The Impact of Negotiation as a Social Practice on EFL Writing Peer Assessment Sessions

Abstract

This qualitative study aims to investigate the negotiation technique that EFL students employ in EFL writing peer assessment sessions. As a data collection instrument, a close-observation has been used for (n=20) participants randomly selected from an intermediate school in Saudi Arabia. The purpose of using observation is to shed light on the students' negotiation of peer assessment practices in writing class and how they work collaboratively in order to discuss their writing prompts more effectively. The findings of the study showed that students’ negotiations skills impacted improvements of the writing skill positively. Moreover, negotiations and discussions have actively engaged students into effective collaborative learning and considerably increased their participation and language practice in their peer assessment sessions.