Brammer and Brees

The main argument of the article by Brammer and Brees is that peer review is a valuable part of the writing process if done in the right way. It seems that many composition instructors have accepted that peer review should be a part of the writing process, yet they fail to thoroughly instruct students in how to successfully participate in it. Teachers must increase time preparing students, use multiple ways of presenting the strategies of the process (lecturing, handouts, and modeling), and demonstrate to students that they themselves believe in the value of peer review (81). This helps students to go deeper than simply making proofreading corrections.

The basis for this article was a survey conducted at a predominantly “white, middle-class, suburban” university in which the researchers questioned both faculty and students on their experiences with and attitudes toward peer review. The results were not terribly surprising: most students and faculty believe that there is some value in the process. It is more interesting to look at these statistics next to the results from the L2 survey. Most L2 students also believe in the importance of peer review; however, they experience more anxiety and reluctance to participate because of the inherent power relationships involved in the process. Though students who are still struggling to master the English language may have very valid, even profound, thoughts, they have far less confidence in expressing them because of the communication barrier.

One of the ideas suggested by Brammer and Rees is that in order to have an effective collaborative peer review experience, a rapport must be developed among group members. “Students need to create a sense of shared community in order to develop dialogues of trust and to build confidence in their classroom peers” (81). Because writing is a very personal process and sharing one’s writing means making one’s self vulnerable, creating a positive, nonjudgmental environment is extremely important in ensuring that students can be confident about their writing as well as the peer review process.