Cross Campus Peer Feedback on Writing using a Web 2.0 Resource: Initial Findings

Abstract

With the ever increasing use of web 2.0 resources in support of English as an International Language (EIL) teaching, the increase in learner online collaborative / social learning necessitates research to enhance our understanding of this form of activity. This study therefore investigated a specific case of EIL learners providing peer feedback on the writing of other EIL learners through a Web 2.0 resource. Anonymous asynchronous nonreciprocal feedback was collected from students in three Taiwanese universities participating in a cross campus activity commenting on peer narrative compositions posted on the Storybird internet site. The aims were to ascertain what kinds of feedback were provided and whether it varied depending on the apparent proficiency of the person whose writing was being responded to. The writers were of two levels of proficiency (freshman and senior). Results from qualitative and quantitative analysis show a rich variety of kinds of response. In general the focus was on the content more than the form and included a considerable amount of genuinely communicative response to the message in the story being read. There were a number of differences in both the quantity and quality of the feedback given to each group of writers, which with the less proficient group often exhibited signs of politeness strategies such as starting with a positive comment to soften later negative comments, using more positive than negative comments, and establishment of an interpersonal tone with explicit use of first and second person pronouns. The findings suggest that this type of feedback is potentially valuable to complement conventional teacher feedback, and that the cutting edge technology of Web 2.0 can be valuably integrated into the formal curriculum for EIL learning.