Peer Assessment in EFL Writing Classes

This article presents the findings of a seven-week case study which set out to investigate the benefits of integrating peer assessment into university level EFL writing classes and examine its impact on students’ social skills. The study was carried out with 17 B1 English proficiency level students studying at an English preparatory programme of a foundation university. First, the students were introduced to using rubrics to assess a written product. Then, each week after the students had composed a writing, a paragraph for the first three weeks and an essay for the remaining four weeks, they were asked to anonymously assess one of their friends’ writing by using the relevant rubric and filling in the peer assessment form. In addition, the students were interviewed in the 3rd week of the study in order to capture their early impressions regarding what they liked most and least about peer assessment as well as what they learnt from being an assessor and being assessed. The same interview was conducted again on the last day of the study to find out whether the participants changed their opinions. The results revealed that students benefited from peer assessment activities as they improved their understanding of the rubrics over time, which lead to more quality writings; they felt more accountable not only for their own learning but also that of their friends’, which promoted a cooperative learning environment in which students offered quality feedback to each other; and finally they improved their collaboration and problem-solving skills, which contributed to their social skills which are in parallel with the needs of modern society and can be utilised outside the school environment