Peer Editing In Writing Process

Peer editing, as a significant component of the process approach, has received more and more attention in the field of teaching English writing, while the traditional product approach has been criticized by the ESL/EFL experts and practitioners. The previous research studies, however, limited their research subjects either to English-native students or university students. This study tries to explore the possibility of applying peer editing to teaching English writing to senior middle school students; more specially, it mainly attempts to find out whether peer editing has effect on students' attitudes towards writing, and secondly, to what extent peer editing can improve students' accuracy in writing. The thesis is divided into six parts:Chapter One presents a brief introduction to the current teaching of English writing. Chapter Two provides a review of the relevant literature. Firstly, the process approach and the product approach are compared, especially on their attitudes towards writing accuracy. Then, theories on peer editing is introduced in detail. The studies on these relevant literatures suggest that peer editing plays an important role in cultivating students' interests in writing as well as in improving their writing.Chapter Three relates the action research in detail. Based on previous research findings and theories, the author designs a four-month instructional intervention. The subjects are 43 students in senior one from a middle school in Hebei province, and they are divided into two classes: the control class and the experimental class. Students of the experimental class are trained on how to do peer editing, and during the following four months, they are arranged to do peer editing activities every one or...