Enhancing peer feedback practices through screencasts in blended academic writing courses

Abstract

The case study presented in this paper investigates the roles that the Moodle workshop activity module and peer feedback screencast training have on the development of formative peer feedback practices in low level English academic writing classes. The development of 26 first-year Japanese students’ peer feedback practices were tracked over 6 separate feedback sessions. The findings indicate that without training, students produced vague and unhelpful peer feedback. However, the intuitive structure of the Moodle workshop module and screencast feedback training sessions helped develop the skills necessary to offer critically evaluative feedback that proved useful for essay revision. Further findings show that although students were initially reluctant to offer feedback written in English, their use of the target language increased with adequate practice. Finally, student perceptions of their own abilities point to a highly significant relationship between screencast feedback training and improvement in peer feedback practices. These results suggest that the combination of the Moodle workshop activity module and feedback training screencasts facilitate effective peer feedback practices even in low level L2 academic writing courses.