believe that oral feedback sessions are beneficial 2- 5 out of 8 participants evaluate the value of feedback they receive, while the other 3 evaluate their peers’ feedback sometimes or rarely 3- Feedback procedure, in general, may create a positive difference on students’ final scores

39. Summary of the Study 4- When the skilled writers give feedback to unskilled writers a significant increase may occur, but when an unskilled writer gives feedback to an unskilled, the difference on the score may not be significant. 5- Having a skilled or unskilled peer might play no significant role on the scores of skilled writers.

40. LIMITATIONS • Number of participants • Number of drafts • Video recording • Text type • Language

41. SUGGESTIONS • Further research on determining the key elements of persuasive feedback • A deeper analysis of the points students favor while giving feedback • Investigation of the role of students oral feedback experience in the process of giving feedback • Feedback sessions can be conducted in L1 to get a better insight and to minimize the effect of L2

42. THANK YOU