TOEFL Teacher Topics: Peer Workshops for Mastering the Writing Section
Peer reviews were something that I did a few times in high school, and something that I did many times in college. Initially, I thought it was because the teacher was lazy and wanted someone else to check my paper. In fact, it wasn't until I started tutoring at the Writing Center in college that I finally understood their importance. First, peer reviews were not simply having another student line edit my paper for grammar mistakes (or vice versa). They were learning opportunities for both parties, and I think they benefit both weak and strong writers greatly. Second, students are able to see themselves as an authority figure when a student makes a suggestion to a peer, applying what they have learned in class and elevating the student into the role of the expert. Whether the peer feels more open to making the recommended changes or find himself/herself able to articulate why it should stay the same, interacting with a peer has the potential to yield different and potentially deeper interactions with the draft because everyone feels that they are on equal footing. Third, sometimes peer reviews increase student motivation because they see how much effort their classmates are putting into a draft. They extend the audience beyond just the teacher, which is often really helpful for students who don't see how essay writing is inherently important. Fourth, good experiences with peer reviews in class encourage students to replicate this same process even when it isn't a requirement. One of my fellow tutors and good friends, Charles, regularly reviewed each other's paper's for the rest of our college experience, and we were better writers because of it.
In other words, I grew to really appreciat the peer review.
Teaching Fellows at Boston College are required to facilitate a certain number of peer reviews each semester for students in their freshman writing workshops. It was at this point when I asked myself, why aren't we doing this at the language school in our TOEFL class? If students meet their goal scores, they will likely be doing this in a few short month in a freshman writing seminar at a school of their choosing, so this could be great practice. I decided to implement it.
Although I did have to take time out of my class to explain what a peer review workshop is and how to do it, I think that the peer reviews were one of the absolute best tools I ever introduced to my TOEFL class. These workshops became part of our regular routine, ultimately with students having a peer review workshop once a week. Students would complete the timed independent essay for homework and then swap with a partner in class the next day.
I would highly recommend incorporating them into your own TOEFL classroom, and to transition students to this process successfully, just follow a few guidelines.
First, explian what a peer review is and what it isn't. Make sure that everyone understands that we are looking for more than just grammar errors. Patterns of the same grammar mistake, though, are worth pointing out. Explain how higher level concerns, like content and organization, are particularly important and what your partner should mainly be looking for.
Second, actually conduct a peer review together, as a class, with a projected essay to make sure that students are focusing on the right things.
Third, have students practice explaining their thoughts to a peer. Some students need practice in delivering constructive criticism in a respectful, positive way, so this is a good time to model the correct tone and language. Another thing to reiterate here is that telling the other student that his/her work is perfect doesn't help them improve. Giving them suggestions does not mean their writing is bad; it simply means that you want to help them make things even better by taking their writing to the next level.
I found that giving my students a very short peer review checklist kept everyone on track. I like to keep it short so that students aren't overwhelming, and by writing things down, students need to be specific. I have attached a printable copy of the form here, but it is essentially 3 questions.
What are two strengths of your partner's essay?
What are two areas where your partner can improve?
What are two things that I learned from my partner that I want to use in my next essay?
The last question is my favorite and was frequently my students' favorite as well. This last question helps students see how they benefit from reviewing someone else's essay. Students who might have thought this is a waste of class time now have something that they can clearly point to in terms of what they have learned. In my experience, students answers to the last question varied from everyone from the sentence structure used in his partner's thesis to a vocabulary word in her partner's essay that she had never seen before. In next week's workshop, I would see those elements in additional essays. It was affirming for me because I knew this was a great use of our class time together. It was affirming for the student who did it originally because he/she knew this was a good idea and continued to do it in his/her essays. And it was helpful for the partner who got to make his/her essay just a little bit stronger each week, two improvements at a time.
-Danielle
