Date of Award
Summer 2020
Document Type
Open Access Dissertation
Department
Educational Studies
First Advisor
Ismahan Arslan-Ari
Abstract
The purpose of this action research was to explore the use of peer review on student writing composition and student attitudes toward writing for third grade students at Little Rural Primary School. This study focused on two research questions. The first research question explored how and to what extent the use of digital peer review effects student writing composition. The second research question explored how and to what extent digital peer review effects student attitudes toward writing. The study took place in the third and fourth grade gifted and talented classroom at Little Rural Primary School in South Carolina and had 17 participants. To address the two research questions, a convergent parallel mixed methods design was used. Quantitative data was collected in the form of a preassessment and two postassessments, one before and one after the intervention, to measure impact on writing composition, as well as a participant survey to measure student attitude toward writing. Descriptive statistics was used to describe quantitative findings. Findings showed that digital peer review had no impact on student writing compositions. An increase in postassessment survey scores, in comparison with presurvey scores, showed improvement in student attitude toward writing. Participant interview findings showed that factors before and after the intervention influenced their attitudes along with using the digital peer review resources and online features of Microsoft Word contributed to a positive experience in this study. Qualitative data was collected in the form of participant interviews and student Microsoft Word comments. Inductive analysis was conducted to find themes from the interviews and Microsoft Word vi comments. Participant interviews showed that their personal experiences with digital peer review, such as building trust with their partner and using digital peer review, contributed to their increased writing skills. Microsoft Word comments showed that most participants gave feedback in grammar and spelling, as well as focused on the organization of their peers' composition, but showed little feedback in the analysis of text. The study discussed implications as well as limitations of the study and offered recommendations for future researchers and instructors.
Rights
© 2020, Kemberly Jean Owens
Recommended Citation
Owens, K. J.(2020). Going Digital With Peer Review: Using Action Research to Explore the Effect of Digital Peer Review on Student Writing Composition and Student Attitude in a Rural Primary School. (Doctoral dissertation). Retrieved from https://scholarcommons.sc.edu/etd/6047