Gaby Lawson looks at the benefits of peer feedback with presentations and how to introduce this into teaching.
Research into peer feedback of undergraduate presentations at Monash University concluded that by getting and giving peer feedback on their presentations, students: felt they were more engaged; felt a sense of responsibility, and reflected more on their own presentations when peer assessment had been introduced into their course.
Peer feedback is now a common feature of many courses because many researchers, universities, as well as secondary schools and their teachers believe that it:
- empowers students to use assessment criteria to improve
- reduces the power imbalance between teachers and students
- increases student autonomy and independence
- is motivating, due to the increase in autonomy
- encourages collaborative learning
- helps students to understand the gaps in their own learning; in other words, improves metacognitive skills
- builds student confidence
- gives students a reason to listen to others’ presentations.
How can we successfully introduce peer feedback into English language teaching?
Step 1:
Starr Sackstein (2017) suggests you need to have a supportive classroom environment in which students respect each other and each other’s work. If students feel comfortable about making mistakes in front of others, they will be more able to engage in the process. Start the course with clear rules on mutual respect, elicited from the students themselves.
Step 2:
Show students the value of peer feedback. Ask yourself why they need to do this task and what they will learn from peer feedback. If students understand why they need to have these skills, they will be more engaged in the task.
Step 3:
Students need to be familiar with and understand the marking criteria as they will have to use them. Sometimes criteria are difficult for even native speakers to understand. Sackstein (2017) suggests breaking the criteria into sections and asking students in groups to rewrite the criteria in their own words.
Step 4:
Train students in the principles of giving good feedback. (See my previous blog). TES Teachers TV recommends the following for peers giving feedback:
- be as specific as you can
- extend your feedback statements with detail and examples
- say two things which were positive
- set actionable targets.
Step 5:
Give students a clear model of what a good presentation is and what is not a good presentation, according to the criteria. Ask them to practice rating models or pre-recorded videos in pairs first before rating their peers’ actual work.
Step 6:
If you are using peer feedback in class, you need to break down the process for students a lot and teach then how to give and receive feedback step-by-step. A simple way to introduce the culture of peer feedback is asking students to exchange lecture notes and discuss differences and gaps in understanding. You can build on that by using peer assessment tools. Put students into pairs and threes and ask them to complete:
- “Two Stars and a Wish”: Students write two positive comments (stars) and one constructive comment (wish) about another students’ work
- TAG: Tell something you like/ Ask a question/ Give a positive suggestion
- Plus, Minus, What’s Next: What was done well, what needs work and what strategies could be used to improve on the performance.
Step 7:
Put students into pairs or groups of three to give and receive feedback, rather than one person or group standing up and being assessed by the whole class. This can be quite stressful and confronting. Students will be more comfortable feeding back with a small group.
Step 8:
Provide prompts and sentence starters for students such as: “What you did well was…/I noticed that you…/What I have learned from your work about how to improve my own work was…/The strongest part of your presentation was…/What you could improve is…/Next time, why don’t you…”. Set aside a realistic amount of class time for learner training using the strategy in Step 3, as well as providing students with phrases they can use.
Step 9:
Some typical mistakes learners have with giving feedback are: being too harsh, not being constructive or picking on tiny errors. If you notice a student or students are not giving feedback effectively to other students, ask them to see you after class and go back over the process you have taught them. Ask them to stick to the assessment criteria, try to see the bigger picture and use the strategies in Step 6.
Step 10:
Finally, it is important to have a feedback-rich classroom. At the end of the lesson, ask the students for feedback on your teaching. Try using a question such as “Was giving and getting peer feedback on the presentations useful?” You can use an exit ticket, a minute paper, a Google Form or Post-It notes to collect student feedback. From this, you can adjust the lesson if it isn’t working or there is no culture of feedback in the class.
Conclusion
Giving and receiving peer feedback is an essential skill for learners in the 21st century, whether their path is academia or the workplace. Tailoring these steps to your teaching environment should help you establish a feedback-rich environment. This will empower students to understand how they are being assessed and provides an authentic communicative task for your language learning classroom.
Read more from Gaby on Giving effective feedback on presentations part 1 and part 2.
References
Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership. (n.d.). Peer feedback. Melbourne, Australia. Retrieved from: https://www.aitsl.edu.au/docs/default-source/feedback/aitsl-peer-feedback-stratedy.pdf?sfvrsn=372dec3c_2
Davidson, N. (2007, September). Peer assessment ideas for secondary students. TES. Retrieved from: https://www.tes.com/teaching-resources/blog/peer-assessment-ideas-secondary-students
Langan, M. and Wheater, P. (2003). Can students assess students effectively? Some insights into peer-assessment. Learning and Teaching in Action, 2 (1). Retrieved from: http://www.celt.mmu.ac.uk/ltia/issue4/langanwheater.shtml
Spiller, D. (2012). Assessment Matters: Self-Assessment and Peer-Assessment. (pp.10-17) Teaching Development. Hamilton: The University of Waikaito. Retrieved from: https://kennslumidstod.hi.is/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/assessment-matters-self-assessment-and-peer-assessment.pdf
(TES) Teachers TV. (2011, May 21). Modern foreign languages peer assessment.
Retrieved from: https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/teachers-tv-peer-assessment-6083170
Verkade, H. & Bryson-Richardson, L. (2013). Student acceptance and application of peer assessment in a final year genetics undergraduate final presentation. Journal of Peer Learning. (6) pp1-18 Retrieved from: https://research.monash.edu/en/publications/student-acceptance-and-application-of-peer-assessment-in-a-final-
Zhao, H. (2008). A comparison study of peer and teacher feedback for the development of Chinese English majors’ EFL writing proficiency. Phd. Dissertation. University of Bristol.
Sackstein, Starr. (2017): Peer feedback in the classroom: Empowering students to be experts. Alexandria, VA. ASCD.-