The effects of peer and teacher feedback: a longitudinal, multi-method study

Despite the considerable amount of research conducted in the area of feedback on English as an additional language (L2) writing, many aspects of the effects of feedback on developing writers are still unknown. Although previous research has compared peer and teacher feedback, there are no published studies comparing peer vs. teacher feedback groups over a period of an entire academic year. Although a number of writers have recommended that teachers tailor feedback to each learner’s needs, there is little published about how one would go about doing this or what effect this might have. Although in the field of L2 writing it has been suggested that teacher feedback results in increased confidence, and that peer feedback has a more positive effect on learner confidence, these views have not been corroborated through research. There is also no research comparing the uptake of peer and teacher feedback longitudinally. In fact, even “…longitudinal research on student improvement as a result of teacher feedback has been virtually nonexistent” (Ferris & Hedgcock, 2005) and recently, several writers have stressed the need for more longitudinal studies on the effects of feedback on L2 writing. This dissertation presents longitudinal research investigating the effects of feedback tailored to individual learners. The first purpose of the research was to address the issues of the effect of source of feedback on the effect of feedback, uptake of feedback, and learner confidence. The second purpose was to address the issue of assessment of feedback processes. This was done in three ways: comparison of the quantity and quality of feedback given by students who were assessed on the feedback they gave with that of students who were assessed only on the final draft of their own essays, comparison of the uptake of teacher feedback by students who were assessed on improvement between drafts with that of students who were assessed only on the final draft of their own essays, and comparison of the students’ perceptions in all different feedback and assessment conditions of the feedback they had received.