Peer Feedback on Writing: The Relation Between Students' Ability Match, Feedback Quality, and Essay Performance

• In Event: 14.024 - Language, Reading, and Writing

Abstract

There does not appear to be consensus on how to optimally match students during the peer feedback phase: with same-ability or different-ability peers. The current study explored this issue in the context of an academic writing task. Adopting a quasi-experimental design, 94 undergraduate students provided anonymous peer feedback on each other’s draft essays. The relations between students’ ability match, feedback quality, and writing performance were investigated. Surprisingly, neither individual ability nor students’ ability match directly related to writing performance, and feedback quality did not depend on students’ ability match. Also, peer feedback quality was not related to writing performance, and authors of varying ability levels benefited to a similar extent from peer feedback on different aspects of the text.

Authors

• Bart Ananda Huisman, Leiden University

• Nadira Saab, Leiden University

• Jan H. Van Driel, University of Melbourne

• Paul van den Broek, Leiden University