The Implementation of the Peer-review Activity Focusing on 5W1H Questions: An Approach to Improving Students' Writing Performance
発表概要
This presentation describes a pilot study that investigated the effects of peer-review activity, focusing on 5W1H communicative questions, on students' writing performance. The participants of this study were 14 sophomores at a large private university in western Japan. The instructor conducted three types of teacher interventions: 1) instructions on what to discuss and how to organize their arguments in each section. 2) Instruction and explanation of how to conduct the 5W1H activity. 3) Demonstration of the activity. The activities were done in a pair or a group setting. The participants were provided with 5W1H worksheets in which the key consideration for the activity was summarized. To evaluate the process, the instructor and one independent rater assessed participants' texts prior to and post 5W1H process, using the writing rubric constructed for this study. The results showed that the process had positive influences on students' texts. The revisions leading to a better text became clearer with newly modified 5W1H information. The activity renewed students' focus on the importance of clearly describing 5W1H elements of an information. Therefore, it can thus be concluded that the process did enhance students'writing performance.