Online Vs face-to-face peer-Editing : the effect of each mode in developing the writing skills of Egyptian college students

Abstract EN

This paper compares between face-to-face and online peerediting to detect which mode is more effective in developing the writing skills of Egyptian public university students.

To carry out this study, thirty-four third year students from the English department in the faculty of Arts, Ain Shams University volunteered to participate.

They were divided into two groups.

The first was the control group which consisted of seventeen students who commented on their peers’ papers in the classroom while the second was the experimental group which incorporated the same number of students but edited online.

Both groups were trained to comment correctly using the assigned mode.

Moreover, a detailed complied rubric was distributed to help them.

The study lasted for one semester and each session was 90 minutes long.

Students were asked to write 4 essays-with 2 drafts for each- throughout the semester.

Afterwards, the first and final drafts of each essay were collected and graded.

Finally, the differences between the drafts of each essay in both groups are to be compared through independent T-tests to detect which mode helped in improving the students’ writing skills more.

Results were statistically insignificant, meaning that both groups developed equally.

This study is shorttermed and has some limitations but it highlights the fact that online peer editing is beneficial.

Future research studies should avoid such limitations and focus more on the online mode being not introduced in Egyptian public universities before.