Peer correction in teaching the writing skill to efl secondary school students

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING VINH UNIVERSITY NGUYEN THI HOAI VAN PEER CORRECTION IN TEACHING THE WRITING SKILL TO EFL SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS MASTER’S THESIS IN EDUCATION Supervisor: Dr Tran Thi Ngoc Yen Nghệ An, 2016 i MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING VINH UNIVERSITY NGUYEN THI HOAI VAN PEER CORRECTION IN TEACHING THE WRITING SKILL TO EFL SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS Field: Theory and Methodology of English Language Teaching Code: 60141011 MASTER’S THESIS IN EDUCATION Supervisor: Dr Tran Thi Ngoc Yen Nghệ An, 2016 i DECLARATION I confirm that this is my own research, and that it has not been published or submitted for any other degrees Candidate’s signature Nguyen Thi Hoai Van ii ABSRACT The main aim of this thesis is to examine the way EFL secondary school students at Nghi Phu Secondary School respond to their peers’ writing and the effectiveness of peer written correction In order to obtain adequate information for the study, document analysis of students’ peer written correction and a survey were carried out The participants involved in the study were 60 secondary students at Nghi Phu Secondary School The analysis of the participants’ peer written correction revealed that the students gave feedback on different of aspects writing, especially grammar and vocabulary Also, the study results showed that the peer written correction is effective to students’ learning to write Although it was found that peer written correction enhanced the participants’ writing ability, most students at Nghi Phu Secondary School still have difficulties in indicating mistakes and providing suggestions to improve their peers’ writing Based on the findings, the researcher provided some suggestions to improve the teaching and learning of writing using peer correction iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my deepest thanks to my supervisor, Dr Tran Ngoc Yen for her invaluable support, useful guidance and comments I am truly grateful for her advice and suggestions right from the beginning when this study was only in its formative stage I would also express my gratitude to all the teachers of the English department at Vinh University for their constructive and insightful comments, constant support as well as suggestions for this paper Especially, I am grateful to the students for their actively taking part in completing the writing tasks and answering the survey questionnaire Without their help, this paper could not have been completed Finally, my special thanks go to my friends and my family who have been beside me and have encouraged me a lot to fulfill my study iv TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION ii ABSRACT iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS iv TABLE OF CONTENTS v LISTS OF TABLES AND FIGURES viii LISTS OF FIGURES ix CHAPTER INTRODUCTION 1.1 The rationale of the study 1.2 Aims of the research 1.3 Significance of the study 1.4 Scope of the study 1.5 Methods of the study 1.6 Organization of the paper CHAPTER THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 2.1The writing skill 2.1.1 Definition of writing 2.1.2 The reasons for teaching writing 2.1.3 Writing skill in L1 and in L2/ FL 2.1.4 Assessing writing ability 2.1.4.1 Teacher assessing students 2.1.4.2 Students assessing themselves 10 2.2 Teaching English writing 11 2.2.1 Approaches in teaching English writing 12 v 2.2.2 The Product Approach 13 2.2.3 The Process Approach 13 2.3 Correction in writing instruction 15 2.3.1 Definition of correction 15 2.3.2 Types of correction 17 2.3.3 Principle for correction 19 2.4 Background of peer correction 19 2.4.1 Definition of peer correction 19 2.4.2 Peer correction activities 24 2.4.3 Peer correction and its impact on reducing mistakes and developing writing skill 25 2.4.4 Principles of peer correction 27 2.4.5 Advantages and disadvantages of peer correction 28 2.4.5.1 The advantages of using peer correction 28 2.4.5.2 The disadvantages of using peer correction 29 2.4.6 The new roles of the teacher and the students in using peer correction 31 CHAPTER THE STUDY 32 3.1 The current situation of teaching and learning writing at Nghi Phu secondary school 32 3.2 Methodology 32 3.2.1 The participants 33 3.2.2 Instrumentation 33 3.2.3 Data collection procedure 35 CHAPTER RESULT AND DISCUSSION 39 vi 4.1 ANALYSIS OF QUESTIONNAIRES 39 4.1.1 Students’ general information 39 4.1.2 Students’ attitudes towards peer correction method 42 4.1.3 Comparison of students’ confidence before and after the experiment 43 4.1.4 Students’ opinions after peer correction treatment 46 4.1.5 Students’ perceived difficulties when giving written feedback to their peers’ paper 47 4.1.5.1 Students’ perceived difficulties in indicating the mistakes in their peers’ writings 48 4.1.5.2 Students’ perceived difficulties in providing suggestions for the mistakes in their peers’ paper 50 4.2 ANALYSIS OF TESTS 52 CHAPTER CONCLUSION 57 5.1 Summary and discussion 57 5.2 Recommendations 58 5.3 Limitations 59 5.4 Suggestions for further studies 60 REFERENCES 61 APPENDICES……………………………………………………………….64 vii LISTS OF TABLES AND FIGURES Table :Approaches to teaching writing skill 13 Table :The number of students in the two groups 33 Table :Procedures of data collection .35 Table :Scoring scale for writing test .36 Table :Results of questionnaire A 42 Table :Results of questionnaire B, part 43 Table 7: Results of questionnaire B, part II .47 Table 8: Students’ perceived difficulties in indicating the mistakes in their peers’ papers 48 Table 9: Students’ perceived difficulties in providing suggestions for the indicated mistakes in their peers’ writings .50 Table 10: The control and experimental groups’ pretest and posttest results 53 viii It is thought that peer work is difficult to manage in a writing lesson In fact, however, students enjoy working with partners to share ideas, and group writing seems a good stimulus The teacher should keep walking around the class so as to check students’ work at the same time to encourage them to study by giving help immediately when they need It is advisable for the teacher to arouse learners’ intrinsic interest of the activity, to improve both their awareness of developing the skill and their realistic awareness of their personal strengths and weaknesses in such a challenging subject The more motivated a learner is, the more energy he devotes to the subject matter The teacher should play an active role as a facilitator to keep students confident in peer writing learning The teacher’s instruction should be brief, easy to understand and clear so that all students know what they have to These keep students maintain their commitment to the writing lesson and avoid confusion 5.3 Limitations Although great effort has been made by the researcher while carrying out the experiment, there have been still limitations as follows: Firstly, due to the administrative constraints, the samples of the experiment were not randomly assigned and two naturally occurring classes were selected by the researcher for the purpose of the study This might lead to the fact that the results drawn out from the research are not yet in a position to be generalized Secondly, the research is an experimental research in psychology Accordingly, there might be random variability stemming from individual differences which influences the results of the experiment despite the fact that the researcher has tried to select two compatible groups 59 Despite all the aforementioned limitations, the author hopes that the study will make a contribution to the better situation of teaching and learning writing skill Nghi Phu Secondary School 5.4 Suggestions for further studies The following suggestions should be taken into consideration for future research: (1) The present research only examines confidence in writing, future studies can focus on what are students’ perceived difficulties when giving feedback to their peers’ writings? (2) Future studies can focus on peer response applied to other skills like speaking or reading 60 REFERENCES Black, P J., & Wiliam, D (1998) Inside the black box: Raising standards through classroom assessment London: King’s college London School of Education Brown, H.D (1994).Teaching by principles: An Interactive Approach to Language Pedagogy, Prentice-Hall Regents: Englewood Cliffs, NJ Hedge (1990), Cohen, A (1990) Language Learning: Insights for Learners, Teachers, and Researchers Heinle and Heinle Publishers Coit C (2004) Peer review in an online college writing course.Proceedings of the IEEE international conference on advanced learning technologies, 902-903 Coupe, N (1986) Evaluating teachers’ responses to children’s writing In J Harris & J Willkinson (Eds.), Reading children’s writing: A linguistic view London: Allen andUniwin Ferris, D R., & Roberts, B (2001) Error feedback in L2 writing classes: How explicit does it need to be? Journal of Second Language Writing, 10, 161–184 Freeman, M (1995) Peer Assessment by Groups of Group Work Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 20(3), 289-300 Guerrero, M.C.M & Villamil, O.S (1994) Social cognitive dimensions of interaction in L2 peer revision The Modern Language Journal, 78, 484-496 Guerrero, M.C.M & Villamil, O.S (2000) Activating the ZDP: mutual scaffolding in L2 peer revision The Modern Language Journal, 84, i, 51-68 Hedge, T (2000) Teaching and learning in the Language classroom Oxford University Press Harmer J (2001), The Practice of English Language Teaching, London: Longman Hedge, T (2000) Teaching and learning in the Language classroom Oxford University Press Hirose, K (2009) Cooperative learning in English writing instruction through peer feedback Aichi Prefectural University L Jiao, (2007), Application of cooperative learning in teaching college English writing US-China Foreign Language, (5) (2007), pp 31–44 61 Lin, S S J., Liu, E Z F., & Yuan, S M (2002) Student Attitudes toward Networked Peer Assessment: Case Studies of Undergraduate Students and Senior High School Students International Journal of Instructional Media, 29(2), 241-254 Liu, E Z F., Lin, S S J., & Yuan, S M (2002) Alternatives to Instructor Assessment: A Case Study of Comparing Self and Peer Assessment with Instructor Assessment under a Networked Innovative Assessment Procedures International Journal of Instructional Media, 29(4), 395-404 Jordan, R (1997) English for academic purposes: A guide and resource book for teachers Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Knight, P (2001) A briefing on key concepts: Formative and summative, criterion and norm-referenced assessment, assessment series No.7 York: LTSN Generic Centre Lambert, D & Lines, D (2000) Understanding assessment: purposes, perceptions, practice (London and New York, RoutledgeFalmer) McGroartry, M.E., & Zhu, W (1997) Triangulation in classroom research: a study of peer revision Language Learning, 47:1, 1-43 Merlin C., W (1986) Students’ thought processes New York Miller, C.M.I & Parlett, M (1974) Up to the Mark: a study of the examination game Guildford: Society for Research into Higher Education National Research Council (2001) Knowing what students know; The science and design of educational assessment Washington, DC: National Academy Press National Research Council 1996.National Science Education Standards Washington, DC: National Academy Press Nunan D (1992), Research Methods in Language Teaching, Cambridge: CUP Oshima A & Hogue A (1991), Writing Academic English, Addison-Wesley Publishing Company P Rollinson, (2005 ), Using peer feedback in the ESL writing class ELT Journal, 59 (1) (2005), pp 23–30 Pellegrino, J W., & Goldman, S R (2008) Beyond rhetoric: Realities and complexities of integrating assessment into classroom teaching and learning In C A Dwyer 62 (Ed.) The future of assessment: Shaping teaching and learning (pp 53-82) New York: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Radecki, P M., $ Swales, J M (198) ESL students for error-correction in college-level writing classes Foreign Language Annals, 24, 203-218 Radecki, P M., $ Swales, J M (198) ESL students for error-correction in college-level writing classes Foreign Language Annals, 24, 203-218 Rollinson (2005) Rollinson, P (2005) Using peer feedback in the ESL writing class, ELT Journal, 59 (1), 23-29 Using peer correction in teaching writing Retrieved Saturday December 13th 2012 from http://www.ukessays.com/essays/languages/using-peer-correction-in-teachingwriting.php T Kamimura (2006), Effects of peer feedback on EFL student writers at different levels of English proficiency: A Japanese Context TESL Canada Journal, 23 (2) (2006), pp 22–34 L Jiao, (2007), Application of cooperative learning in teaching college English writing Topping, K J (2000) Peer assisted learning: A practical guide for teachers Cambridge, MA Bookline Book Tsui, A B M., & Ng, M (2000) Do secondary L2 writers benefit from peer comments? Journal of Second Language Writing, 9(2) 147-170 Ur P (1996), A Course in Language Teaching: Practice and Theory, Cambridge: CUP Using peer correction in teaching writing Retrieved Saturday December 13th 2012 from http://www.ukessays.com/essays/languages/using-peer-correction-inteaching-writing.php Williams, J (1957), Teaching writing in second and foreign language classroom London: McGraw Hill 63 APPENDIX A: QUESTIONNAIRESA (for students before experiment) This questionnaire is designed to provide information for my research on peer correction in teaching the writing skill to EFL secondary students Its purpose is to find out students’ attitude towards peer response Please feel free to write down as all details will be strictly confidential Part 1: General information How long have you been learning English? < years 2-5 years 6-8 years What you think about learning writing skill? a important b very important c c not very important If it is your choice, you wish to study writing in English? a Yes, why b No, why c No answer Are you confident in doing writing exercises? a Yes, very confident b A little c No, not very confident Part 2: Attitude towards peer correction Please put a cross (X) under the number that best describes the level of your agreement (5 = Completely agree; = Agree; = Undecided; = Disagree; = Completely disagree) Do you agree with the following statements? Peer correction stimulates students’ confidence and activeness 64 2 It’s interesting and useful to read and give comment on others’ writings Giving peer correction helps to develop critical reading skill Peer correction activities helps learners to enhance communicative competence, promotes second language development Peer correction increases students’ confidence in writing Peer response provides chances to build strong classmate relationship and gives students a sense of group cohesion Thank you very much for taking the time to complete this questionnaire! 65 APPENDIX B: QUESTIONNAIRESB (for students after experiment) This questionnaire is designed to provide information for my research on peer correction in teaching the writing skill to EFL secondary students Its purpose is to find out students’ attitude towards peer response Please feel free to write down as all details will be strictly confidential Student’s attitude towards peer correction: Please put a cross (X) under the number that best describes the level of your agreement (5 = Completely agree; = Agree; = Undecided; = Disagree; = Completely disagree) Part 1: Do you agree with the following statements? Peer correction stimulates students’ confidence and activeness It’s interesting and useful to read and give comment on others’ writings Giving peer correction helps to develop critical reading skill Peer correction communicative activities competence, helps learners promotes to second enhance language development Peer correction increases students’ confidence in writing Peer correction provides chances to build strong classmate relationship and gives students a sense of group cohesion Part 2: Your attitudes about peer correctionafter the treatment: 1 You really enjoy peer correction activities because they give you good opportunity to share your concerns with others 2 Your revisions based on peer correction are much better not only in vocabulary and grammar but also in expression and organization 3 You feel more confident when you use English to exchange 66 thoughts and experience with others Your writing skill improved a lot after applying peer correction method Part 3: What are your perceived difficulties when giving feedback to your peers’ writing? (Please choose an option that best describes the level of your agreement for each statement and fill in the space provided.) (EA=Extremely agree; A=Agree; U=Undecided; D=Disagree; SD=Strongly disagree) You have difficulties in indicating the mistakes related to: Aspects Level of your agreement a The use of verbs b The use of articles c Punctuation d Prepositions e Word order f Word choice g Word form You have difficulties in providing suggestions to improve: Aspects Level of your agreement a The use of verbs b The use of articles 67 c Punctuation d Prepositions e Word order f Word choice g Word form Thank you very much for taking the time to complete this questionnaire 68 APPENDIX C: GENERAL TEST A Vocabulary and structures (6ms) I Underline the most suitable word or group words ( 5ms ) The weather is fine enough for us … camping (A to go B going C go D be going) She always tries her best to study please her parents A in order B in order to He ran too … for us to catch up C so as in D so that (A fastly B fastest C fast D faster) Nam pop music .classical music A likes / to B prefers / to C likes / better D likes / to carefully helps us things well.(A Think B Thinking C Thought D To thinking) The children aren’t old enough to look after A themselves B ourselves C herselves D for themselves We ought the wardrobe in the corner opposite the bed A put B push C to put D to push When I was a child, I follow my Mom to the market A used to B like C get used to They'll arrive Monday, 14 July.( A in B at C during 10 We must be there 7.30 and 10.30.(A at B before D on ) C between D after - …………………………… 11 Would you like some orange juice ? A Sorry, but I can’t D usually B Yes, I would C No, I wouldn’t D No, thanks 12 On the old days, people …………… think that boys were more important than girls A were used to B used to C are used to 13 Yesterday was Sunday so we (A didn't went D be used to B didn't go C don't go D not go) to school 14 Playing soccer and going fishing are ………………… A outside activities C outdoor activities B outdoor activity D outside activity 15 My friend told me (A doesn't open B not to open C to not open D open ) the door 69 16 They are (A beauty B beautifully C beautiful 17 (A Going camp B Going camping D beauting) singers C Go camping D went camping) in the summer is fun 18 She visited her grandfather (A in B on C at D of) December 30th 2004 19 Could you me a favor ? ………………… (A No C Yes, please B Yes, I could D what can I for you ? ) 20 My mother (A used to take B used to took C use to take D use take) ……………………………part in the social activities II Choose the right form of the verb in the brackets to fill in the blanks (1m) What you (do) ? We (have) dinner I usually (go) ………to school by bike, but yesterday my father (take) ……… me to school by motorbike B Reading (2ms) Dear mom, I'm very happy to tell you that I'm going to join the Y & Y Green Group of my school The Green Group is holding an environmental month plan We are going to clean the banks of the lakes on weekends We are going to plant trees and flowers in the school garden and water them every afternoon after class We are planting young trees and plants to sell to other schools We hope that we can give more green color to the city and earn some money for our school Y&Y The program is very interesting and useful, isn't it? I will tell you more about the group activities later Love Hoa I Choose true or false (1m ) Hoa is going to join the Y & Y Green Group of her school The Green Group is holding a camping trip The program is very uninteresting and useful Hoa and her friends are planting young trees and plants to sell to other schools 70 II Answers ( 1m ) When is Hoa going to plant trees and flowers in the school garden? - Does Hoa want to earn money for her school? - C Writing (2 ms) I Arrange the given words to make meaningful sentences (1m) to / She / asked / me/ this /give / you / dictionary A She asked me to give you this dictionary B She asked me give you to this dictionary C She asked to me give you this dictionary D She asked me give you this to dictionary Should / every/ day /speak/ English/ You A You should English speak every day B You speak should English every day C You should speak every day English D You should speak English every day II / Change the sentences into reported speech (1m) “Can you give me a hand” He told me "We should speak English fluently" The boys said that 71 APPENDIX D: PRE TEST Exercise1 Write a thank you note to your friend Dear …… , Thank / you / much / present / sent / me It / be / nice I / like / much I / wore /it / my birthday I / be / sorry / you / not / my birthday party / You / be / free / nextSunday? You / go / the concert / me ? I / have / two/ tickets We / meet / each other / p.m? I / hope / you / come I / love / see / you Yours, Anne …………………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………… Exercise Write abou your last weekend ( 80- 100 words) …………………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………………… 72 APPENDIX E: POST TEST (45 minutes) Exercise1 Write a postcard to a friend about your trip Dear …… , How/be/ you? My class /just return/ a trip/ Halong Bay.Halong Bay/ Quang Ninh province /We/ spend/ days/ there/ and/ I/ not want/ to leave Although/ it/ summer,/ it/ quite cool/ night/ Weather/ wonderful/ and/ sights/ beautiful I/ love/ stay/ here I/ buy/ many gifts/ my mother/ you What/ you/ plan/ during/ the summer vacation? Write/ me /after/ exams Yours friend, Anne Dear ……… , …………………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………………… Yours friend, Anne Exercise2 Write a letter to your friend to talk about your last vacation (100-120 words) …………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………… 73 ...MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING VINH UNIVERSITY NGUYEN THI HOAI VAN PEER CORRECTION IN TEACHING THE WRITING SKILL TO EFL SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS Field: Theory and Methodology... adjustments in the teaching method of the instructor The books, articles and internet sources on peer response method for teaching writing are collected to examine the history of the fields and... approaches in teaching writing will be discussed Lastly, the study will provide micro skills in writing and tasks and activities in writing classes 2.2.1 Approaches in teaching English writing There