Learners report peer review fostered critical thinking in an EFL academic-writing course, with mixed answers on identifying proper academic writing¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · causal r1 · q2
Currency · newest study 2018 · checked against its sources 2026-11-03 (automated, 1 of 1 entry) · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q2 i? Among 44 peer-review participants (34 students and 10 university staff), more than 75% responded positively to the vast majority of critical thinking indicators; the authors say identifying proper academic writing ranked slightly lower, though in their table two other items drew slightly fewer positive answers (37 of 44 against 38), and the authors read the comments on it as lower confidence; the table shows two totally negative (option D) answers among the critical-thinking items, one on identifying proper academic writing and one on another item listed near the top of the table (the extracted text places it at the second row, near "Reevaluate my paper"). These are self-reports from participants who used peer review; the article's text says only the academic-writing item drew an option-D answer. → Harutyunyan and Poveda 2018

Evidence¶

Harutyunyan and Poveda 2018¶

Liliya Harutyunyan & María Fernanda Poveda. (2018). Students’ Perception of Peer Review in an EFL Classroom. English Language Teaching, 11(4). https://doi.org/10.5539/elt.v11n4p138

q2 · i? · causal · r1

Questionnaire results on critical thinking indicators from 44 participants who used peer review: 34 students in the experimental groups of an EFL academic-writing course at a university in Ecuador, plus 10 academic and administrative staff from a similarly designed extensive course. The article reports "More than 75% of students responded positively"; its text says there were no option-D (totally negative) answers except on identifying a proper academic writing essay, but its table shows one option-D answer on that item and one on a second item near the top of the list (the extracted table aligns it with "Reevaluate my paper"). The article's prose says identifying proper academic writing "ranks slightly lower", but in its table that item has 38 of 44 positive (A or B) answers while two other items have 37. No comparison with the control group is reported for these perception items.

"More than 75% of students responded positively to the vast majority of critical thinking indicators. While the ability to identify proper Academic Writing ranks slightly lo wer, students’ comments reveal that progress is also being made in this area"

Discussion¶

Learner Variables¶

• Critical Thinking — outcome: self-reported gains by participants who used peer review, with no comparison group
• Self-Efficacy — outcome: participants who used peer review gave mixed answers on identifying proper academic writing, which the authors read as low confidence, with no comparison group

Related Claims¶

• The vast majority of EFL learners perceive debate instruction as effective for developing critical thinking skills — related
• Four EFL learners interviewed about synchronous online forum discussion described seven themes: positive feelings, motivation, interaction, writing-skill gains and autonomy, alongside practical challenges and a cultural issue — related