The Effect Of Using Peer Assessment Training On Writing Performance Among Arab Efl High School Students

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of using peer assessment training on writing performance among Arab EFL high school students. One hundred and twenty students aged fifteen and sixteen years old participated in this study with equal number of male and female students. The students were from two Arab high schools in Malaysia. This study employed a quasi-experimental research design. Participants were purposefully assigned to two groups, the control group and experimental group. Data was collected using Analytical Marking Scale (Alderson, et al’s, 1995) to assess student’s writing performance in the pretest and posttest. A questionnaire on peer assessment training (Temesgan, 2009) was administrated to obtain peer’s feedback on peer assessment training. The finding of this study shows that, there is a significant difference in the writing performances between the experimental and control groups at P < 0.001. The finding suggests that, students who have been exposed to peer assessment training write better draft compared to those who were given conventional training in writing essay. One interesting finding from this study is the fact that, peer assessment was not helping in either assisting peer to organize each other’s ideas or choose accurate words.