Exploring the Effect of Level of Intimacy on L2 Peer Assessment in a Speaking Test

초록

The purpose of this study is to explore how the level of closeness a person has with the others affect peer assessment in an L2 speaking test. Twelve Korean undergraduate students were divided into four groups based on different level of closeness, and performed speaking tasks. While one student was speaking, the other two evaluated their peer’s performance on a 1-4 scale that focused on five features of their speaking: task completion, range, accuracy, fluency, and organization. An oral feedback session followed this speaking task. The students’ ratings then were compared to expert ratings using FACETS analysis, while the discourse produced from the oral feedback was analyzed qualitatively. Findings indicate that peer raters were so lenient that it was hard to predict their rating patterns. From the discourse analysis, students showed varied patterns of feedback depending on the level of closeness. Nevertheless, the question of how they interacted with each other was unpredictable due to inter-personal factors as well as intra-personal factors. It was concluded that the co-constructive feedback which was ideal in learning interactions emerged when the students were grouped with close friends, raising serious pedagogical implications.

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