Impacts of providing online teacher and peer feedback on students’ writing performance

Abstract

This study aimed to identify the effectiveness of online teacher with peer feedback provided on students’ writing performance. Some experts state that both teacher and students feel that teacher feedback on the students’ writing is essential, and it is believed to be the most effective feedback. On the other hand, the practice of peer feedback is supported by the theory of Vigotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development which holds that the cognitive development of individuals result from social interaction where individuals can learn from each other. Furthermore, with the development of technology, it is more interesting to integrate information and communication technology ICT in EFL writing classes. Hence, this study investigated the combination of these three aspects - teacher feedback, peer feedback, and Edmodo - and looked at the impact on the students’ writing performance. This study was a quasi-experimental, which involved 55 English Department students in a state university in Indonesia. These students were grouped into the experimental group and the control group. The result of this study revealed that the students having the online teacher and peer feedback provided through Edmodo did not perform better in writing than those who experienced teacher feedback in the conventional method.