Design, implementation, and evaluation of peer feedback to develop students’ critical thinking: A systematic review from 2010 to 2023

Peer feedback, as one of the assessment techniques to develop critical thinking is now receiving more attention. Due to different instruction design factors in peer feedback, it is not that widely used. This systematic review analyzed studies using peer feedback to develop critical thinking from Web of Science and Scopus within the duration of 2010 to 2023. Through a systematic process of paper selection, the study selected 44 empirical studies in practical teaching. Generally, most studies used existing definitions of critical thinking in general knowledge, whereas most studies used multiple scaffolding to help learners understand and develop critical thinking in specific disciplines. The cooperative nature of peer feedback with the provision and reception of feedback between learners brings significant improvement in thinking. The review thus proposed an operational framework of critical thinking, as well as an instructional design of peer feedback to promote the development of critical thinking in global teaching.