Presentation summary: An exploration into how UAE high school students feel about responding and receiving responses from their peers about their writing. The experiment I am going to present aims at showing the audience how motivating using blogs in writing classes can be. Questions are most welcome. Both secondary and tertiary teachers will find the presentation useful. This experiment has been so overwhelmingly successful that participants will try it with their own classes to implement effective peer-feedback routines in their classes. Presenter bio Arini Muntaha has been teaching English for more than 10 years. She earned her MA TESOL Degree at the American University of Sharjah. She is interested in exploring new ideas and techniques for teaching English. She considers using computers in classrooms a major challenge which is worth exploring.

1. Date: 27th April, 2013
Location: Canadian University of Dubai
Muntaha Arini
muntaha5@hotmail.com

2. Outline
 Research Questions
 Literature Review
 Methodology
 Data Analysis
 Conclusion and Implications

3. Research Questions
 What are UAE high school students’ attitudes toward
the idea of written peer response before they
experience it and after they have experienced it?
 Are there any differences between the students’
attitudes towards the idea of written peer response
after they have experienced it? If so, how are their
attitudes different?

4. Literature Review
Definition of Peer Response
There is a minimum of five different, but common
terms that refer to “peer review”: peer critique, peer
evaluation, peer editing, peer response, and peer
review.
(Armstrong and Paulson, 2008)

5. Importance of Peer Response
“When students understand that writing is a
developmental process, they become more confident
in their writing.”
(Sanders, 2000)

6. Liu and Hansen (2000)
Advantages
of Peer
Response
enhance their linguistic
knowledge
develop students’
communication and
social skills
strengthen their
knowledge of writing
students become
responsible for their
own learning

7. (Mi-mi, 2009)
Disadvantages of
Peer Response
Students not having
enough knowledge to
“detect and correct errors”
Students “tend[ing] to
withhold critical
comments so as to
maintain group harmony”

8. Methodology
Participants
Grade 10 public school students
 24 students
 23 students

9. Pilot Questionnaire
 25 Grade 10 students
 Explanation of peer response
 1. Have you ever used peer response in your writing class?
Yes No
 Note to enable students to know not only why they should
respond to the questionnaire but also to encourage them to
respond honestly
 Computer skills

10. Instruments
 Pre-study Questionnaire
 Post-study Questionnaire
 Interviews after the Study

11. Procedure
 Establishing the Blog
 Assigning Writing
 Assigning the groups
 Training

12. Data Analysis & Findings
 Qualitative Data Collected from Close-ended
Questions the Open-ended Question in the Pre-study
& P0st-study Questionnaires, & the Interviews
 Quantitative Analysis of Data Comparing the
Percentages of the Pre-study & the Post-study
Questionnaires

13. Table 2: Students’ Attitude towards Computer-mediated Peer Response before the study
Statements
Strongly Agree
&
Agree
Undecided
Strongly Disagree &
Disagree
1. I think will feel comfortable while I am
correcting mistakes in my peers’ writing.
10
(44%)
6
(26%)
7
(30%)
2. I think I will comfortable when I received
comments from my peers about my
writing.
8
(35%)
4
(17%)
11
(48%)
3. I think my peers can give me useful
comments on my writing.
11
(48%)
4
(17%)
8
(35%)
4. I think peer response will help me
improve my writing ability.
14
(61%)
3
(13%)
6
(26%)
5. I think peer response will make writing
more interesting.
11
(48%)
7
(30%)
5
(22%)
6. I think I will integrate some of my peers’
comments in my writing.
11
(48%)
6
(26%)
6
(26%)

14. Table 4: Students’ Attitude towards Computer-mediated Peer Response after the Study
Statements
Strongly Agree
&
Agree
Undecided
Strongly Disagree &
Disagree
1. I was comfortable while I was correcting
mistakes in my peers’ writing.
21
(91%)
2
(9%)
0
(0.0%)
2. I was comfortable when I received
comments from my peers about my writing.
20
(87%)
1
(4%)
2
(9%)
3. Peers gave me useful comments on my
writing.
18
(78%)
4
(17%)
1
(4%)
4. Peer response helped me improve my
writing ability.
22
(96%)
0
(0.0%)
1
(4%)
5. Peer response made writing more
interesting.
19
(83%)
3
(13%)
1
(4%)
6. I integrated some of my peers’ comments in
my writing.
22
(96%)
1
(4%)
0
(0.0%)
7. I have good computer skills. 20
(87%)
3
(13%)
0
(0.0%)

15. A Comparison between Students’ Attitude Towards Computer-mediated Peer
Response
before and after the Study
-60%
-40%
-20%
0%
20%
40%
60%
Strongly Agree & Agree
Undecided
Strongly Disagree &
Disagree

19. Interviews
 “I will not repeat my classmates’ mistakes in my
writing.”
 “If we had teacher feedback, it would be better.”

20. Open-ended Question
 “I liked writing. I feel eager to write. I look
forward to seeing comments from my
classmates.”
 “It strengthened student-student
relationships, and built student
independent character.”

21. Interviews
 Another student said, “It increased my learning
ability.”
 One student commented, “Google translator is a good
program, but in the end it depends on me. I have to
decide what to follow and what not to follow.”

22. Pedagogical Implications
 It would be a good idea to apply peer response in
writing classes in the UAE. To encourage feeling of
audience.
 peer response need to be followed by teacher response.
 If peer response sessions were formally assigned by the
Ministry of Education, students’ worries about
finishing the text book would vanish.

23. Implications for further Research
 longitudinal studies to examine students’ attitude
towards the effectiveness of peer response in
improving writing in both modes
 studies that involve encouraging students to write for
audiences outside of their schools, students of other
schools
 observation of the improvement of students’ writing
when students from other schools give peer response
on their writing

24. Conclusions
Peer response in ESL writing classes is worth a try
since students have a positive attitude towards it.

25. Response writer: ___________________
Response receiver: ___________________
 Does the story have a suitable title?
 Did the writer use the pronoun I when writing the story?
 Does the topic sentence capture the reader’s attention?
 Is the order of events clear?
 Did the writer include transitions like as a result, because, or in other words?
 Did the writer use details that appeal to the five senses?
 Does the story have dialogue?
 Does the story have a problem and a solution?
 Is the conclusion an end to the narrative?

26. Pre-study &
Post-study
Questionnaire
1. correcting
mistakes in peers’
writing
2. receive comments
from peers
3. useful comments
on writing
4. improve writing
ability
5. make writing more
interesting
6. integrate peers’
comments into
writing
7. Do you have any other comment s or
questions about using peer response?

27. Interview
Questions
1. Usefulness
of responding
to peers
7. Preferred a
particular
person
5. Corrected
writing
carefully
3.Advantages
6.
Improving
peer
response
4.Disadvantages
8. Not to
have a
particular
person
2.Usefulness
of receiving
peer
response