Implementation of Peer-Assessment to Improve Writing

Abstract

English is considered the essential tool in many countries to interact with each other in different contexts. Learning English allows the users to contact in diverse áreas where communication is crucial to different skills, such as speaking, listening, reading, or writing, which are widely applied in global information exchanging. However, in the transactional and business field, writing skills are vastly used, but in many cases, it is a significant challenge for learners (Buragohain & Wahdan, 2018). In the Ecuadorian context, learners need to improve their writing skills. It is noticeable that, in many cases, the daily context is not the most adequate to create a learning environment, and a second language beyond a classroom does not always work (Fabre et al., 2015). To reinforce the English area, education authorities mentioned that English would become mandatory in schools by adopting the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR) at the different levels of education (Ministerio de Educación, 2016). However, despite the effort, done in the national land, findings demonstrated that proficiency in the last year collocated it in place in 90 of 112 countries previously tested (Education First, 2021). Some learners are not interested in learning a second language effectively. In many cases, using technological resources does not help to learn in an authentic context. Participants of this study were adapted to use their mobile devices as translators and dictionaries as they used at home, where their tasks were a copy and paste from different websites. Most of them wanted to learn, but their writing skills were not developed in the correct form. Learners could not identify verbs in present from past, they were not able not recognize and apply auxiliary verbs as did, can or have in the different lessons. So, it was required to develop some learning strategies. The chosen one was peer assessment. Peer assessment describes various activities where learners evaluate and provide comments on the peers' work. It is used as a strategy for learners to assess their partners' contributions to group work, which is particularly valuable in team-based learning. In this study, peer assessment focused on how writing could allow learners to interact in a non-traditional form; instead of being the neglected skill to develop, it could establish a set of rules that needed interaction among partners through assessment and providing comments. This action research aimed to implement the peer assessment strategy to improve writing skills in a group of high school students.