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A conversation about peer review

This paper is a record of a conversation about how to use peer review and whether it is

an effective approach or not. This conversation include six scholars: Lee, Bedore,

Brammer, Hansen, Simkin, and Inoue and me, the recorder. Several researchers are

invited to UCSB for an academic party and the conversation happens some time after

the party begins.

I: Hi, Inoue! Nice to see you.

Inoue: Me too. Are you student here?

I: Yes. I have heard that you are professional in literature field. Can I ask you a question?

Inoue: Definitely! What is it?

I: Actually, I have just done a project for my writing two class and did a peer review on last

day’s class. Though I pointed out some problems for my peer, she did not give me any

suggestions and instead only said that my essay was great. I know that my essay must have

some imperfections, but my peer was not able to show me how to fix my essay, so I begin to

wonder is peer review really effective and useful?

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Inoue: It is useful definitely! Generally, it involves student in the grading process, which

helps them to learn the grading standards. Moreover, when teachers grade an assignment, the

student will feel that the grade is a final judgement of their writing, but when students do peer

review, they can pay less attention to the grades themselves but instead to comments. This

can make the students reflect their writings and improve their writing skills.

I: What if, the student’s knowledge level is not enough to help the other student improve?

Inoue: At least you can learn to assess writing. Assessment is also an important part of study.

Students should be more actively involved in it. Compared with the process of learning, the

result - whether you managed to improve your essay or not after the peer review - is not so

important.

Lee Manning, who works in education field, joined the conversation.

Lee: Yes, indeed. You can also gain academic achievement, social skills, and self-esteem in

this kind of cooperative learning.

Inoue: I agree with you, Lee.

Lee: And many experts agree with that.

Brammer and Simkin, who have also done research about peer review dropped in

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suddenly.

Brammer: Really? Well that only proves peer review works theoretically, but have you some

more realistic scenes? What’s students’ views about it?

Simkin: Oh, I have done a survey about the students’ perceptions. It shows that most students

(at least 50 per cent) agree with the most parts of peer review.

Brammer: But why do my research show that there are many complaints about it among the

students? Since your survey is held much earlier than mine, is it possible that because the

students are not quite familiar with peer review at your era, they were thus not able to point

out the flaws in it? In these years, as more and more peer reviews are held, increasingly

amount of students have posted their confusions and worries online.

As the conversation gets increasingly intense, Bedore and Hansen, who are literature

workers are attracted.

Bedore: Yeah, and many instructors are also ambivalent about it. Though they all know that

peer review has many profits for their teaching, they are still hesitating because they either

feel that peer review may do harm to new teacher’s construction of authority or confuse about

how to use peer review effectively.

Hansen: I think these teachers and students should be fine with peer review if they have

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followed my guiding principles.

Bedore: No, it is not that easy. The problem is actually complicated.

Brammer: Guiding principles cannot solve all the problems. There are many factors that

could impact how to use peer review and the effectiveness of it. For example, according to

my research, L1 students and L2 students act differently in peer review. By the way, L1

student refers to native speaker while L2 students refer to those who takes the language they

use for writing as the second language. L1 students are usually fine, but L2 students

sometimes feel hesitant to discuss or be not able to point out the pros and cons in their peer’s

essays due to these L2 students’ non-proficiency in language. Moreover, data shows that

students in different majors show different abilities for peer review: computer science major

students are better at this according to Simkin’s research.

I: Yes, I agree with that. I am a L2 student myself, so I do see many differences. For example,

when I work with L1 students, they always read faster than me, and thus they have to wait for

me to finish reading, which makes me embarrassing. Moreover, I feel that I am not really able

to point out my peer’s mistakes. I am not quite sensitive in English articles.

Brammer: You see. That is the problem.

Simkin: What Brammer said about my research is true. Maybe the data of my research is not

thorough because I only record it in a single school. Maybe it should be from several

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different schools in different areas.

Lee: Eh... I did not think that much when I wrote the essay... You know when I wrote the

essay, peer review and cooperative study was still a new concept. Maybe we should listen to

each one’s opinion and combine our methods.

Lee: I personally think cooperative learning requires an understanding of each type of

cooperation in study, of teachers’ roles, group goals, and individual accountability.

Inoue: I agree. The understanding is really important. The students need to understand the

purpose of peer review and how to use it, so does the teachers, and the teachers should teach

the students how to do it. This peer review skill, I think, is better to be taught as early as

possible. The students should also know how to assess other’s work to give suggestions to

their peers.

Hansen: And the students and teachers should make sure to follow the guiding principles I

proposed. They are all combinations of previous researchers’ experiences and my personal

ideas. Teachers should decide when to use peer review and when to add their own comments

as well as give response sheets to students.

Bedore: I am actually considering to create a forum in which old teachers that are already

accustomed with peer review and other cooperative learning methods can persuade new

teachers to use it and teach them how to use it.

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Brammer: Many students have misunderstandings about peer review. Peer review is not

proofreading, it is collaborative learning. Think more broadly while reading your peer’s

essays! Do not rely too much on other people’s experiences since how to do peer review

properly may vary for different persons. Try to find the way that fits you the best.

I: Thank you all for your valuable suggestions. In a nut shell peer review process is not

completely deprived of teacher, teachers need to find the proper timing to get involved.

Moreover, both the students and teachers should learn more about peer review, try different

methods, and find the ways that fit them the best.

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Works Cited

Bedore, Pamela, and Brian O’Sullivan. “Addressing Instructor Ambivalence About Peer

Review and Self-Assessment.” WPA. Writing Program Administration, vol. 34, no. 2,

2011, pp. 11–36.

Brammer, Charlotte, and Mary Rees. “Peer Review from the Students’ Perspective: Invaluable

or Invalid?” Composition Studies, vol. 35, no. 2, 2007, pp. 71–85.

Hansen, Jette G., and Jun Liu. “Guiding Principles for Effective Peer Response.” ELT Journal,

vol. 59, no. 1, 2005, pp. 31–38,

https://doi.org/10.1093/elt/cci004.

Lee Manning, M., and Robert Lucking. “The What, Why, and How of Cooperative Learning.”

The Clearing House: A Journal of Educational Strategies, Issues and Ideas, vol. 64, no.

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3, 1991, pp. 152–56,

https://doi.org/10.1080/00098655.1991.9955832.

Simkin, Mark G., and Nari K. Ramarapu. “Student Perceptions of the Peer Review Process in

Student Writing Projects.” Journal of Technical Writing and Communication, vol. 27, no.

3, 1997, pp. 249–63,

https://doi.org/10.2190/EQWL-PE4G-D2UD-PV9M.

Inoue, Asao B. “Community-Based Assessment Pedagogy.” Assessing Writing, vol. 9, no. 3,

2004, pp. 208–38,

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.asw.2004.12.001.