The effects of lecturer’s model e-comments

on graduate students’ peer e-comments and

writing revision
V. P. Ho Pham

Earlier research efforts have succeeded in training students to enhance their skills
commenting on peer writing and using peer and lecturer comments to revise their
writing, but few studies have investigated (1) the effect of the lecturer’s e-
comments on the quality of peer e-comments, and (2) the relative effectiveness of
lecturer and peer e-comments on the revisions made by student writers. The
current study begins to fill these gaps in the literature. Fifty graduate students
enrolled in the course called Academic Writing participated in the study. The study
collected and analyzed quantitative data from student writer drafts and revisions,
the lecturer’s model e-comments, and peer e-comments. The study found that
qualified e-comments (revision-oriented comments) addressing global issues as
opposed to local issues in student writing were different in statistically significant
ways during the peer comment activities of the course. The effects of lecturer e-
comments and peer e-comments on student writer revisions, however, showed no
statistically significant differences. The study indicates that the lecturer’s model e-
comments had great effect in improving the peer commenting skills and writing
quality of the graduate student writers. The effect of two incidentals, contributing
factors, increased exposure time and reduced instructor load, are briefly
discussed.
Keywords: Lecturer’s model e-comments, peer e-comments, revision, global issues, local issues, qualified
comments, revision-oriented comments