The Role of Peer and Tutor Feedback

Time flies with a blink of eyes. It is finally the last week of ES1102: English for academic purposes. In this short eleven week tutorial classes, I have learnt to write and read critically. This is not possible with the continuous feedback that I have received from my peers that are taking this course and Mr. Blackstone. I remembered walking into the lecture room during the third lecture thinking that the lecture will be dry and uninteresting as the typical English class. Nevertheless, i was taken aback by Mr Blackstone enthusiasm and passion in teaching his students that makes lesson not as boring as it will be.  

The strong emphasis on peer evaluation throughout this course has allowed students to learn from other students’ work. I have enjoyed reading and evaluating well written essay  by my classmates as this has allowed me to learn from them and further improve on my essay. Even if the essay is not well written, evaluating and editing the other students’ essay can help strengthen my resilience on commonly made mistakes such as fragmentation in sentences and grammatical errors.

Setting apart from the mundane English classes that drill students on basic command on English, ES1102 has also break the norm by cultivating an interactive platform that encourages group discussions for the various in class and assignment activities. This has enable greater interaction between students and make learning of language not as tedious as it can be. Usage of social media, such as blog, has also allowed me and other peers from ES1102 to provide timely feedback to each other and view each other progress.

Despite being a supporter of the peer evaluation system, peer evaluations are usually not as precise and comprehensive as tutor's feedback. Furthermore, it can be counterproductive and not beneficial for the students if both students’ command of English is weak. A possible solution to remediate this situation can be a pairing system between the stronger and weaker students in class.

 The most beneficial take away from this course for me will be the proper structures for different writings (E.g. Reader’s Responses and Problem & Solution essay), fundamental grammar and proper citation and referencing. These knowledge gained has enable me to write more professionally and critically in any written assignments I will encounter throughout my course in NUS, in particular, FYP report and degree dissertation.

Last but not least, much appreciation to Mr. Blackstone for taking time and patience to read through each and every of our written assignments and giving timely feedback to help us improve on our essays! :]!