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State-of-the-Art Article
1.
Introduction
Peer feedback, as a major peer activity for learning in L2 writing classes, has attracted much attention from writing researchers and practitioners in different parts of the world (Min 2005; Rollinson 2005; Villamil & Guerrero 2006; Hyland & Hyland 2006; Lundstrom & Baker 2009; Hu & Lam 2010; Liu 2012; Zhu & Mitchell 2012). Peer feedback, also referred to as 'peer response', 'peer review', 'peer assessment', and 'peer editing', describes the activity during which learners provide and receive feedback on their peers' writing in the written and/or oral mode in pairs or small groups (Zhu 2001; Liu & Hansen 2002). In this paper, we adopt the definition of peer feedback provided by Liu & Hansen (2002: 1): peer feedback refers to 'the use of learners as sources of information and interactants for each other in such a way that learners assume roles and responsibilities normally taken on by a formally trained teacher, tutor, or editor in commenting on and critiquing each other's drafts in both written and oral formats in the process of writing'. The term 'peer feedback' refers to the peer feedback activity as a whole, including both the process and the product of this activity. When we refer to the process of peer feedback, we use terms like 'peer feedback process', 'the process of peer feedback', 'peer interaction', and 'peer collaboration'. Terms like 'peer comments' or 'feedback/comments provided by peers' refer to the product of peer feedback, i.e. the actual feedback or comments provided by peers.
Although a growing body of research has investigated various aspects of peer feedback in different writing contexts (Hu & Lam 2010), little research has presented a critical overview of studies on peer feedback in L2 writing. Recent years have seen a surge of interest in feedback in writing in general and written corrective feedback in particular, and as a result a number of significant reviews have been published (Ferris 2003, 2010, 2012; Hyland & Hyland 2006; Bitchener & Ferris 2012). Although peer feedback is reviewed in Hyland and Hyland's (2006) state-of-the-art article on feedback in writing in L2 contexts, the studies referred to were mostly conducted before 2005. Given the centrality of peer feedback in L2 writing and the vibrant research on peer...