Peer critique

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Peer critique, a specialized form of critique, is the common practice of writers reviewing and providing constructive criticism of each other's work before that work is turned in for credit or professional review. Writers in many genres and professions including fiction writers and technical writers use some form of peer critique as part of their process of writing. It is also commonly used as an instructional technique in school writing settings. Peer critique may also be referred to as peer review, writing groups, writing circles, or writing workshop.

Contents

In action

In the classroom

Peer critique has long been used as part of the process of teaching writing from primary school to secondary and post-secondary education. In traditional classrooms power and authority can often be teacher-centric, [1] with teachers correcting work to their own vision of ideal writing. [2] Many researchers have found that peer critique offers a complementary style of feedback [3] [4] [5] [6] Whereas teacher feedback may focus on general comments and error correction, peers tend to give specific, deep comments on the work before them rather than correcting to an ideal. [7] Peer critique, furthermore, is used to help students to become better reviewers of their own work and more self-regulated learners. [8] When working on similar assignments, this method of group learning can be used to help students understand audience reception of their work in a group of peers. In his groundbreaking 1973 book Writing without Teachers, Peter Elbow [9] stated a powerful argument for peer-only writing classes, eliminating the teacher from the process entirely. Many informal writing groups still use Elbow's methods for peer critique.

Peer critique is said to have two primary goals: 1) to get feedback from peers in order to make revisions and edits to their papers and 2) to learn how to give feedback to peers. [10] Related to this second goal, peer critique has been found to be useful to those who provide critiques, helping students to develop analytical and critical thinking abilities and become better able to judge their own writing. [11] Proponents of using peer critique in the classroom say that it prepares students for lifelong learning and writing by practicing group feedback techniques they may use throughout their school years and into their professional lives. [12]

Although widely used, there are some critiques of using peer critique in classrooms. Most of these critiques revolve around student difficulty giving meaningful feedback to their peers. Students who have little experience critiquing work may not yet have the skills to make meaningful revision suggestions on other peoples' writing. Instructors who scaffold, or provide specific models and expectations for peer review processes experience better outcomes for student learners. Students may also be uncomfortable sharing their unfinished work with their peers, prompting discussions about the writing process, rewriting, revising, and editing. Finally, students may feel that incorporating feedback from their peers makes their work less their own. [13]

Outside the classroom

Peer writing groups have existed for a long time. Writing groups evolved over time from social "clubs" and chautauquas to the many types of groups we have today, including online peer critique sites. [14] [15] [16] Hundreds of peer critique websites—some free and some paid—exist for texts written in English. [17]

Notable historical writing groups include the following: [18] [19]

Current and historical face-to-face writing groups have been popular because they provide a social atmosphere where participants can brainstorm and also get feedback on their writing. Many popular historical writing circles have included artists, writers, poets, philosophers, and other social activists. Peer critique in these circles provides a social outlet, a place for ideas to germinate, and accountability for writing in progress.

Online

Anonymity adds an extra dimension to peer critique. If unstructured, anonymous reviews can result in a negative culture spiral and has led to the withdrawal of certain online critique websites. However, if structured, online reviews can provide rapid, valuable independent feedback to writers.

Some critique websites use data science to remove bias from structured review data. These sites use a simple form of artificial intelligence to identify which submissions readers are finding the most appealing.

Methods

Face-to-face critiques

The most traditional form of peer critique, both inside and outside the classroom, is face-to-face. In this method, writers gather together in person and discuss each other's work in detail. In more formal writing groups members of the group might take different roles, or take turns providing their work for feedback. Face-to-face writing groups (also known as writing circles, writing groups, or workshops) can be a source of great support and encouragement for writers in what is sometimes a lonely endeavor. Providing a sense of community and accountability, they can help writers stay on track and receive the support they need to complete large projects. The greatest challenge for informal groups is keeping a face-to-face critique group together; many fall apart quickly due to lack of commitment, personality conflicts, or hurt feelings. [20]

Online writing classes

In recent years with the advent of the Blackboard Learning System, Canvas, and similar online teaching tools (see LMS), it has become possible to take writing courses entirely online. In online courses, students generally give each other feedback on writing in message-board style posts, though some instructors may allow for anonymity in posting responses. Comments are usually brief. Teachers must beware of the "pile-on effect" of students merely echoing what teachers and previous commenters have mentioned; it will be useful for teachers to apply lessons from peer critique websites, which have functioned online for many years. Some instructors may, for example, arrange students into small synchronous groups for discussion, mitigating overwhelming feedback from the entire class.

Online critique sites

Since at least 1985, with the Compuserve Books & Writer's Forum, writers have formed writing spaces online where they can discuss writing, share resources, and critique work[ citation needed ]. There are many active critique sites now, catering to all levels and genres of writers; the popular website Reddit has a sub-reddit dedicated to writing critique, titled critique my writing., while another popular forum, www.writingforums.com, is dedicated to writing and online critique. Other peer critique sites include Youwriteon and The Pen Factor.

Types of critique sites

Online peer critique sites tend to vary by:

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peer review</span> Evaluation of work by one or more people of similar competence to the producers of the work

Peer review is the evaluation of work by one or more people with similar competencies as the producers of the work. It functions as a form of self-regulation by qualified members of a profession within the relevant field. Peer review methods are used to maintain quality standards, improve performance, and provide credibility. In academia, scholarly peer review is often used to determine an academic paper's suitability for publication. Peer review can be categorized by the type of activity and by the field or profession in which the activity occurs, e.g., medical peer review. It can also be used as a teaching tool to help students improve writing assignments.

Collaborative writing, or collabwriting is a method of group work that takes place in the workplace and in the classroom. Researchers expand the idea of collaborative writing beyond groups working together to complete a writing task. Collaboration can be defined as individuals communicating, whether orally or in written form, to plan, draft, and revise a document. The success of collaboration in group work is often incumbent upon a group's agreed upon plan of action. At times, success in collaborative writing is hindered by a group's failure to adequately communicate their desired strategies.

Criticism is the construction of a judgement about the negative or positive qualities of someone or something. Criticism can range from impromptu comments to a written detailed response. Criticism falls into several overlapping types including "theoretical, practical, impressionistic, affective, prescriptive, or descriptive".

Instructional scaffolding is the support given to a student by an instructor throughout the learning process. This support is specifically tailored to each student; this instructional approach allows students to experience student-centered learning, which tends to facilitate more efficient learning than teacher-centered learning. This learning process promotes a deeper level of learning than many other common teaching strategies.

Cooperative learning is an educational approach which aims to organize classroom activities into academic and social learning experiences. There is much more to cooperative learning than merely arranging students into groups, and it has been described as "structuring positive interdependence." Students must work in groups to complete tasks collectively toward academic goals. Unlike individual learning, which can be competitive in nature, students learning cooperatively can capitalize on one another's resources and skills. Furthermore, the teacher's role changes from giving information to facilitating students' learning. Everyone succeeds when the group succeeds. Ross and Smyth (1995) describe successful cooperative learning tasks as intellectually demanding, creative, open-ended, and involve higher-order thinking tasks. Cooperative learning has also been linked to increased levels of student satisfaction.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Composition studies</span>

Composition studies is the professional field of writing, research, and instruction, focusing especially on writing at the college level in the United States.

Computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) is a pedagogical approach wherein learning takes place via social interaction using a computer or through the Internet. This kind of learning is characterized by the sharing and construction of knowledge among participants using technology as their primary means of communication or as a common resource. CSCL can be implemented in online and classroom learning environments and can take place synchronously or asynchronously.

A course evaluation is a paper or electronic questionnaire, which requires a written or selected response answer to a series of questions in order to evaluate the instruction of a given course. The term may also refer to the completed survey form or a summary of responses to questionnaires.

Formative assessment, formative evaluation, formative feedback, or assessment for learning, including diagnostic testing, is a range of formal and informal assessment procedures conducted by teachers during the learning process in order to modify teaching and learning activities to improve student attainment. The goal of a formative assessment is to monitor student learning to provide ongoing feedback that can help students identify their strengths and weaknesses and target areas that need work. It also helps faculty recognize where students are struggling and address problems immediately. It typically involves qualitative feedback for both student and teacher that focuses on the details of content and performance. It is commonly contrasted with summative assessment, which seeks to monitor educational outcomes, often for purposes of external accountability.

Online tutoring is the process of tutoring in an online, virtual, or networked, environment, in which teachers and learners participate from separate physical locations. Aside from space, literature also states that participants can be separated by time.

Social learning tools are tools used for pedagogical and andragogical purposes that utilize social software and/or social media in order to facilitate learning through interactions between individuals and systems. The idea of setting up "social learning tools" is to make education more convenient and widespread. It also allows an interaction between users and/or the software which can bring a different aspect to learning. People can acquire knowledge by distance learning tools, for instance, Facebook, Twitter, Khan Academy and so on. Social learning tools may mediate in formal or informal learning environments to help create connections between learners, instructors and information. These connections form dynamic knowledge networks. Social learning tools are used in schools for teaching/learning and in businesses for training. Within a school environment, the use of social learning tools can affect not only the user (student) but his/her caretaker as well as his/her instructor. It brings a different approach to the traditional way of learning which affects the student and his/her support circle. Companies also use social learning tools. They used them to improve knowledge transfer within departments and across teams. Businesses use a variety of these tools to create a social learning environment. They are also used in company settings to help improve team work, problem solving, and performance in stressful situations.

Peer assessment, or self-assessment, is a process whereby students or their peers grade assignments or tests based on a teacher’s benchmarks. The practice is employed to save teachers time and improve students' understanding of course materials as well as improve their metacognitive skills. Rubrics are often used in conjunction with Self- and Peer-Assessment.

Peer feedback is a practice where feedback is given by one student to another. Peer feedback provides students opportunities to learn from each other. After students finish a writing assignment but before the assignment is handed in to the instructor for a grade, the students have to work together to check each other's work and give comments to the peer partner. Comments from peers are called as peer feedback. Peer feedback can be in the form of corrections, opinions, suggestions, or ideas to each other. Ideally, peer feedback is a two-way process in which one cooperates with the other.

Revision is a process in writing of rearranging, adding, or removing paragraphs, sentences, or words. Writers may revise their writing after a draft is complete or during the composing process. Revision involves many of the strategies known generally as editing but also can entail larger conceptual shifts of purpose and audience as well as content. Within the writing process, revision comes once one has written a draft to work with, so that one can re-see and improve it, iteratively. Working at both deeper and more surface levels a writer can increase the power of the text.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Computers in the classroom</span> The use of computers in school

Computers in the classroom include any digital technology used to enhance, supplement, or replace a traditional educational curriculum with computer science education. As computers have become more accessible, inexpensive, and powerful, the demand for this technology has increased, leading to more frequent use of computer resources within classes, and a decrease in the student-to-computer ratio within schools.

Online communication between home and school is the use of digital telecommunication to convey information and ideas between teachers, students, parents, and school administrators. As the use of e-mail and the internet becomes even more widespread, these tools become more valuable and useful in education for the purposes of increasing learning for students, and facilitating conversations between students, parents, and schools.

Mobile computer-supported collaborative learning may have different meanings depending on the context in which it is applied. Mobile CSCL includes any in-class and out-of-class use of handheld mobile devices such as cell phones, smart phones, and personal digital assistants (PDAs) to enable collaborative learning.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Flipped classroom</span> Instructional strategy and a type of blended learning

A flipped classroom is an instructional strategy and a type of blended learning, which aims to increase student engagement and learning by having pupils complete readings at home and work on live problem-solving during class time. This pedagogical style moves activities, including those that may have traditionally been considered homework, into the classroom. With a flipped classroom, students watch online lectures, collaborate in online discussions, or carry out research at home, while actively engaging concepts in the classroom, with a mentor's guidance.

Google Classroom is a free blended learning platform developed by Google for educational institutions that aims to simplify creating, distributing, and grading assignments. The primary purpose of Google Classroom is to streamline the process of sharing files between teachers and students. As of 2021, approximately 150 million users use Google Classroom.

Social media in education is the practice of using social media platforms or technology to enhance the education of students. Social media is defined as "a group of Internet-based applications that build on the ideological and technological foundations of Web 2.0, and that allow the creation and exchange of user-generated content". Social media platforms can be used as a strategy to complete assignments or projects in a technical way. Public service announcements and service learning can be done by students as these activities help enhance a student's learning experience and grant them the ability to learn in an online, interactive way.

References

  1. ↑ Goodfellow, R. (2001). Credit where it is due: Assessing students’ contributions to collaborative online learning. In D. Murphy, R. Walker, & G. Webb (Eds.), Online learning and teaching with technology (73–80). London: Kogan Page.
  2. ↑ Gere, A. R., & Stevens, R. (1985). The language of writing groups: How oral response shapes revision. In S. W. Freedman (Ed.). The acquisition of written language: Response and revision (85–105). Norwood, NJ: Ablex.
  3. ↑ Cho, K., Schunn, C. D., & Charney, D. (2006). Commenting on writing: Typology and perceived helpfulness of comments from novice peer reviewers and subject matter experts. Written Communication, 23, 260–294.
  4. ↑ Topping, K., (1988). Peer assessment between students in colleges and universities. Review of Educational Research, 68(3). 249–276.
  5. ↑ Topping, K., Smith, E. F., Swanson, I., & Elliot, A. (2000). Formative peer assessment of academic writing between postgraduate students. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 25(2), 149–169.
  6. ↑ Saito, H., & Tomoko, F. (2004). Characteristics and user acceptance of peer rating in EFL writing classrooms, Language Teaching Research, 8(1), 31–54.
  7. ↑ Caulk, N. (1997). Comparing teacher and student responses to written work. TESOL Quarterly, 28(1), 181–188.
  8. ↑ Newman, Carole (2014). "Using peer critique to promote learning". New Horizons in Adult Education and Human Resource Development. 26 (3): 66–70. doi: 10.1002/nha3.20074 .
  9. ↑ Elbow, P. (1973). Writing without Teachers. New York: Oxford University Press.
  10. ↑ Heinert, Jennifer (2017). "Peer critique as a signature pedagogy in writing studies". Arts and Humanities in Higher Education. 16 (3): 293–304. doi:10.1177/1474022216652767. ISSN   1474-0222. S2CID   148487766.
  11. ↑ Brown, J. (1984). Helping students help themselves: Peer evaluation of writing. Curriculum Review, 23, 47–50.
  12. ↑ Heinert, Jennifer (2017). "Peer critique as a signature pedagogy in writing studies". Arts and Humanities in Higher Education. 16 (3): 293–304. doi:10.1177/1474022216652767. ISSN   1474-0222. S2CID   148487766.
  13. ↑ Spigelman, Candace (1998). "Habits of Mind: Historical Configurations of Textual Ownership in Peer Writing Groups". College Composition and Communication. 49 (2): 234–255. doi:10.2307/358932. ISSN   0010-096X. JSTOR   358932.
  14. ↑ Gere, A. R. (1987). Writing groups: History, theory and implications. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press.
  15. ↑ Gere, A. R., & Abbot, R. D. (1985). Talking about writing: The language of writing groups. Research in the Teaching of English, 19, 362–379.
  16. ↑ Gere, A. R., & Stevens, R. (1985). The language of writing groups: How oral response shapes revision. In S. W. Freedman (Ed.). The acquisition of written language: Response and revision (85–105). Norwood, NJ: Ablex.
  17. ↑ "Free Writing Feedback - Lists of Free Writing Critique Websites - Christopher Fielden". www.christopherfielden.com. Retrieved 2021-08-31.
  18. ↑ "The greatest book bubbles from history". www.penguin.co.uk. Retrieved 2021-08-30.
  19. ↑ Voices, Inked. "Inked Voices | Small, online critique groups for writers". www.inkedvoices.com. Retrieved 2021-08-31.
  20. ↑ Elbow, P. (1973). Writing without Teachers. New York: Oxford University Press.
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