Peer Response in Second Language Writing Classrooms (The Michigan Series on Teaching Multilingual Writers) by Liu, Jun, Hansen, Jette G. (2002) Paperback

by Jun Liu

Peer response in which students work together to provide feedback on one another's writing in both written and oral formats through active engagement with each other's progress over multiple drafts, has been discussed in L2 writing literature since the early 1980s. While peer response activities have now become a common feature of L2 writing instruction, much of the research in peer response studies presents conflicting data. There is a need for a comprehensive survey of it in an effort to help teachers sort out what may or may not be useful to them in the classroom. Peer Response in Second Language Writing Classrooms was written to fill that void.

Peer Response in Second Language Writing Classrooms will provide teachers with practical guidelines for making peer response effective in the classroom and will offer a theoretical grounding on the purposes and importance of peer review, or feedback, as it relates to current writing instruction pedagogy.

Genres: Teaching

Paperback

First published May 30, 2002

Reviews

[Sunah Chung · Rating 3 out of 5]

In the context of multicultural classroom settings, the writing instructions and related activities could be more complicated and multi-layered. This book, Peer Response in Second Language Writing Classrooms, explores how to encourage peer response activities of culturally and linguistically various students in one classroom. The authors shed light on the effects of peer responses in writing class by adopting theoretical frameworks of process writing theory, collaborative learning theory, Vygotsky’s zone of proximal development, and interaction and second language acquisition (SLA). Possible concerns and drawbacks are also considered with suggested solutions for teachers. For instance, when students do not get along with peers in their group, these authors suggest that a teacher needs to monitor the group and provides a space to share the issues and facilitate the students to solve the problems. Most of the evidence and research have been focused on adult learners.
However, the overall descriptions and solutions of the practices are a bit obvious. I mean concerns, benefits, and suggestions are quite overlapped when I think about second/foreign language speaking classroom settings. The book will be helpful for those who do not have much background knowledge on multicultural classrooms or second/foreign language instructions. Those who prepare for being a teacher in multicultural classrooms would have some advice by reading this book. In addition, authentic examples of feedback on composition would be valuable. I expected to see some samples of peer feedback on their writing as pictures or illustrations, but any of these are not provided.

[Sunah Chung · Rating 3 out of 5]

In the context of multicultural classroom settings, the writing instructions and related activities could be more complicated and multi-layered. This book, Peer Response in Second Language Writing Classrooms, explores how to encourage peer response activities of culturally and linguistically various students in one classroom. The authors shed light on the effects of peer responses in writing class by adopting theoretical frameworks of process writing theory, collaborative learning theory, Vygotsky’s zone of proximal development, and interaction and second language acquisition (SLA). Possible concerns and drawbacks are also considered with suggested solutions for teachers. For instance, when students do not get along with peers in their group, these authors suggest that a teacher needs to monitor the group and provides a space to share the issues and facilitate the students to solve the problems. Most of the evidence and research have been focused on adult learners.
However, the overall descriptions and solutions of the practices are a bit obvious. I mean concerns, benefits, and suggestions are quite overlapped when I think about second/foreign language speaking classroom settings. The book will be helpful for those who do not have much background knowledge on multicultural classrooms or second/foreign language instructions. Those who prepare for being a teacher in multicultural classrooms would have some advice by reading this book. In addition, authentic examples of feedback on composition would be valuable. I expected to see some samples of peer feedback on their writing as pictures or illustrations, but any of these are not provided.