A review of the ESL/EFL learners’ gains from online peer feedback on English writing

Abstract

Peer feedback is essential in writing English as a Second/Foreign Language (ESL/EFL). Traditionally, offline PF was more widely favored but nowadays online peer feedback (OPF) has become frequent in ESL/EFL learners’ daily writing. This study is undertaken to probe into the gains of using OPF in ESL/EFL writing on the basis of 37 research articles published in core journals from 2012 till 2022. In order to accurately cover the previous researches, we capitalize on three methods to evaluate and analyze the data, i.e., database search, citation search and manual search. Results show that from the perspective of the ESL/EFL learners’ gains, the OPF is basically divided into two categories (cognitive OPF and affective OPF), involving eight aspects in all: face-based strategies, revision-based comments, writing performance, learning environment, reflection/critical thinking/responsibility, writing emotion, motivation, and attitudes; and OPF can be well supported by a set of theories like Process-oriented Writing Theory, Collaborative Learning Theory, Interactionist Theory of L2 Acquisition and Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory. By comparison, the gains from OPF outperform those from offline PF in many dimensions (e.g., face-based strategies), despite some overlaps (e.g., the shift of the role) that were revealed in several investigations. Based on the past studies, we propose some pedagogical implications on OPF from ESL/EFL writing, including accenting the “student-centered” teaching strategy, providing students with OPF on the basis of incremental knowledge, adopting OPF regularly in ESL/EFL writing activities to shape personalities and outlooks and putting OPF into its full play with recourse to abundant internet-based vehicles. This review is desired to provide a guideline for both the peer feedback practice and the upcoming scholarly researches with respect to EFL/ESL writing.

Current English Language Teaching Using Production-Oriented Approach: A Systematic Review

“…Song et al highlighted the strategies of practical English teaching in POA and provided references and help for the reform and innovation of practical English teaching (Song & Li, 2023). POA can also benefit students' reading ability (Cao et al, 2022;Li et al, 2022;Tian 2021). It is noteworthy that this approach not only fosters pleasant emotional experiences among the learners but also facilitates the acquisition of essential learning strategies.…”

The Impact of Teacher’s Feedback on Students’ Writing Ability

“…Online feedback is one of the promised educational strategies using online media and the internet to develop students' ability to write argumentative essays (Latifi et al, 2021). Whereas feedback using offline methods referred to a common style such as faceto-face (Cao et al, 2022). The lecturer feedback is a modification of the traditional lecture that can be utilized to engage students with differing learning styles (Ogden, 2013).…”

The effect of web-based peer feedback on students’ writing achievement

“…A substantial body of research has emerged concerning the advantages of CMC tools in enhancing second language (L2) proficiency, particularly within the realm of L2 learners' writing skills (Lai & Li, 2011;Ma, 2020;Zheng & Warschauer, 2017), as well as on the attitudes of students and teachers toward using CMC (Meskill & Anthony, 2007). Likewise, over the past two decades, there has been significant growth in research investigating feedback sources' impact on second language writing (Cao et al, 2022;Latifi et al, 2021).…”