Effective use of peer-feedback in developing academic writing skills of undergraduate students

Abstract

This paper investigates an effective way to develop academic writing skills of 4th year students of at a university in Myanmar in using peer reviewing and a guided peer-feedback process. A comparison was made to determine the effectiveness between the instructor feedback and peer feedback implementation based on the students' revision work. Twenty students’ papers became the focus of four different types of written feedback: Error Identification, Error Correction, Descriptive Comment and Critical Comment. Data on the number of feedback on the students’ final assignments and final paper were collected to study the feedback implementation rate and types of feedback students incorporated into their revision work. It was found that peer feedback effect had greater on error identification than instructor feedback. This is despite a significantly higher revision rate of instructor feedback on error correction. This study outlines some implications for second language writing on providing effective peer feedback in Myanmar and other contexts in the ASEAN region.