An Emic View on Peer Response and the Actual Revisions in Electronic and Traditional Modes

Abstract

This study describes an "emic" view (i.e., students’ own voice) on the effectiveness of two different types of peer response (i.e., electronic and traditional modes) in returnee writing class context. In order to analyze how the participants of each mode changed their perception toward the peer response, a questionnaire for each mode was given to them at the beginning and ending stages of this research. For more detailed information on the participants' perception towards peer response, an interview was administered at the end of the research. In addition, this study investigates the actual revisions produced by returnee participants. The participants engaged in peer response sessions and exchanged their written peer feedback. The two mode classes followed the same peer response procedures, but the electronic class performed their assigned tasks on blogs. 1) the completed survey items revealed the following: the participants in both modes made progress in perception of peer response; 2) items 2 and 6 were found to be significantly different between electriric and traditional mode. Considering the results, it can beassumed that blogs encourage students to integrate the comments of peers to complete their writings and are effective tools in writing and editing. The student's interviews also indicated that each mode had its own specialties and advantages and can serve as a supplementary medium for effective peer response. After more thorough examination of the actual revision examples, it was reasonable to deduce that there was no notable difference in the quality of the results of utilizing electronic and traditional mode feedback.