Peer Review: Cultivating Self-Efficacy for Emerging Writers and Their Teachers

Introduction

“I’m not sure how much I can help,” Ariadne says to Hugo. She’s gripping his rough draft in one hand and nervously twirling her highlighter in the other. “My English is not so good.” Hugo shrugs, rubbing the back of his neck with one hand.

Mr. Ochoa stops at the table they share and taps the peer review criteria on the table between them. “You don’t have to be an expert,” he tells Ariadne. “Hugo will catch a lot of his own mistakes just by reading his draft aloud.” Hugo nods, picking up a pencil and scribbling out one word, replacing it with another. “Every writer needs a reader. By asking Hugo questions and pointing out areas that were clear or confusing, you’ll help him start his revisions.” Ariadne casts him side-eye—just another crazy teacher, she is probably thinking—but she scoots the criteria so they lie next to the rough draft. Hugo begins to read, and Mr. Ochoa moves on, listening to similar conversations happening around the room.

For many teachers, peer review (also known as peer tutoring, peer assessment, peer conferencing, or dyad tutoring) seems an exercise in futility. Peer review, when done poorly, casts emerging writers and their essays into the proverbial ditch where they stumble about with red pens, flailing commas, and generic praise. How can beginning writers who know little about the writing process or desired product produce any kind of useful feedback? Trimbur (2001) has acknowledged peer tutoring is an apparent “contradiction in terms” (p. 23), and many instructors have been underwhelmed by students’ lackluster comments and revisions after attempting peer review. This frustration is compounded by already-overwhelmed writing teachers who sense the burden of knowledge, instruction, revision, and final judgment rests solely on them. While some student writers value peer feedback, others dislike peer review and other similar modes of collaborative learning; these practices feel anathema to students who have been conditioned to expect instruction and grades to come from the teacher.

However, this outmoded perspective is quickly becoming obsolete in many of today’s student-centered classrooms. The problem has never been peer review. In fact, an abundance of educational research on peer review over four decades demonstrates its unequivocal effectiveness. Recent meta-analyses (Double et al., 2020; H. Li et al., 2020) noted peer assessment’s robust effect on student learning in a variety of contexts. Peer review is a vehicle for feedback, an essential component of student learning (Hattie & Timperley, 2007), and teachers can leverage an entire classroom’s worth of expertise if they teach students to provide that feedback. Even more powerful, this feedback is almost immediate. The problem with ineffective peer review in writing classrooms may be a matter of implementation. H. Li and colleagues (2020) caution that the writing growth associated with peer feedback is related to the quality or method of feedback and suggest training student reviewers is critical for success. In other words, peer review, like other reading and writing skills, can and must be taught.

The benefits of peer review are many. For example, students who engage in peer assessment are more likely to demonstrate growth in their writing. Peer review benefits a wide range of students, from struggling young writers to AP English students. Peer assessment supports the development of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) students, students with behavior disorders, emergent bilinguals, and college students. In a time when literacy in content areas and writing across the curriculum is standard, peer review can support content area teachers in history, science, math, art, and other disciplines. Many preservice and in-service teachers, especially content area teachers, report feeling unprepared to teach writing. Fortunately, teachers can improve their self-efficacy in teaching writing by learning how to incorporate peer review into their teaching practice. Peer review is for every student and every writing teacher, from early elementary grades to postsecondary writing courses. Thus, what follows is a broad overview of peer review, along with specific suggestions for application at different age levels.