Peer and Teacher Feedback in a Foreign Language Research Writing Course: A Case Study of Doctoral Students’ Perspectives in Finland

Daniela Maria Coelho

doi:10.30564/jler.v3i1and2.2243

Peer and Teacher Feedback in a Foreign Language Research Writing Course: A Case Study of Doctoral Students’ Perspectives in Finland

Daniela Maria Coelho (Abu Dhabi University)

Article ID: 2243

DOI: https://doi.org/10.30564/jler.v3i1and2.2243

Abstract

The provision of feedback on student work has been a common and even recommended practice across levels of education throughout the years. In the field of academic writing pedagogy, giving feedback has become a crucial part of the teaching/learning process given that composition skills are quite intricate and difficult to master, requiring a cycle of continual drafting, feedback and re-drafting until a final version is produced. Teacher feedback appears to be the most utilized in current classrooms, with peer feedback beginning to be applied in many disciplines as well in recent times. Nevertheless, it appears that most research studies on the uses and the benefits of teacher and peer feedback focus on undergraduate students with graduate students’ voices less contemplated in this regard. Considering this potential research gap as well as the fact that doctoral students often are more skilled and competent writers, this study analyses these students’ attitudes and views toward the need of teacher and peer feedback in a research writing in English course delivered in a Finnish university with a mix of international and local students. The results seem to indicate that both types of feedback, but specifically a combination of both, were well-accepted and highly-regarded by these students, particularly as far as reader-friendliness is concerned.

Keywords

Teacher feedback, Peer feedback, Research writing, Doctoral students

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