A Study On The Effects Of Integration Of Teacher And Peer Feedback On High School Students' English Writing Instruction

How to effectively conduct English writing teaching and improve students' writing level are increasingly valued by linguists and front-line teachers.As the commonly used feedback in writing teaching,teacher feedback and peer feedback have been investigated by many scholars from various angles.However,there are few researchers paying attention to the effectiveness of the combination of teacher feedback and peer feedback.It is even more scarce to probe into the effectiveness of teacher plus peer feedback to students in different groups.Against such a research background,this study is designed to investigate the effects of teacher plus peer feedback on high school students' English writing instruction.The ultimate goal of the study is to put forward some suggestions for further writing teaching.For this purpose,this study seeks to answer three research questions:1)What effects does teacher plus peer feedback have on students' English writing performance?2)What effects does teacher plus peer feedback have on students' English writing performance in different groups(high-score group,middle-score group and low-score group)?3)What are the reasons for the effects of teacher plus peer feedback on students' English writing performance?In order to answer the above three questions,the author takes Zone of Proximal Development Theory,Noticing Hypothesis Theory and Collaborative Theory as the theoretical framework,adopting the mixed design of quantitative and qualitative approaches.The experiment period is 4 months and there are 5 writing exercises.The subjects of this study are 80 students who are in two natural classes in Grade 2.The students in experiment class are taught by the teacher with the application of teacher plus peer feedback while the students in control class are taught with the application of teacher feedback.For the quantitative part,there are three tests for 80 students in two classes and a questionnaire for 40 students in EC.For the qualitative part,an interview is made after the experiment and 6 students in EC are selected.The data analysis generates the following results.Firstly,the results of the tests indicate that teacher plus peer feedback can improve students' English writing performance.After the experiment,there is a significant difference between the English writing scores of students in EC and students in CC(Sig.<.05).Students of EC perform better than students of CC in the English writing results.Secondly,the results yielded from the tests reveal that teacher plus peer feedback has different effectiveness on improving the students' English writing performance in different groups.Teacher plus peer feedback is more beneficial to students in middle-score and low-score groups(Sig.<.05)and brings about greater improvement in their writing performance.However,it doesn't make any significant difference on the students' writing performance in high-score group.Thirdly,the results of questionnaire and interview show that there are two main reasons for the effects of teacher plus peer feedback on students' English writing performance.On the one hand,students' increasing interest in English writing lays a solid foundation for the improvement of their writing performance.After the experiment,there are more students who are less afraid of English writing and more satisfied with their writing results.They are more confident in improving English writing and have a longer attention span in the class.On the other hand,a relatively relaxed learning atmosphere provides a good environment for students to improve their writing performance.The relationship of student-student and student-teacher becomes increasingly harmonious and there is more discussion among students and teachers.The major findings generated from this study may have some pedagogical implications:Firstly,teacher feedback and peer feedback should be used appropriately.With the proper application,the professionalism and comprehensiveness of teacher feedback can be absorbed by students.At the same time,the participation and practicality of peer feedback become a complement to teacher feedback.Secondly,different feedback should be given to students in different groups.Teachers should change teaching strategies based on the students' writing performance.To some extent,students in middle-score group and low-score group should be given teacher plus peer feedback while students in high-score group,however,should be given teacher feedback.Thirdly,collaborative learning should be strengthened.With harmony atmosphere,students can promote their subjective initiative,exchange their different thoughts and become increasingly interested in English writing.