Project Abstract

<p> </p><p><strong>ABSTRACT</strong></p><p>The poor performance of students in essay writing has raised a lot of concern to teachers of English language and other stake holders in education. Poor performance in essay writing leads to poor performance in English language and this will consequently hinder students’ ambition for higher studies and job opportunities. This study was designed to find out the influence of peer assessment on students achievement in English essay writing in Owerri Zone 1 of Imo state. The study also sought the effect of gender and location on students achievement in English essay writing. Five research questions and five hypotheses guided the study. The design was a non equivalent control group quasi-experimental design involving the use of intact classes for experimental and control groups. Four schools in Owerri Zone 1 educational zone were selected by purposive random sampling technique. The population comprised of all SS11 students. The sample for the study was 167 students drawn from one intact class of each of the four schools selected. The English Essay Achievement Test (EEAT) was adopted as the instrument for data collection. Lesson plans for the experimental and control groups were developed validated and used for the pretest and the post- test assessments. Mean and standard deviation were used to answer the research questions while analysis of covariance was used to test the hypotheses at 0.05 alpha level of significance. Major findings of the study was that students taught English essay writing using peer assessment performed better than students with teacher assessments. It was also found that female students had a higher mean score than their male counterparts. Based on these findings, it was recommended that stakeholders in education administration incorporate peer assessment in the curriculum to facilitate teaching and learning. Teachers of English language should be trained and retrained to enable them engage students in peer assessments activities.</p> <br><p></p>

Project Overview

<p> </p><div><p>Introduction </p><p>Using peer feedback as a model in process writing became popular in teaching English language skills. This is in agreement with the growing focus on peer and collaborative learning that cater for the real processes experienced by students while writing and lead to creativity (Paulus, 1999, Clenton, 2006). This model involves collaborative learning in</p><p>which students review and evaluate each other’s writing and offer each </p><p>other’s with feedback. The process has a number of benefits as it </p><p>enhances understanding of the learning process and; therefore, improves </p><p>the quality of the final assignment (Paulus, 1999). Moreover, peer </p><p>feedback is a fundamental part of the learning process as it can motivate </p><p>students as they have a sense of audience, and improve their learning </p><p>(Mogahed, 2009; Liu and Carless, 2006; Tsui and Ng, 2000; Zhang, </p><p>1995; Tang and Tithecott, 1999). </p><p>A number of studies reported that the process of providing feedback </p><p>on peers’ work increases the opportunity of meaningful interaction with </p><p>peers and maximizes the opportunity of sharing new ideas as well as </p><p>understanding different perspectives on the writing process&nbsp;</p><p>(Liu and Hansen, 2002; Tsui and Ng, 2000; Zhang, 1995). Other studies </p><p>emphasized that peer feedback has the potential of improving students’ </p><p>perceptions of learning from their classmates and viewing them as&nbsp;&nbsp;</p><p>‘legitimate sources of knowledge” (Gehringer et al., 2005, p.321). This</p></div><div>can in turn change the traditional idea that the teacher is the sole person </div><div>who can disseminate knowledge and evaluate their work, thus paving the </div><div>way for the introduction of a collaborative and participatory learning </div><div>atmosphere (Paulus, 1999). </div><div>The following section briefly offers a theoretical framework on peer </div><div>feedback, which is followed by a brief section about what is meant by </div><div>peer feedback. </div><div> </div><div>Theoretical Framework </div><div>Peer feedback is deeply rooted in several theoretical frameworks </div><div>including collaborative interactionist learning theory, Vygotsky’s Zone </div><div>of Proximal Development. Vygotsky (1978) stresses the importance of </div><div>negotiation of meaning among learners in developing their cognitive </div><div>skills and promoting social interaction. Vygotsky (1978) deems that </div><div>interactions with other peers will help learners achieve their full potential </div><div>through what he called students’ “zone of proximal development” </div><div>emphasizing the distance between the learners’ developmental level and </div><div>the higher level that they can arrive at through peer interaction. </div><div>Peer response is also supported by interactionist theories of Second </div><div>Language Acquisition (SLA), which hold that learners need to be </div><div>encouraged to negotiate meaning to facilitate second language </div><div>acquisition (Long and Porter 1985). Gas and Selinker (1994, p. 217) </div><div>emphasized the importance of “negotiated interaction" and considered it </div><div>to be very important in second language acquisition. </div><div>Thus, peer feedback emphasizes the importance of social context and </div><div>social interactions in creating a better understanding for the learning </div><div>process (Halliday, 1978; Berkenkotter and Huckin, 1995; and Swales, </div><div>1990). This understanding is achieved through engaging students in </div><div>meaningful and problem-solving activities that promote their critical </div><div>thinking skills and creativity rather than receiving and memorizing </div><div>information. Learners construct their knowledge in a social context and </div><div>through interactions with others when they are involved in social&nbsp; <div>activities and real life situations that enable them to obtain knowledge </div><div>through discussions and applying what they obtained in new situations. </div><div>These processes have a number of benefits such as increasing self-</div><div>confidence and the ability to negotiate meaning and reach consensus with </div><div>peer in a non-threatening environment, thus increasing the opportunity of </div><div>active participation and maximizing interaction among learners (Johns, </div><div>1997). </div><div>To conclude, peer feedback provides learners with opportunities that </div><div>help them to improve their learning in a conducive environment and to </div><div>take part in a meaningful dialogue. </div><div>The following sections provide a brief definition of what is meant by </div><div>peer feedback, its advantages, limitations and challenges and literature review of studies related to the topic.<div> </div><div><br></div> </div> </div> <br><p></p>