BANKING ACADEMY OF VIETNAM FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGUES -----🙞🙜🕮🙞🙜----- GRADUATION THESIS TOPIC: EXPLORING ENGLISH- MAJOR STUDENTS' PERSPECTIVES ON THE ADVANTAGES OF PEER FEEDBACK IN WRITING 3 MODULE: A CASE STUDY OF THE BANKING ACADEMY OF VIETNAM Student : Nguyen Khanh Huyen Class : K22ATCB Academic year: 2019 – 2023 Student ID : 22A7510017 Supervisor : Ms. Nguyen Thi Thu Trang (M.A) i 17014126232441000000 DECLARATIONS As the author of this thesis entitled "Exploring English-major students’ perspectives on the advantages of peer feedback in Writing 3 Module: A case study of the Banking Academy of Vietnam". I hereby declare that this research is entirely my original work and has not previously been submitted for any degree at the Banking Academy of Viet Nam or any other institution. I acknowledge that failure to comply with the aforementioned declarations may lead to disciplinary measures from the Banking Academy, which may include the revocation of my degree.
Hanoi, May 8th, 2023 Signature Nguyen Khanh Huyen i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS To begin with, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my thesis supervisor, Ms. Nguyen Thi Thu Trang (M.A), for her unwavering support, invaluable guidance, and constructive feedback throughout the entire process of conducting this research. Her expertise, patience, and encouragement have been crucial in shaping this thesis. In addition, I am also grateful to the English Department at the Banking Academy for their cooperation and assistance in facilitating the data collection process.
I would like to extend my thanks to the faculty members who granted me permission to conduct this research and to the students who participated in the study. Furthermore, I am indebted to my family and friends for their unrelenting support, encouragement, and motivation. Their unwavering belief in me has been a constant source of inspiration and strength throughout this journey. Last but not least, I would like to express my gratitude to all the researchers and scholars whose works I have referenced in this thesis.
Their insightful and pioneering research has provided the foundation for my own research and has been instrumental in shaping my understanding of the subject. Thank you all for your contributions, encouragement, and support. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATIONS .ii TABLE OF CONTENTS. iii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS.
v LIST OF TABLES. v LIST OF FIGURES .vii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION. Background of the study. Objective of the study.
Significance of this study. Scope and Limitations of the study. Structure of the study. 3 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW.
Definition of academic writing. Importance of academic writing skills for English-major students. Challenges faced by English-major students in academic writing. Peer feedback in English writing.
Definition of peer feedback. Peer feedback in ESL/EFL writing courses. The benefits of peer feedback activities in English writing. Data collection procedure.
Data processing method. 24 CHAPTER 4: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION. Background information on the participants. Frequencies of PF activities in Writing 3.
Students' perceptions regarding PF's benefits for their linguistic abilities in Academic English writing. Students' perceptions regarding PF's benefits for their emotions in academic English writing. Students' perceptions regarding PF's benefits for their critical thinking skills in Academic English writing. Students' perceptions regarding PF's benefits for their social interaction skills in academic English writing.
Critical thinking skills. Social interaction skills. 38 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION. Summary of the results.
Proposals for the future research. 45 iv LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ESL English as a Second Language EFL English as a Foreign Language L2 Second Language PF Peer Feedback SPSS Statistical Package for Social Sciences BAV Banking Academy of Vietnam LIST OF TABLES Table 3. Number of students by academic year Page 22 Page 25 Table 4. Respondent demographics Table 4.
Cronbach's Alpha computed summary statistics Page 26 Page 28 Table 4. The applied scale of measurement v Table 4. Frequencies of PF activities in Writing 3 Page 28 Page 30 Table 4. Students' perceptions regarding PF's benefits for their linguistic ability in academic English writing Page 32 Table 4.
Students' perceptions regarding PF's benefits for their emotions in academic English writing Page 33 Table 4. Students' perception regarding PF's benefits for their critical thinking skills in academic English writing. Students' perceptions regarding PF's benefits for their social interaction skills in academic English writing LIST OF FIGURES Figure 2. Writing process when applying peer feedback activities Page 10 Page 18 Figure 2.
Benefits of Peer Feedback (adapted form the study of Liu and Hansen ( 2002)) vi ABSTRACT The title of the thesis: Exploring English-major students' perspectives on the advantages of peer feedback in Writing 3 Module: A case study of the Banking Academy of Vietnam. Author: Nguyen Khanh Huyen Supervisor: Nguyen Thi Thu Trang ( M.A) Keywords: writing skill, academic writing, feedback, peer feedback. Abstract: The purpose of this study is to investigate English-major students' perspectives on the advantages of peer feedback in the Writing 3 Module in the Faculty of Foreign Languages at the Banking Academy of Vietnam. The sample for this study consisted of 141 students who have completed academic writing classes and have been engaged in peer feedback activities in these classes.
A set of 23 Likert-scale items in an online questionnaire were administered to the students, and the quantitative data collected from the responses of the students was analysed descriptively by SPSS. The research findings revealed that students generally have positive attitudes towards peer correction. A large portion of students agreed that peer feedback aided them in improving their linguistic abilities, emotions, critical thinking skills, and social interaction skills. Therefore, peer feedback activities should be utilized more often to help students become independent and responsible learners.
In addition, additional applications and recommendations for future research are proposed. vii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION This first chapter provides comprehensive information about the context, research objectives, and research questions, as well as the significance and structure of the study. It also emphasizes the investigation's scope and limitations. Background of the study It is well known that learning a second language is a gradual process in which it is normal to make errors at each stage.
Errors are a necessary component of the learning process, which both instructors and students must acknowledge (Davies and Pearse, 2002). Errors are viewed as indicators of what learners are struggling to comprehend, what they have misunderstood, and what requires additional effort (Lavery, 2001). Errors are therefore an indicator of language acquisition progress. In the discipline of second language acquisition, researchers have shown considerable interest in error correction.
Teachers are expected to have a comprehensive understanding of the target language and a zero-tolerance policy regarding errors. It is also considered the most taxing and time-consuming part of a teacher's job (Ferris, 2002). As a consequence, language teachers and researchers have taken a keen interest in learners' errors and feedback on those errors (Diab, 2005; Wang, 2010; Katayama, 2007). In the majority of studies, the importance of feedback, the methods of delivering and receiving feedback, and the effect of feedback on students' writing were deemed to be of the greatest significance (Lee, 2005; Noora, 2006).
However, what has been overlooked in these studies are the learners' and teachers' attitudes towards error correction (Katayama, 2007). Numerous studies on language attitudes have highlighted the significance of language attitudes in the learning process and their contribution to language loss and retention. Gardner (1985) discovered that positive language attitudes can lead to less language loss in the target language. Learners with positive dispositions towards a second language are less likely to lose proficiency in that language.
1 It is undeniable that providing written feedback to students is critical in the process of learning a second language. However, there are still issues about the most effective way to improve learners' writing skills and the approach that is most suited to the demands of certain learners. There are numerous feedback methods used in language training, including instructor correction (with comments), error identification, commentary, teacher-student conferences, peer correction, and self-correction. There has been a discussion of peer feedback in first-language settings (George, 1984; Jacobs, 1987; McKendy, 1990; Herrington and Cadman, 1991).
Witbeck (1976) demonstrated the benefits of peer feedback and enumerated four peer correction techniques. He concluded that peer feedback results in "greater concern for achieving accuracy in written expression among individual students and a more conducive classroom environment for teaching composition's corrective aspects" (p. All of the above arguments have been the driving force behind this study, which is being conducted under the title "Exploring English-major students' perspectives on the advantages of peer feedback in Writing 3 Module: A Case Study of the Banking Academy of Vietnam. Objective of the study The purpose of this study is to find out how students at the Banking Academy's Faculty of Foreign Languages perceive the benefits of peer feedback in academic writing classes.
Some suggestions would be given to enhance peer feedback's effectiveness. In order to achieve this goal, current ATC students from different years are requested to evaluate the merit of various elements of peer feedback activities. Another goal of the study is to help teachers and students decide if peer feedback should be used to raise the standard of teaching and learning activities. Research questions This study aims to investigate the perspectives of students on the advantages of 2 peer feedback in academic writing.
The research question is, “To what extent do students perceive the benefits of peer feedback activities in academic English writing?” 1. Significance of this study This study has substantial relevance to the English writing teaching activity at the Banking Academy of Vietnam. Firstly, it is anticipated that English teachers will have a better understanding of students' attitudes towards peer feedback. The researcher believes this study will contribute to the development of peer feedback-based teaching and learning activities.
Secondly, it will help English teachers determine whether to implement peer feedback techniques in writing teaching. Last but not least, it is anticipated that this study will serve as a resource for other researchers in the same field who wish to delve deeper into the positive attitudes of learners towards peer feedback. Scope and Limitations of the study The main purpose of the study was to determine how English- major students at the Banking Academy's Faculty of Foreign Languages perceive the benefits of peer feedback activities in academic writing courses. A survey was conducted to gather information regarding the perception of peer feedback among students.
However, the study does have some limitations. First, due to the number of participants, the research's findings may not be overgeneralized for other contexts (141 students from the Banking Academy of Vietnam). Second, due to time constraints, the study concentrates solely on the positive attitudes of English language learners towards peer feedback. Hopefully, the study's findings will reflect the status quo and assist major stakeholders in teaching and learning academic writing skills.
Structure of the study The paper is separated into the five sections listed below: Chapter 1: Introduction. This chapter discusses the background information for the study, including the rationale for choosing the topic, the study's goals, significance, 3 scope, and limitations. Chapter 2: Literature Review. This chapter describes the theories that are compatible with academic writing, peer feedback, the benefits for students when giving and receiving peer feedback in an English writing class, and previous studies.
Chapter 3: Research Methodology. This chapter provides information about the research context, participants, and primary data collection method. Chapter 4: Results and Discussion. This chapter includes descriptive data as well as a detailed discussion of the results.
Chapter 5: Summary and Recommendation. This chapter provides a summary of the study’s results and some recommendations for enhancing the quality of peer feedback in writing. It also points out limitations and prospects for the future. Summary: Chapter 1 of the study introduces the importance of errors and feedback in language learning, particularly in writing skills.