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They are focusing on the process of writing that leads to the final product, providing enough time for the students to write and rewrite, providing central importance on
the process, and encouraging feedback from both the instructors and peers.
a. The Importance of Feedback in Writing
The presence of feedback is essential to learning to write in foreign language Hyland, 2003: 207. It is due to the fact that in order to have effective revision, the
students certainly need feedback form their audience. Feedback tells the students information concerning their current behavior for the sake of improvement
Kauchack, as cited in Berewot, 2001: 7. So, feedback is a useful means for the students to improve their writing and, at last, sharpen their writing ability. It could be
concluded that the presence of feedback in writing is considered crucial, as feedback provide the writers with a sense of readers and lead them to the awareness of the
needs of the readers Hyland, 2003: 207. Many sources are available for the students to receive feedback for their
writing. The students may receive feedback from their teachers or friends. The feedback that the students receive mainly comes from their teacher. However,
following Lewis’s argument, teacher usually spends more time on giving feedback 2002: 18. Further, Cohen 1990: 71, states that the teachers commonly give
comments on grammar or mechanics rather than on content and organization. In fact, the students often expect their teacher to give comment more on their content and
organization. This argument is presented by Cohen 1990: 71 as quoted below: It has been observed that a learner’s motivation to write can be
negatively affected by a teacher’s untimely or exclusive focus on surface issues of form e.g. grammatical concerns, spelling, and
punctuation.
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b. What is peer feedback?
It appears that another theory supporting this study is the theory of peer feedback. The work of Richards 1999: 113 points out that in the process of peer
feedback, the students cooperatively work in groups, read, criticize, and then proofread their own writing. From the definition above, it can be concluded that peer
feedback in writing class refers to the process where the students exchange constructive criticism to their peers in order to improve their writing.
Basically, the students may tend to feel more comfortable in having the feedback provided by their teacher rather than their peers. Despite it, implementing
peer feedback is not considered less valuable Chaudron as cited in Cohen, 1990 pg. 112. Even, researchers have suggested teachers to make use of peer feedback more
Cohen, 1990: 112. In order to make peer feedback effective for the students, the teacher should
follow certain guidelines. According to Sokolik 2003: 98, the teacher should provide some kind of structured feedback framework. It is due to avoiding the
students’ being confused on what to give comments. Moreover, the teacher should expose the students to give comments more on the ideas or organizations than on the
grammar or mechanics, as the students often make mistakes the idea of giving feedback or revision with correcting grammar or sentence structure Sommers cited
in Sokolik, 2003 pg. 98. For that reason, it is best for the teacher to spend more time in explaining about the process of pre-writing, drafting and revising separated from
editing for grammar or spelling Sokolik, 2002: 98. It, however, does not imply that the students are not allowed to exchange positive criticism to their peers on their
sentence structure.
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c. The Benefits of Peer Feedback
