Self and Peer-Correction Techniques in Teaching

April 14, 2024

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Interventions, Pedagogy

Teaching writing skills allows students to interact in an ever-increasing digital world and more effectively communicate their ideas, share information, and gain new vocabulary inside and outside of a school setting. While writing skills are crucial to teach, it is also difficult to do so. The authors in this study wanted to explore whether peer and self-corrective feedback was an effective writing strategy.

Self-Correction Can Build Student Independence

The technique of self-correction is a form of indirect guidance and feedback that the teacher provides with various options so that students can choose the best form of editing their work. During the writing process, students can make a plan by revising their writing and evaluating it, raising their writing awareness of errors as well as correcting the errors by themselves. 

Self-correction has been shown to develop student independence and responsibility, reflection, and contribution, improving the decision-making skills of students, and making them actively involved in the learning writing process. Studies suggest that peer correction yields more significant improvements compared to self-correction. Additionally, students’ writing abilities produce varying outcomes in descriptive writing tasks and peer-correction techniques have significant effects on the students writing recount text.

Self and Peer Correction is Important in Teaching Students Writing Skills

The study focused on twelfth-grade students from MAS Muallimin. Using a pre-experimental research design, data were gathered through pre and post-tests involving narrative writing tasks. The intervention involved teaching writing using both self-correction and peer-correction techniques. Following instruction in these techniques, students were tasked with writing narrative texts, which served as the data source for assessing the effectiveness of the interventions. Evaluation was conducted using an analytical scoring rubric covering content, vocabulary, organization, and grammar. The pre-test yielded a mean score of 8.07 with a standard deviation of 1.809, while the post-test, conducted after the intervention, resulted in a mean score of 9.77 with a standard deviation of 2.221. The authors concluded that the data indicated an improvement in students’ writing abilities following the treatment involving self and peer-correction techniques, thereby demonstrating the effectiveness of these methods in teaching writing.

Building a Positive Class Environment with Peer Interaction

Utilizing peer and self-correction techniques allows students to actively interact with their friends so that they can assist each other and do certain evaluations of their work. With the assistance of their peers, the students can take some advantages and apply them to enhance their ability in writing. The results suggest that English teachers should be utilizing self and peer-correction in the classroom to support students in the writing process.

Notable Quotes: 

“The technique also builds students’ awareness and collaboration with their peers in the teaching and learning process.”

“This activity leads students to be more aware of their deficiencies and strength.”

“Higher language proficiency provided higher and more positive vibes in understanding the error and deficiencies in writing.”

Personal Takeaway: 

The authors demonstrated the effectiveness of peer and self-correction as a writing technique, but I felt that they could have provided more insight into the instructional process, aiding students in applying this skill. The importance of incorporating self and peer correction into the “learning process,” particularly in writing, was mentioned but I am curious how these strategies could be applied in other academic areas. —Matt Browne

Paris, A. S., Muliadi, M., & Lestari, B. S. (2022). SELF AND PEER-CORRECTION TECHNIQUES IN TEACHING WRITING. JURNAL ILMIAH GLOBAL EDUCATION, 3(2), 102-107.