Student Interactions With Instructor and Peer Feedback: Revisions on Writing as a Reiterative Process

• In Event: Reconsidering Writing Assessment

Abstract

Using a micro-level approach, this study investigates how college students in an academic writing course interact with peer and instructor feedback at different stages of the writing process. 146 freshmen students at a Singaporean university participated. A survey and focus group interviews concerning students’ feedback-adopting strategies were conducted. Results show that students’ revision is a reiterative self-regulated process sustained by the different functions of both types of feedback. They serve different roles at different stages – overall, peer feedback identifies initial issues about clarity and prompts divergent thinking while at a later stage, instructor feedback challenges ideas and is deemed more holistic. We concluded that both feedback types complement each other and should be reconceptualized to be equally valuable and indispensable.

Authors

• Yi Chin Hsieh, Nanyang Technological University

• Christopher Hill, Nanyang Technological University