Self- and Peer-Proofreading for EFL Young Beginning Writers

Abstract

Proofreading is considered a necessary skill that has been much talked about but rarely taught. In this paper, we will present a study that incorporated proofreading in some EFL beginning writing classes. About 121 second graders participated in this study. Most of the students had had over one year of writing experience prior to this study. In order to foster students` awareness on errors made in their writing, self-and peer-proofreading activities were added to their writing class in Spring, 2008. This study intended to find out if these young writers can proofread their and others` writing as well as what can be learned from such a practice. It is found that these young writers are able to self- and peer-proofread their and others` written work. In addition, we have learned that the students hold positive attitudes towards the proofreading activities; they show awareness of writing mechanics; they employ the ”spelling line” strategy to express ideas; their grammar awareness is enhanced; they revise their peer`s work based on their interpretation; and finally, they learn to give and take corrections. The findings shed light on the understanding of the implementation of proofreading in young EFL learners` writing class.

校對是一個常受到討論、卻是很少教授的一個必要的能力。在這篇文章中，我們將描述在一些EFL初階段寫作課程中，運用校對活動的一個研究。大約有121名二年級學生參與此研究。在研究前，大部分的學生已有超過一年的寫作經驗。為促進學生們對其寫作中所犯錯誤的認知，在2008年的春季寫作課程中，增加了個別以及同儕校對的活動。此研究旨在探討這些初階段寫作者，是否能針對自己以及他人的文章做校對動作，並從此類練習中學到了什麼。研究發現，這些初階段寫作者可以進行個別以及同儕校對自己以及他人的文章；此外，我們也發現對於此類活動，這些學生持有正面的態度，對寫作技巧、文法，也表現出更多的注意，並會根據自己的解讀與詮釋校正同儕的文章；最後，他們學著去給予和接受修改。此研究發現，促進了對運用校對活動於EFL寫作課程中的認識。