Investigating Teachers and Learners’ Perspectives towards the Use of Peer Assessment in Improving Writing The Case Study of Second Year Students of English at Mila University Center

Abstract

The writing skill is considered as a constant challenge to students of English as a foreign language who face many problems in term of producing a well organized piece of writing, for this reason the implementation of peer assessment in the process of teaching/learning the writing skill is undeniably crucial to develop learners’ writing proficiency and help them to figure out their mistakes and fix them. This research aims to investigate teachers and learners’ perspectives toward the use of peer assessment in improving students’ writing skill. Accordingly, the present study asks three research questions: (1) Do English as a foreign language learners struggle with writing tasks? (2) Are teachers aware of the effectiveness of peer assessment as a strategy to develop the writing skill? (3) Are learners aware of the effectiveness of peer assessments in improving the writing skill? To gather the needed data to answer the aforementioned questions and fulfill the aim of the study, two questionnaires are administered to teachers of written expression and second year students of English in the Department of Foreign Languages at Mila University centre. The analysis of the answers show that learners face difficulties in different areas of writing. Also, they affirm that both teachers and learners have positive perspectives toward the effectiveness of peer assessment in developing the writing skill. Their positive perspectives indicate their awareness of the importance of peer assessment as a satisfactory strategy to enhance the writing level of EFL learners.