THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES NGUYEN LINH DUY USING PEER FEEDBACK IN IMPROVING 10TH GRADE STUDENTS’ ENGLISH WRITING PERFORMANCE AT A HIGH SCHOOL IN THAI NGUYEN PROVINCE M.A THESIS Field: English Linguistics Code: 8220201 THAI NGUYEN – 2023 THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES NGUYEN LINH DUY USING PEER FEEDBACK IN IMPROVING 10TH GRADE STUDENTS’ ENGLISH WRITING PERFORMANCE AT A HIGH SCHOOL IN THAI NGUYEN PROVINCE M.A THESIS (APPLICATION ORIENTATION) Field: English Linguistics Code: 8220201 Supervisor: NGUYEN THI MINH LOAN, Ph.D THAI NGUYEN – 2023 ĐẠI HỌC THÁI NGUYÊN TRƯỜNG NGOẠI NGỮ NGUYỄN LINH DUY SỬ DỤNG PHẢN HỒI ĐỒNG ĐẲNG TRONG VIỆC CẢI THIỆN KHẢ NĂNG VIẾT TIẾNG ANH CỦA HỌC SINH LỚP 10 TẠI MỘT TRƯỜNG TRUNG HỌC Ở THÁI NGUYÊN LUẬN VĂN THẠC SĨ (Định hướng ứng dụng) Ngành: Ngôn ngữ Anh Mã số: 8220201 Cán bộ hướng dẫn: TS. Nguyễn Thị Minh Loan THÁI NGUYÊN – 2023 DECLARATION I hereby certify that the thesis “Using peer feedback in improving 10th grade students’ English writing performance at a high school in Thai Nguyen” is submitted for the partial fulfillment of the Degree of Master of Arts at the School of foreign languages, Thai Nguyen University. I also declare that this thesis is result of my own research and efforts and that it has not been submitted for any other purposes. Thai Nguyen, April , 2023 Approved by supervisor Author’s Signature: Dr.
Nguyen Thi Minh Loan Nguyen Linh Duy i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First and foremost, I would also like to express my sincere gratitude and deep appreciation to my supervisor, Dr. Nguyen Thi Minh Loan for her precious guidance, critical comments and constructive supervision through my research. Without these, the thesis could not have been completed. Secondly, my gratitude goes to 30 students from class 10A1 at a high school, Thai Nguyen province, who enthusiastically participated in the research procedure.
I am very grateful to all of them for providing detailed information for the analysis of the study. Thirdly, I must express my appreciation to two enthusiastic and supportive colleagues at English department, a high school who accompany me during 10 weeks procedure of the research. Their detailed and sufficient information gives much support to my study. Fourthly, I would like to show my deep gratitude to all the lecturers at School of Foreign Languages, Thai Nguyen University for the valuable lectures, which laid the foundation for my thesis.
Last but not least, I must express my gratitude to my beloved family - my parents, my husband and my daughter whose support and encouragement have always been a great deal of strength that has helped me to complete this thesis. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS. iii LIST OF TABLES.
vi LIST OF FIGURES, DIAGRAMS. viii CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION. Aims of the study. Scope of the study.
Significance of the study. Structure of the thesis .3 CHAPTER II: LITERATURE REVIEW. Definition of writing performance. Aspects of writing performance.
Approaches to teaching writing. Procedure in teaching writing lessons. Feedback in teaching writing. Definitions of feedback.
Types of feedback. Roles of feedback. Peer feedback in teaching writing. Attitude in language learning.
Definition of attitude. Importance of attitude in language learning. Previous studies on the effect of peer feedback on students’ writing .22 CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY. Action research design.
Subjects of the study. Data collection instruments. Data collection procedure. Data analysis procedures .39 CHAPTER IV: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION .1 Findings from the first and final drafts.
Findings from the questionnaire. Question 1: How does peer feedback improve the students’ writing performance?. Question 2: What are the students’ attitudes towards the application of peer feedback in writing performance? .66 CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS. Implications for the teachers and students in using peer feedback.
Implications for teachers of writing using peer written feedback. Implications for students of writing using peer written feedback. Limitation of the study. Suggestions for the further studies.
IV APPENDIX 1: PEER-FEEDBACK CHECKLIST. IV Appendix 2: SYMBOLS FOR CORRECTING MISTAKES. VI Appendix 3: SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE. VII Appendix 4: LESSON PLAN.
IX v LIST OF TABLES Table 2. Three phases in a writing lesson .2: The combination of product method and process method .3: The procedure of using peer feedback .1: Procedures for applying Peer Feedback.1: Student’s improvement after receiving peer feedback .2: Students' giving feedback on grammar .3: Students' giving feedback on grammar after receiving peer feedback .4: Some examples of students giving peer feedback .5: Students' giving feedback on vocabulary .6: Students' giving feedback on vocabulary after receiving peer feedback .7: Examples of students' giving feedback on vocabulary .8: Students' giving feedback on mechanic use .9: Students' giving feedback on mechanic use after receiving peer feedback .10: Examples of students' giving feedback on mechanic use .11: The student's cognitive viewpoints toward the use of peer feedback .12: The student's feelings toward the use of peer feedback .13: The students’ learning behaviors after using peer feedback .57 vi LIST OF FIGURES, DIAGRAMS Figure 3.1: Action Research Model (from Kemmis, McTaggart, & Retallic, 2004) 26 Diagram 4.1: The percentage of students who gave feedback .1: The percentage of students who provided suggestions for the grammatical mistakes .2: The percentage of students who provided suggestions for the vocabulary mistakes .3: The percentage of students who provided suggestions for the mechanic use mistakes. The cognitive viewpoints of the students towards the benefits peer feedback .3: The feelings of the students toward the use of peer feedback .4: The students’ behaviour toward the use of authentic texts .58 vii ABSTRACT The study was conducted with the hope that the result gained could clarify the effects of peer feedback on students’ writing performance at a high school, Thai Nguyen province. Based on the aims, an action research design was employed.
In order to achieve the goals, the researcher conducted the study in 10 weeks with the participation of 30 students from class 10A1 at a high school, Thai Nguyen province in the second semester of the school year 2021/2022. During the procedure of the study, the students participated in writing lessons using the peer feedback method by the teacher. The document analysis and the questionnaire for students were chosen to be the data collection instruments to find out the effects of using the peer feedback method on the students’ writing performance after the intervention. The research results showed that there was a remarkable improvement in the students’ writing performance after the intervention and most of the students had positive attitudes and good behavior towards the use of peer feedback in writing lessons.
Therefore, it was concluded that using peer feedback was one of the good ways to enhance the student's writing performance and it exerted the students' positive attitudes in learning writing. Based on the results, the researcher made some suggestions for teachers to apply peer feedback in teaching writing skills as well as for the students being willing to expose to the method. Finally, some further implications, limitations, and suggestions for further studies were included in this study. Key words: Peer feedback, writing performance, action research.
viii CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION 1. Rationale Learning a second language or a foreign language has always included receiving feedback. In terms of feedback kinds, various researchers have examined the usefulness of instructor feedback in the learning of a second language. Peer assessment is investigated as a kind of feedback in this paper.
In today's world, learning English is no longer solely the responsibility of the language teacher. Furthermore, the teaching and learning of English as a second or foreign language has moved dramatically from a teacher-centered to a student-centered approach. As a result, peer feedback complements teacher feedback and self-feedback, which is one of the most essential forms of feedback in English as a Second Language (ESL) and English as a Foreign Language (EFL). It is a type of collaborative learning that can be pedagogically used to teach English as a second or foreign language.
Peer feedback is beneficial because it assists students in comprehending the assessment criteria and so allows for improvement based on those criteria. It also promotes a better comprehension of the learning subject by highlighting students' strengths and weaknesses, encourages participation, and assists students in comprehending the evaluation requirements. Additionally, as Boud and Falchikov (2006) point out, active student participation in assessment design, choices, criteria, and judgments is a more long-term preparation for later job life. In contrast to other modes of assessment, according to Shepard (2000), peer evaluation encourages students to be more active and productive in a cooperative context.
Peer evaluation is intricately incorporated into and aligned with students' efforts during the instructional process. Peer assessments improve students' sense of responsibility for both the assessment process and the quality of their learning results, which has a positive impact on their personal development. According to Allan and Vallette (1981: 5), many students regard writing to be the hardest subject to study. It is not easy for students to write in English.
They feel bored because their teacher just asks them to open dictionaries when they want to 1 write. Leo et all (2007: 13) shows that problems in writing are as follows: limited vocabulary 8%, difficulty in organizing ideas 16 %, no ideas to write 20 %, no motivation to write 20 % and lack of confidence 36 %. From the experience as a teacher at high school, the writer found some difficulties arising during the process of teaching writing for the students at the pre- intermediate level such as content, organization ideas, language, and mechanic use. In fact, they were complex problems that most teachers encountered while teaching English at high schools.
The consequence of this current issue lied in the learners’ bad performance in writing activities, as in each examination. Therefore, the study focused on four aspects: vocabulary; content and organization of ideas; language use (grammar); and mechanical use because the students lacked these aspects when they wrote in English. It was suggested that using peer feedback should improve learners’ writing skills; thenceforward, boosting learners’ writing performance. This had taken the concern of many teachers.
With the view to measuring the effectiveness of using peer feedback to improve students writing performance, this study had been carried out at a high school, in Thai Nguyen Province in the school year 2021/2022 with the participation of 30 10th grade students. It helped the writer to see whether it could have the same results as the previous research or not. Therefore, the findings of this study was base for the author to decide if peer feedback could be a suitable teaching technique for students at a high school. Aims of the study This study aimed at investigating the effectiveness of the peer feedback process on improving the students’ writing performance.
It also examined the students’ attitudes towards peer feedback during the intervention. To accomplish the aims, the study was carried out with the hope of setting up tentative answers to the two following questions: 1. How does peer feedback improve the students’ writing performance? 2 2. What are the students’ attitudes towards the application of peer feedback in writing performance? 3.
Scope of the study Within the scope of a small-sized research paper, due to the time limitation, this study mainly focused on measuring the effect of the application of using peer feedback in improving writing performance. The setting of the study was in the 2nd term of the academic year 2021/2022. The subjects of the research were 30 10th grade students at a high school, Thai Nguyen Province, who had been learning English for several years. Moreover, within the framework of this thesis, this study examined only peer feedback but not other types of feedback such as teacher feedback.