Online Peer Review as a Sociocultural Pedagogy on Postgraduate Research Proposal Writing

Abstract

The aim of the study was to investigate how peer review impact postgraduate students’ research proposal writing performance and the extent of critical feedback guided by deindividuation theory in anonymous e-peer review. The primary data was collected through participant-generated research proposals and focus group interview among Honours students between the ages of 22 to 45 registered in the Research Approaches in Language Education module in the School of Education at a rural university in South Africa. The findings of this study indicate that peer review through online environment fosters the development of self-direction and independence; a stronger sense of community; the ability of students to read and respond in their own time, self-reflection and networked learning experience. The findings of this study support the use of anonymous peer review for promoting more critical peer feedback and improving writing performance of postgraduate students. To gain a more in-depth understanding of how and why anonymous e-peer review was more effective, the study recommends a more comprehensive qualitative study including pretest and posttest measures to investigate the patterns or trends in peer review and writing performance.