Teaching Writing Through Peer Review and Collaboration

🎯 Introduction

Writing is often seen as an individual task — but in the ESL classroom, collaboration turns it into a dynamic process. Peer review and teamwork help students see writing as communication, not just correction.

📄 Why It Matters / Why It Works

Peer feedback helps students notice structure, coherence, and vocabulary choices in others’ writing. When they read, evaluate, and suggest improvements, they develop editing and reflection skills — essential for independent writing growth. Collaboration also reduces writing anxiety by sharing responsibility.

📚 Practical Teaching Strategies

1️⃣ “Pair Draft Exchange” (Peer Feedback Practice)

After drafting, students swap papers and highlight one strength and one area for improvement.

• Focus: Clarity and structure.

• Tip: Model feedback language: “I liked how you…” / “Maybe try adding…”

  
  

2️⃣ “Group Story Writing” (Creative Collaboration)

Assign groups to write a story one paragraph at a time, passing it around.

• Focus: Flow, transitions, and narrative teamwork.

• Variation: Read the final stories aloud for class voting.

  
  

3️⃣ “Writing Circles” (Iterative Improvement)

Create small groups where students meet weekly to edit and revise the same piece.

• Focus: Process writing and continuous growth.

• Outcome: Encourages accountability and progress tracking.

  
  

4️⃣ “Peer Editing Codes” (Structured Correction)

Give symbols for feedback (e.g., “VT” = verb tense, “WW” = wrong word).

• Focus: Consistent peer editing and grammar awareness.

  
  

💡 Pro Tip

Rotate peer partners often so students experience different writing styles and feedback perspectives. This diversity strengthens language intuition.

📌 Final Thought

Writing thrives in collaboration. GoTEFL helps teachers build reflective, supportive writing communities, while TEIK connects you with Korean classrooms ready to write, review, and grow together. ✍️