The Effects Of Peer Feedback On The Composition Revision Of Chinese EFL Learners:An Empirical Study

During the last two decades, peer feedback, which means students’error feedback and comments on one another’s writing, has caused wide attention among writing researchers in both first and second language settings. Although researchers have examined various issues concerning the effectiveness of peer feedback, little attention has been paid to important influential factors on the effectiveness of peer feedback such as language proficiency and the pairing of peer feedback participants. However, considering difference existing in language proficiencies among students, attention needs to be paid to different pairings in terms of language proficiency arising in peer feedback activity. The present study is designed to probe into the influence of English language proficiency and the pairing of Chinese EFL learners on the effectiveness of peer feedback activity which is manifested through their composition revision. The objective of the study is to explore more effective pairing to implement peer feedback activity and allow students at different English language proficiency levels to participate in peer feedback more efficiently.Specifically, the thesis presents the results of the study that investigates the effects of peer feedback on the composition revision of Chinese EFL learners while it takes English language proficiency and the pairing of learners into consideration. The influence of language proficiency and the pairing of Chinese EFL learners on their composition revision in peer feedback activity is discussed in detail from three perspectives, including the incorporation of peer feedback, the revision as well as the effectiveness of revision.Sixty non-English major juniors coming from Shandong University of Political Science and Law participated in the research, who were assigned to four types of peer feedback pairs in terms of English language proficiency:(1) participants at high language proficiency level providing feedback on compositions of participants at high language proficiency level; (2) participants at high language proficiency level providing feedback on compositions of participants at low language proficiency level; (3) participants at low language proficiency level providing feedback on compositions of participants at low language proficiency level; (4) participants at low language proficiency level providing feedback on compositions of participants at high language proficiency level. All participants were required to make revisions to their first drafts by referring to peer feedback they have received and then submitted both of their first drafts and revised final drafts. The interviews with the four participants selected respectively from each group were also implemented next. And then the questionnaire survey investigating participants’ attitudes towards peer feedback was carried out.Data collected in the study consisted of first drafts and final drafts, peer feedback sheets, questionnaires of all participants and transcripts of interview tapings with the four interviewees.Analysis of data shows that participants at high language proficiency level significantly outperformed those at low language proficiency level in peer feedback quality assessed by the proportion of usable feedback provided by participants against possible feedback made by teachers, revision quality scaled by success rate of revision and revision initiative measured by the number of self-revisions. Findings of the study indicate that English language proficiency of Chinese EFL learners can be a great factor influencing their composition revision in peer feedback activity.Participants at low language proficiency level experienced better performance when paired with those at high language proficiency level for peer feedback activity than paired with those at the same low language proficiency level in feedback utility scaled by incorporation rate of peer feedback, and revision quality measured by success rate of revision as well as improvement in wring quality between assignments, especially in the aspect of grammar assessed by both holistic scoring and analytic scoring. Results of the study provide support for the claim that the pairing of Chinese EFL learners is evidenced to be another factor affecting their composition revision in peer feedback activity, whose effect can be more obvious in composition revision of students at low language proficiency level.Results of questionnaire indicate that the majority of participants hold positive attitude towards peer feedback in Chinese EFL writing, and value peer feedback activity for that they can benefit from not only receiving peer feedback from peer commentators and but also commenting on peers’compositions.Findings of the study can provide pedagogical implications for Chinese EFL teaching and writing. Specifically, these implications are conducive to working out an efficient way of peer feedback in Chinese EFL writing class by taking individual language proficiency difference into account in pairing of peer feedback participants.