Peer Response in an Indonesian EFL Writing Class: A Case Study

This article is based on my research on writing. The article was presented in the International Conference on Educational Research and Development (ICERD) held by State University of Surabaya (UNESA) on 5 December 2015. It was published in the ICERD Proceedings with ISBN: 978-979-028-799-0. Please click here to download it to be your article references.

ABSTRACT

This article explores peer response in an Indonesian EFL writing class. It reports on the findings of a study conducted at the State Islamic Institute of Palangka Raya in Central Kalimantan Indonesia to investigate:
(a) what areas of peer response were focused on; (b) why the points of peer response were incorporated or not incorporated into revisions; (c) the suitability between peer response and writer expectation; and (d) what aspects of writing were improved with peer response. Research methodology included examining and analyzing drafts of peer response activities (the first and revised versions of student writing) of each session, questionnaire result, and interview transcription from peer response sessions. Results show that the areas of peer response gained from each session of peer response activities were focused much on the idea development, grammar, and mechanic. The points of peer response were incorporated into revisions because of its advantages to the developments of an essay in terms of grammar, essay structure and coherence, and were not incorporated into revisions because of irrelevant feedback. The suitable area between peer response and writer expectation was in terms of grammar accuracy. During peer response activities students engaged in the improvement of their writing ability, and the most improvements of the writing aspects were content and grammar.

Keywords: peer response, written feedback, EFL writing class, writing ability, expository essay.