Portrait of Peer Review in Creative Writing

This qualitative study employs phenomenology as its design. It focuses on describing the peer review experiences of senior high school learners and their view on the different aspects of peer review. It also aims to propose a training programme to effectively teach writing skills of Senior High School learners. Through thematic analysis of the transcribed in-depth semi structured interviews with 15 learners, the study reveals that peer review encompasses a process which needs to be observed. Learners receive diverse feedback from their outputs during the peer review process. Finally, learners have differing views on peer review as to the comments they receive, as to their improvement in writing, and as to learning opportunity. Based on the findings of the study the researcher concludes that peer review is significant in the writing process, covering several essential steps that support the development of writing abilities over time and the enhancement of the quality of outputs that promote advancement within the writing community. Also, feedback makes it easier to write collaboratively, which produces papers of a higher caliber. Peer review fosters a supportive learning environment by motivating improvement, and enabling self-assessment and collaboration. It enhances self-reflection, writing skills, and overall growth. Lastly, the proposed training programme intends to help teachers to effectively teach writing skills among senior high school learners. Finally, the study recommends that teachers should ensure clarity of roles and responsibilities among learners before conducting peer review to avoid disengagement. Additionally, when conducting peer review, the first draft should be submitted in a soft copy to avoid difficulty in reading to the part of the reviewer because of penmanship issue and to ease detection of its authenticity and grammar through online platforms. Also, quantitative research must be conducted to test the effectiveness of peer review in enhancing students‟ writing skills. Lastly, future studies may look into the implementation and effectiveness of the proposed training programme.