Cooperative Writing Peer Feedback in Online Moodle System

This study investigated the effects of three cooperative peer feedback environments on the English writing performance of tertiary level nonnative English speakers and their perceptions of web-based cooperative writing. Using a counter-balance design, thirty tertiary level students were randomly assigned to use three different online writing tools: a wiki, a forum and a workshop using the Moodle system. All participants completed three cooperative writing tasks and two individual writing tasks as pre and posttests. The results revealed that participants provided different types of feedback, eliciting actual revision from their peers, which contributed to better cooperative writing. Peer feedback benefited overall writing performance as well as idea generation, organization, writing conventions, sentence fluency, word choice and voice. An analysis of questionnaires indicated that students harbor positive attitudes toward the three online cooperative writing tools.