Peer Assessment In Chinese EFL Writing Classroom

This is a pedagogy-oriented study, which aims at supplying a gap in the lack of research on the feasibility of peer assessment in EFL writing course under Chinese context. The research questions are: 1. How similar are peer, self- and teacher ratings of EFL writing? Are there any differences between the major and non-major students? 2. What are the students' attitudes towards peer rating?; 3. For peer assessment and self-assessment, which is more reliable and valid? Are there any differences between the major and non-major students? 4. Does peer feedback influence students' attitudes about peer assessment? Seventy-six English majors in Zhejiang University were assigned to write two essays respectively in two experiments. Each essay was rated and commented on by one teacher, three peers and the writers themselves. Students also filled out an attitude questionnaire regarding the three different assessments. The results show that: 1. There are correlations among these three assessments, but higher correlations are found between peer and teacher ratings than those between self- and teacher ratings, as well as statistically significant correlations on the aspects of content, organization, vocabulary and language use between peer and teacher ratings; 2. Students hold an overall positive attitude towards peer rating and feedback; 3. In the present study, peer assessment is found to be more reliable and valid than self-assessment according to both the qualitative and quantitative data collected; 4. Peer feedback does not influence students' favorable attitudes about the feedback.