Peer response on writing in a Swedish EFL classroom. A study from a student perspective

Abstract

Peer response is a widely researched subject, however, research of it is lacking in the Swedish context, in spite of it being part of the Swedish curriculum for English (Skolverket, 2011a). It has proven to be beneficial for students, but mostly on university level thus far (see for example Zhao, 2014; Min, 2005; Cheng & Warren, 2005). Having taken this into consideration, this study set out to answer how students in one class at a Swedish upper secondary school perceive peer response, as well as if the use of peer response affects their writing. In order to answer these questions a questionnaire was administered to 23 students, and seven interviews were conducted. The students’ writing was also collected both prior to, and after having used peer response in order to make an analysis of the changes in their writing possible. The study shows that the students preferred receiving feedback to giving feedback, but still considered themselves learning much through the act of the latter. Analysis of their writing also indicates that they did learn through using peer response, as both the content and form of their writing showed improvements in their final drafts. Finally, the results of this study indicate that the students did benefit from using peer response, and that they themselves also perceived it as beneficial and were willing to work with it more.