Korean EFL Learnersʼ Mitigating Strategies in Written Peer Feedback on Writing

서지정보

· 발행기관 : 인하대학교 교육연구소
· 수록지 정보 : 교육문화연구 / 23권 / 4호 / 481 ~ 498페이지
· 저자명 : 류혜경

초록

Peer review has long been a popular class activity for writing classes, especially for tertiary level composition courses in Korea where process-oriented writing instruction has prevailed. Its benefits in improving EFL students' writing skills were often emphasized without serious textual examination on how they are constructed. Especially the discourse and textual studies of written peer feedback has not gained much attention compared to the extensive studies of spoken peer review interactions. This paper offers an analysis of the ways written criticisms and suggestions are constructed in peer reviews of Korean college EFL students who were enrolled in a composition course for trainee English teachers. The detailed analysis of texts of the written peer feedback revealed overly mitigated criticisms and suggestions of peer reviewers. The more prominent mitigating devices were lexical hedges, hypothetical sentences, polite verb endings, and personal attribution. Based on the results, this paper concludes that excessive mitigation employed by the students in their written peer reviews may carry potential danger in inducing students' confusion and reservation on their peers' criticisms and suggestions. It is suggested that teachers encourage student reviewers to be more direct and firm in suggesting their criticisms and alternatives for their peers' writing.

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