The Impacts of Dialogic Interaction to Engage Students in Peer Assessment

• Published in: The Asia-Pacific education researcher Vol. 32; no. 1; pp. 53 - 64
• Main Authors: Ng, Wing Shui, Yu, Guoxing
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Singapore Springer Nature Singapore 01.02.2023; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Academic Language; Computer Mediated Communication; Dialogs (Language); Education; Educational evaluation; Educational Policy and Politics; Interaction; International and Comparative Education; Learner Engagement; Learning; Learning Activities; Learning and Instruction; Peer Evaluation; Peers; Preservice Teachers; Regular Article; Sociology of Education; Student Attitudes; Student participation; Teaching Methods; Writing Instruction; Writing Skills; Peer assessment; Engagement; Academic writing; Dialogic interaction
• ISSN: 0119-5646; 2243-7908
• DOI: 10.1007/s40299-021-00633-2

The beneficial impacts of peer assessment to improve students’ writing have been frequently reported. While students’ engagement in the peer assessment process has been highlighted as a critical factor to enhance learning, few studies reported how to engage students. Although students’ interaction has been advocated to let students participate in learning, it was found that previous studies of peer assessment only provided very limited opportunities for students to directly interact with each other. In this case study, 153 pre-service teachers were engaged in a group-based online reciprocal peer assessment learning activity to improve their academic writing skills. A core component of dialogic interaction was purposively implemented to foster engagement in the peer assessment process. Results suggest that while the students considered the process quite complicated and they needed more peer assessment training, they were seriously engaged in the process. The quality of students’ writing was also found to have improved. The students appreciated the dialogic interactive feature of peer assessment to enhance their learning and they were satisfied with the instructional methods. This study highlights the importance of using dialogic interaction to improve students’ engagement.