Effects Of Different Types Of Intra-group Peer Feedback In Virtual Learning Community On Groups' Project-based Products

It has been proved by many studies that project-based learning(PBL)helps students cultivate the skills necessary in the 21 st century,so more and more teachers began to apply project-based learning,a student-centered teaching mode,into their teaching practice.Because many PBL activities are implemented in Virtual Learning Community(VLC)by students themselves out of class,peer feedback in VLC has become an increasingly important approach for students to learning and evaluating mutually,and for teachers to monitoring and guiding students' learning.However,previous relevant studies mainly focused on the application of peer feedback to English writing,rather than the integration of peer feedback and PBL or effects of peer feedback types on groups' project-based products.Therefore,based on relevant theoretical and practical studies abroad and at home,the current study took EFL students who took part in PBL as research subjects to investigate the effects of intra-group peer feedback types in VLC on groups' project-based products,trying to answer the following questions: 1)What kind of feedback do the project groups prefer to give when discussing and exchanging ideas in VLC? 2)How do the peer feedback types that group members prefer to give in VLC influence their project-based products?The subjects of this study were 300 EFL students within 62 PBL groups,all of whom were graded level 3 through the English placement test after enrolment in Chongqing University,coming from the classes of Innovative Curriculum in Chongqing University and taking part in PBL under the instruction and guidance of their teachers for a semester.Through questionnaire supplemented by interviews with students,the author examined the groups' preference for feedback types when they were giving intra-group peer feedback in VLC,then came to the conclusions: when project groups discussed and gave feedback in VLC,the high-score project groups prefer elaborative and affective feedback to verificational feedback,the middle-score project groups have a preference for affective feedback,with no obvious preference for the other two types of feedback,elaborative feedback and verificational feedback,and the low-score project groups show a particular preference for verificational feedback.Among these,elaborative feedback exert greater effect on groups' project-based products,improving groups' project-based products and enhancing the quality of groups' project-based products.Affective feedback may have indirect influence on their project-based products by motivating group members to participate in group discussion,but its effect is less than that of elaborative feedback.Verificational feedback contributes little to further improvement of their project-based products and has little significance on their project-based products.