When Students Produce and Receive Peer Feedback at University: Emotions for Learning

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to study students’ perceptions of their learning in relation to feelings/emotions when producing and receiving peer-to-peer feedback as part of a continuous assessment for learning scenario. Results show that producing and receiving peer feedback create positive emotions that can increase motivation and involvement in the tasks, deactivating negative emotions that can decrease motivation and involvement, and activating negative emotions that can promote learning. Emotions of doubt and destabilization regarding content mastery can generate a need to learn, which, combined with some degree of evaluative pressure and sense of responsibility, seem to represent a real trigger for learning. This study shows that it is particularly important to consider the emotional dimensions when implementing peer assessment at university.