A Study On The Effects Of Peer Feedback On The Writing Ability Of Low English Achievers In Senior High School

As an important part of English teaching,English writing teaching has attracted attention from many scholars and high school English teachers.They tried to find effective English teaching methods and strategies to improve the writing ability of English learners.Peer feedback is one of them.It regards students as the center of the class and provides learners with more opportunities to communicate.Due to their poor performance,low English achievers are often ignored,they hardly have chance to communicate with teachers and other students in class.The implementation of peer feedback allows low English achievers to take part in classroom activities,express their opinions and ask questions.But there are still other scholars who don't regard peer feedback as a useful teaching mode.Based on previous studies,this study aims to find out the effect of peer feedback on the writing ability of low English achievers in senior high school by implementing peer feedback in their writing classes.The participants of this study came from two parallel classes in a senior high school in Luoyang,Henan province.They were randomly divided into control class and experimental class.Control class carried out teacher feedback mode and experimental classes implemented peer feedback teaching mode.This research lasted almost 8 weeks and it was proceeded following the three research questions here:(1)Can peer feedback improve the overall writing scores of low English achievers in senior high school?(2)Can peer feedback improve the accuracy,complexity and fluency in the writings of low English achievers in senior high school?(3)What are the attitudes of low English achievers toward the implementation of peer feedback in English writing teaching class? After the experiment,the data collected from the writings of low English achievers in pre-test and post-test in the two classes chosen was analyzed by SPSS 21.0.The research questions were answered based on these data.Besides,the author analyzed the questionnaire,interview and videotape to make a supplementation to answer the research questions of this study.The results showed that peer feedback can improve the overall writing scores of low English achievers in senior high school.Second,participants' use of correct verbs was improved,but peer feedback had no significant influence on correct sentences writing.As for complexity,low English achievers had improved the number of clauses used in their writings,but their use of notional words stayed almost the same.The words produced by participants per minute in experimental class had been improved much,that is to say,peer feedback improved the fluency in their writings.The results of questionnaire,interview and videotape showed that most low English achievers held positive attitudes toward the implementation of peer feedbackin their English classes.They thought they could benefit much from peer feedback.What's more,their writing interests and writing motivations had been enhanced.Some enlightenment can be obtained from this research.As for English teachers in senior high school,they can implement peer feedback in their writing teaching process,it can improve students' learning interests and their learning results can be improved eventually.As for low English achievers in senior high school,peer feedback can promote the relationships between students and they can get feedback in a more easy and accessible way.What's more,Peer feedback is helpful for improving the interests of low English achievers toward foreign language learning and promoting their English writing abilities.So,they should take part in the process of peer feedback as many as possible.