Critical feedback on peer review research

The use of peer review in second language writing has been a quite popular topic in the writing research for the past two decades. However, the question posed here is: Does peer review impact the quality of student writing? The purpose of this paper is to review peer review research published in Journal of Second Language Writing between 1992 and 2009 and to offer a critical reflection of best current practices and desirable directions for future peer review research. I argue that, in the desire to conduct more research, much attention has been paid to the qualitative study of peer review without considering the training / qualification of the peer reviewers: whether they have been sufficiently trained or not in giving useful feedback. Such studies tend to focus on the use of peer feedback checklists, often provided on a very restricted range of items, and ignore students’ short term and long term goals and attitude to the writing assignment. In this paper, I highlight trends in peer review research. I conclude by reflecting on some of the challenges and directions for future research agenda on peer review research. 2011 Published by Elsevier Ltd.