Implementing Peer Response in the Foreign Language Classroom

Abstract

Over the last two decades peer review has become a teaching tool that has increasingly been applied in the language classroom. Teachers have become more and more aware of its benefits. It is considered part of the writing process. It also facilitates communication among the students. However, it has mostly remained an instructional process in classrooms where the native language of the students is used. Only over the last few years has peer review entered the foreign language classroom. Research is still scarce on the subject, although becoming increasingly available especially for the ESL classroom. This study is concerned with the implementation of peer review in the foreign language classroom, in this particular case it is the German language classroom. Research that explores the advantages of peer review and provides various possibilities of its application will be presented. From the research a set of guidelines for the teacher is drawn. These guidelines can help teachers to prepare peer review sessions for their foreign language classes. Lesson plans incorporating these guidelines are also included in this paper. These lesson plans are designed for peer review units of four aspects of a student text: the introduction; the conclusion; transitions; use of vocabulary. The paper is intended to provide a better understanding of the peer review process and the advantages of its implementation in the foreign language classroom.