The article that was chosen to be reviewed is titled “Using Wiki-based Peer-correction to Develop Writing Skills of Brazilian EFL Learners”. The article was retrieved from the Novitas Royal- Research on Youth and Language online journal. This article was published in the Novitas-ROYAL journal Volume 2 (1). This article is about a research done by researcher, Claudio de Paiva from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and was published in the journal in the year 2008. On the overall, the central idea discussed in this paper is about peer-correction in writing through the use of wikis.
Realizing the fact that students profit from peer-correction activities and the use of wikis as a platform for students to do this activity in a more exciting and motivating environment, this research was carried out to find the relationship of the both. The research was also conducted in order to feed the need of integrating technology into education. The aim of the research conducted was to find out whether the writing skills of the students involved in the study will be improved if collaborative learning strategies are applied through wikis. This study used both qualitative and qualitative research design.
In this study, the production and interaction of learners of English as a Foreign Language in a private wiki were studied. The wiki that was used in this study was specially designed for the digital learners who spend most of the time online. Tasks and assignments from the student’s course book were adapted and transferred to the wiki. The students then wrote responses for the tasks and assignments on the wikis and their peers will interact and respond to their works through the wikis too. The students were given four distinct tasks to be completed in a whole semester. In addition, the students were also given an anonymous survey by the researcher. The questionnaire was the primary instrument for data collection for this study. The questionnaire was distributed online and the students answered the questionnaire on the 1st and 2nd weeks of January 2008. Apart from that, the students’ writings and comments on the wiki were also analyzed.
A sample size of eighteen students was used in this study. They were all from a private language school located in Brazil. The age of the participants ranges from thirteen to seventeen years old. The participants’ level of English proficiency was at low-intermediate. Some of them are better in writing while the rest of them needed to improve their accuracy. The study managed to come out with some significant findings. First of all, it was concluded that the participants showed positive attitude towards writing. Secondly, more than half of the participants (61.1%) responded that they would rather write using a wiki than using the traditional method that is using paper. Thirdly, from the findings it was found that the peer-correction feature of the wiki was what that makes it inviting. In addition, 44% of the participants stated their preference for wiki was because it can spot and correct their mistakes. Fourthly, a noticeable 66.7% of the participants claimed that working with wikis were not time-consuming. A majority of 88.9% of the participants were positive about wikis given the fact that wikis allows them to be aware of the writing process.
As a conclusion, this study resulted many positive outcomes. First of all, the findings showed that this project managed to promote autonomous learning in the learners. Secondly, the motivation level of the learners was also increased and they became more responsible. Lastly, the learners were able to have a better command of writing strategies.
As a student who is currently taking Computer Assisted Language Learning course, I was introduced to the term “wiki” by one of the previous presenters. As far as I am concerned, the only wiki that I was familiar with before this was Wikipedia. After the presentation, I then understood that the term “wiki” refers to is a website that allows the easy creation and editing of any number of interlinked web pages via a web browser using a simplified markup language or a WYSIWYG text editor.
In this age of technology, it is such a waste if we do not make full use of all the resources that we have, for instance, the Internet. The Internet is a wonder as many things can be done with just one click. One of the fields that can benefit from this expending and evolving technology is the Education field. Sincerely speaking, this research really interests me as it incorporated the modern technology in teaching. This is really a significant move as the findings from the research showed that there were many positives outcomes rather than the negative. What is most important is this new technique managed to promote learner autonomy making the students less dependent to their teacher and the learners’ writing skills improved at the end of the study.
In terms of the way the research was conducted, I think that all areas were well covered except the fact that this research only used a small sample of participants. Most preferably a bigger sample of participants should be used so that there will be more validity and reliability. This research has several implications for the teaching and learning of ESL in general and Malaysian context. One of the implications is integrating technology into teaching.
The results of this research gave a new insight in teaching writing. Teachers can adapt the technique and use it as one of the methods in teaching writing. This perhaps can take writing to a whole new level and it is hoped that students can improve in writing and enjoy the writing tasks. The idea of students writing for an audience is also good as the students will be more aware with their writing and they will check and re-check their work before publishing it on their wikis. The idea of using wikis in writing is good. Malaysia has all the resources and budget to make this method a reality and it is hoped that we can adapt this method in our classrooms
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