How should peer feedback be implemented in writing class?
49 Meanwhile, in giving feedback in vocabulary area, the students commonly
provided feedback by giving suggestion on word choice, for example: But Æ
however. They gave another option of words that were better to use. The last area was mechanic. The students provided correction on capitalization and spelling to
their peers’ composition although there were a few students who committed with mechanical errors, for example: In that story, the writer always writes a little
word huruf kecil as a beginning of sentence. I think it is false. However, not all of the students gave the feedback for their peers
optimally. Some of them only give the feedback in surface level. It could be seen from some examples of feedback. In answering question number 1 Is the
introduction effective? Explain your answer, some students only answered whether the introduction is effective or not without giving any explanation on it.
The other example was the answers of question number 3 Does the writer support that idea with evidence? What is that evidence?. Some students did not
give the example of evidences in their peers’ composition. They did peer feedback activity as an obligation or task which had to be done. In this case, this kind of
peer feedback was not clear. The students could not get feedback in form of additional suggestions for the improvement of their composition.
3. How should peer feedback be implemented in writing class?
There were some considerations when the teacher planned to implement peer feedback in writing class. The researchers proposed some suggestion for the
implementation of peer feedback in writing class. In order to have effective peer
50 feedback, firstly, the students should be trained. Teacher might apply self
correction before coming to peer feedback. This is for exposing the students to peer practice so that they would not be confused how to give feedback to their
peer. Besides, during the implementation of peer feedback, the teacher still should be involved in the process of peer feedback in class. The teacher should control
the whole class so that the process of peer feedback would run efficiently. The students needed feedback from the teacher after getting feedback from their peers.
Hence, peer feedback should be done before the composition would be submitted to the teacher. Moreover, the teacher should provide a kind of checklist to help
them correct the composition. Although peer feedback should be applied in writing class, it could be
boring if it is applied in every meeting or every assignment. In other words, peer feedback should not be implemented in every meeting or assignment. Peer
feedback is an alternative technique for the teacher in order not to make the student bored with the same technique all the time. In addition, in order not to
make peer feedback monotonous, peer feedback should not only be done in pairs, but also in small groups. Teachers may create more interesting procedure of peer
feedback in writing class. The students may read aloud their compositions in a group or in front of the class and other students give feedback orally. This kind of
procedure is suitable for short writing assignment. It is possible to be applied in writing classes for beginners. However, if the students are in higher level, and
they are asked to write more complex and longer compositions, the procedure of peer feedback should be changed appropriately.
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