Effects Of Peer Feedback On Vocational College Students' Self-efficacy In English Writing

English writing is not only an important skill of English learning,but also a significant indicator of English proficiency.It is generally believed that English writing is a weak link of English language teaching in vocational colleges.Survey studies revealed that vocational college students in general lack writing enthusiasm and confidence,and some students are even afraid of English writing.Writing self-efficacy,originating from Bandura's self-efficacy theory,is regarded as individuals' judgments of their competence in writing,ranging from writing planning,writing implementation,to the achievement of expected writing performance.Research findings have consistently demonstrated that writing self-efficacy is a significant predictor of writing performance and an important indicator of strategy use.Writing self-efficacy is positively related to self-regulation and negatively related to writing anxiety.In addition,Writing self-efficacy has an impact on students' writing interests,motivations,efforts and behaviors.As a result,writing self-efficacy is a vital factor leading to success in writing.Hence,it is necessary to develop a scientific and effective way of teaching to build up students' self-efficacy in English writing,which may provide a promising avenue for the improvement of teaching English writing in vocational colleges.Peer feedback plays an indispensable part in the process approach to writing as well as the multiple feedback mechanisms.Meanwhile,it enjoys some exclusive advantages in the respect of promoting writing interests and diminishing writing anxieties.Based on previous studies,the present study firstly investigates the general situation of vocational college students' self-efficacy in English writing,on the basis of which,then seeks to explore the effects of peer feedback on students' self-efficacy in English writing so as to provide some empirical evidence for the reform of teaching English writing in vocational colleges.Two main research questions are addressed as follows:1.What's the general situation of vocational college students' self-efficacy in English writing? What's the indication of self-efficacy in specific writing tasks and writing skills?2.Does peer feedback exert effects on vocational college students' self-efficacy in English writing? If yes,what's the effects? In what aspects(writing task self-efficacy and writing skill self-efficacy)and to what extent is the difference?Eighty five sophomores from Suzhou Institute of Trade and Commerce were chosen as participants of the present study.These participants came from two intact classes,one serving as the experimental class and the other as the control class.In the experimental class,writing was carried out in the form of peer feedback on the first drafts before submitting for teacher feedback,while in the control class students were asked to do self-feedback on their first drafts,then submit for teacher feedback.Before the experiment,students in experimental class were trained to provide peer feedback.Data collected from pre-and post-questionnaires were typed into SPSS 16.0 for descriptive statistics analysis,Independent Samples Test and Paird Samples Test.A content analysis of students' reflective journals were conducted as well.Research findings are summarized as follows:To begin with,vocational college students at large hold a low level of self-efficacy in English writing,either in writing tasks or in writing skills.Students show a relatively higher self-efficacy in specific writing tasks than in writing skills.In the second place,peer feedback can positively impact vocational college students' self-efficacy in English writing.Furthermore,peer feedback benefits more the improvement of students' writing skills self-efficacy than writing tasks self-efficacy.In all three sub-scales under writing skills self-efficacy,namely skills of language expression,skills of content organization and skills of revision,peer feedback benefits especially the building of self-efficacy in skills of revision and skills of language expression.The present study has confirmed the value of peer feedback in improving students' self-efficacy in English writing,which offers some pedagogical implications for the teaching of English writing in vocational colleges.