The Effect of Synchronous and Asynchronous Peer Feedback on Translation Students’ Vocabulary

Abstract

This paper examined an experimental study of (a) synchronous peer feedback in reading comprehension classes among Translation students developing their vocabulary knowledge at Islamic Azad University, Abadan Branch. Two classes were treated under the control and experimental conditions. Participants included 90 English as foreign language (EFL) students who were selected among 120 learners based on a researcher-made vocabulary achievement test. Then they were divided into two equal experimental and control groups. To the experimental group, synchronous peer feedback techniques via internet was started in which the students learnt how to submit their own vocabulary exercises and check their classmates’ feedback in asynchronous mode. For the control group, the feedback mode was offline through which they evaluating the same synchronous photocopied passages and sharing with their classmates within the class. After 10 consecutive sessions in a full semester, the students were tested on their post-test on vocabulary achievement on ten units covered throughout the treatment period. The performance of the two groups was compared through using an Independent Samples t-test statistical analysis. The control group who worked on peer feedback asynchronously outperformed the experimental group who dealt with group peer feedback synchronously (p<0.05).