Feedback on Peer Feedback in EFL Composing: Four Stories

The purpose of this study is to investigate prospective teachers' perceptions of the peer review comments readily available to them during the writing process in a teacher training class. Given these needs, we employ a qualitative method of inquiry giving voice to the learner's own view of peer feedback. The data we wish to consider is first-person narratives elicited from four EFL college students, who are prospective teachers of English. With regard to the EFL students' narrative considered here, all were attentive to the feedback they received. Moreover, the way in which these EFL writers talk about peer response activity reflects that they still welcome peer feedback because of the benefits to be accrued from it. Although this study, covering only four EFL students in total, can hardly be considered conclusive, we attempt to offer a synthesis of their stories. First of all, students indicate that they received responses from "authentic readers" (Mittan 1989, 209). We do note, consequently, that students gain a clear understanding of readers' needs by receiving feedback on what they did well and on what seems unclear. Perhaps the greater effect of peer feedback claimed by these students is that they take active roles in utilizing peer comments. Since they feel uncertain about the validity of their classmates' responses, students feel that they have autonomy over their own text and can make their own decisions on whether they should accept their peer comments or not. This contrasts with their treatment of teacher comments that they accept begrudgingly even if they disagree with them. Four EFL writers talked a lot, typically in a positive way, about peer response to their writing, yet they have expressed reservations about the extent to which they should put any credence in comments offered by their fellow students. Perhaps this is because their fellow students are still developing writers and EFL learners. In turn, they were sometimes reluctant to accept the peers' comments. Thus, in EFL contexts, L1 use can be suggested during peer feedback sessions. In particular, we have come to feel that L1 use enables both reviewers and receivers to have more productive peer review experiences. Additionally, we need to train students not "to see peer feedback as potentially bad advice" (Silva et al. 2003, 111). Teachers should focus on training students to utilize their peers' comments. Without such training, students will either ignore feedback or fail to use it constructively.