The Pilot Study of Students’ English Writing Improvement through Online Peer Feedback during the Covid-19 Pandemic in the Southern Border Province of Thailand, Yala Rajabhat University

Abstract

The pilot study aimed to investigate students’ English writing ability via online peer feedback during covid-19 pandemic. In this pilot study, eight open-ended questions, which were conducted to 12 undergraduate students majoring in English with mixed grades coming from 43 students in English writing class in one university in the three Southern border provinces of Thailand. The data analysis stage made use of qualitative data to conduct thematic analysis of the content. The results indicated that students took a positive view of using online peer feedback to support the development of their writing, since this feedback also upgraded their affective strategies and critical thinking skills as well as their ability to interact socially in an effective manner. The results indicate student perceptions concerning writing strategies and found that they believed that online peer feedback could be carried out effectively, leading to improvements in their writing through enhanced grammatical usage. Furthermore, peer feedback and discussions supported better critical thinking skills as well as improving social skills through the need to work cooperatively. Importantly, the pilot study is very beneficial to both instructor and students, especially the instructor can bring to adapt the main study more effectively. Therefore, the findings of online peer feedback ought to be taken into consideration in the main study group to adapt in learning and teaching process.