Enforced Revision and Peer Review on MSU-IIT Students Compositions
Michelle Jeanne C. Caracut
MSU-Iligan Institute of Technology
Abstract
This study is conducted to determine attitudes of Mindanao State University-Iligan Institute of Technology ESL writers toward writing and peer review, and whether these have an effect to their compositions. A pre-and post-surveys and interviews are conducted to determine the attitudes of students toward peer review. Enforced draft revisions, using a peer review worksheet, were imposed on the writers over one writing cycle. The study shows students have a positive attitude toward peer review despite their reservations about their ability as writers and as good critics. They claim that peer review is less stressful as they consider the feedback session a friendly conversation where they easily explain their ideas. There were clear improvements in content and organization. Final draft quality improved more on performance after the intervention, with students feedbacking each other-s works. There was evidence from qualitative interview data that guided peer review succeeded in directing attention substantially towards organisation and content. Based on these findings, it is recommended that peer review, with proper training and constant practice, be encouraged in writing classes and across content areas to make them appreciate that peer review is a beneficial exercise to improve their compositions.
Keywords: peer review, academic writing, revision, guided peer review, writing attitude
Topic: International Conference of English Language Teaching, Literature & Linguistics