Peer feedback has been of paramount importance in second language (L2) writing given that L2 learners especially need the facilitative role of feedback in improving their writing skills. Despite recent research highlighting the benefits of peer feedback in L2 writing, there is a call for more qualitative studies situated in classroom contexts to explore the continuous flow of peer feedback in a social community including technology-enhanced interactive social settings. This case study takes the students at a university in Turkey as the center of the peer feedback process and explores how L2 writers (n = 35) using student blogs for online peer evaluation in the naturalistic setting of an academic writing course perceive online peer feedback in L2 writing. This qualitative study adopted a case study design using the data from students’ essays (210 essays), blog-mediated peer comments (on 35 student blogs), and self-reflection papers (105 reflections). The data was analyzed through Braun and Clarke’s inductive thematic analysis. The analysis resulting in four themes revealed that peer feedback experienced in an online writing community improved students’ ability to perceive and use feedback effectively by creating opportunities for a shared understanding of peer feedback and establishing a writing community and also enhanced students’ critical thinking skills as an essential aspect of the writing process. This study provides insights into the student experience of online peer feedback in L2 writing, highlighting the importance of creating a supportive and collaborative learning environment to foster effective feedback practices and enhance the students’ L2 writing skills.
When construct-irrelevant sources affect item difficulty, validity of the assessment is compromised. Using responses of 260000 students from 71 countries to the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2018 mathematics assessment and cross-classified mixed effects models, we examined three validity concerns associated with the construct-irrelevant factor, item format: whether the format influenced item difficulty, whether item format’s impact on difficulty varied across countries, undermining PISA’s foundational goal of meaningful country comparisons, and whether item format effects differed between genders, affecting assessment fairness. Item format contributed to a substantial average of 12 % of variance in item difficulties. The effect of item format was non-uniform across countries, with 30 % of the variance in item difficulties being due to format in lower-performing countries, and 10 % in higher-performing countries, challenging the comparability of educational outcomes. The impact of gender on item format differences was minor. Implications for secondary research and assessment design are discussed.
With the in-depth development of the Internet and digital technology, it has become an important way to learn online. Under digital learning environment, peer interaction among learners is not only playing a crucial role in the construction of their knowledge, but also is a key link to enhance their learning outcome. To investigate how peer interaction can affect learning outcome of college students, this research constructs a model of relationship, and administers a questionnaire survey among 3263 college students in 28 universities in China. The study has found that peer interaction positively affects learning outcome, meanwhile, attitude and self-efficacy act as chain mediators in the relationship of peer interaction and learning outcome. This study thoroughly discusses the impact mechanism of peer interaction on learning outcome of college students in the digital environment, which will provide beneficial references and inspirations for optimizing online learning mode and promoting learning outcome.
Underperforming teachers can have a profound negative impact on their students, principals and co-workers, and the educational quality in their schools. Since little is known about how and why co-workers respond to teacher underperformance, this study aims to build an explanatory framework for different types of co-workers’ responses. The results of our survey study indicate that co-workers’ responses can partly be explained by how they consider their responsibility and authority to respond, as well as the use of responding. These considerations are, in turn, influenced by different underperformance, underperformer, co-worker, leadership and team characteristics. We discuss how co-workers’ responses to teacher underperformance can be facilitated.
This study examines the impact of authentic leadership on teacher performance within the context of Chinese primary schools, focusing specifically on the mediating roles of internalized moral perspective, balanced processing, and relational transparency. Utilizing a sample of 396 primary school teachers from 18 public primary schools in Guiyang, China, the study employs Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) to analyze the data. Results reveal that all four dimensions of authentic leadership—self-awareness, internalized moral perspective, balanced processing, and relational transparency—significantly enhance teacher performance. Additionally, internalized moral perspective, balanced processing, and relational transparency were found to mediate the relationship between self-awareness and teacher performance. These findings highlight the importance of fostering authentic leadership to improve educational outcomes. The study discusses its implications for teacher training programs, potential limitations, and directions for future research.