Effect of Peer Assessment and Peer Feedback on the English Language writing Skills of Punjab University's Undergraduate Students

Abstract

For a student in Pakistan, writing skill is one of the most challenging English language skills to excel in. Despite its importance in the curriculum, it is still the least developed skill among the ESL students. Ineffective teaching methodology and the outdated assessment criteria may be seen as its two main reasons. Peer assessment and peer feedback practices have proved fruitful in enhancing the writing skills of the students, in some contexts across the world, specifically in countries where English is a second/ foreign language. However, there is a lack of empirical studies at undergraduate level in Pakistan. Therefore, this quasi- experimental study aimed to investigate the effect of peer assessment and peer feedback on the writing skills of undergraduate students at University of the Punjab. A Multiple Time Series design was employed, and data was collected from the students during five interventions based on peer assessment of the essays. The scores as well as content analysis of the essays helped the researcher to analyze the results of the study regarding the effectiveness of peer assessment and feedback on the writing skills of the students. Moreover, the perceptions of the students about peer assessment and peer feedback were explored through pre and post questionnaires. Furthermore, perceived benefits and challenges of these assessment practices were inquired from the students through focus group discussions, analyzed through thematic analysis. The findings reveal that although there was an improvement in some aspects of writing skills of the students, yet in the Pakistani context, these assessment practices failed to present any substantial learning achievement as compared to traditional teacher-based assessment practices. The perceptions of the students did not reflect much significant change as well, but they were able to perceive certain benefits and identify the challenges involved, after their experiences. The results of the study, specifically focus group iii discussions, also reflected that peer assessment and peer feedback may be more beneficial if they are complemented with self and teacher‘s assessment. Multiple peer assessors for peer assessment and feedback may prove advantageous and most importantly, the teachers and students must be thoroughly trained for it.