The Effect of Peer Review on College Juniors’ English Writing Apprehension: A Case Study

Abstract

In College English teaching, writing is a combination of cognitive and emotional activities, and learners' emotions will affect the result of writing. In traditional writing teaching, College English teachers adopt various teaching methods to improve students' English writing levels, but the improvement of their writing levels is not significant at this stage. Many College English majors often feel anxious and lack patience in argumentative essays. In recent years, student-centered peer review has attracted much attention. This study will explore whether peer review can alleviate the apprehension of argumentation for College English majors. This study explores the effects of peer review on argumentative writing apprehension of College English majors based on cooperative learning and feedback theory. This study interviewed 9 English majors who had passed TEM-4 at a Guangdong university, aiming to study two questions: (1) What is the general situation of argumentative essay apprehension among them? (2) Can peer review alleviate the writing apprehension of College English majors? Is it working? Firstly, this study will study the apprehension of 9 College English majors about argumentative writing through case studies and interviews. Then, it will apply the writing teaching mode of peer review in the research objects; Finally, the interview method will be used to collect and analyze the data. Based on the above research and results, it is suggested that College English major teachers should fully understand and realize the importance of peer review and actively use peer review in writing teaching. Lastly, the study shows the limitations and provides some positive ideas for future research.