Peer Feedback Using Evernote to Improve Writing Short Stories

Abstract

This study is action research because it suggests changes in a specific context, and the author is involved in the study. Banegas and de Castro (2019) defined action research as an implementation of an innovation to evaluate how it changes the classroom or institution. Teachers have to look for a problem presented in any context, act on it, try to determine a possible solution, and act again to see if there are changes. The research design is mixed. It will use quantitative and qualitative instruments to know more about the situation. To start the research, the students took a proficiencytest (Appendix 5) from the EF Standard English Test page (https://www.efset.org/quick-check/) in order to know the level of students. The results showed that 15 students had a B1 level and 15 students had an A2 level. Thus, a survey (Appendix 6), a pre and post test (Appendix 7) will be taken to deepen students’ perspectives about peer feedback and its use in classes along with the progress of learners during this study. According to The Council of Europe (2018), they have to be able to write connected sentences in a text about familiar or topics of their interest but some expressions may be written with some circumlocutions in topics, such as: hobbies, travel, family, and current events. Even when the text in general can be understandable, some expressions can be unclear which “may cause a break-up in reading”. Also, students have to be able to write real or imaginary experiences or stories including feelings, reactions, and details. Occasionally, they may make errors that can be interpreted by the reader according to the context in which the text is written. The instruments mentioned above would find an answer to the following research questions: 1. How does peer feedback improve the writing skill according to students’ perspectives? 2. To what extent does Peer feedback facilitated by Evernote improve writing short stories?