Peers of the Digital Realm

Authors

  • Ivana Čorbić

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18485/bells.2016.8.7

Keywords:

blended learning, teaching writing, peer feedback, digital literacy, politeness, communication

Abstract

This paper is based on three years of teaching freshmen the basics of argumentative essay writing as part of the coursework for Integrated Skills seminars of Contemporary English language courses at the English Department of the Belgrade University Faculty of Philology. The blended approach to teaching was first suggested as part of this author’s JFDP (Junior Faculty Development Program) innovation project based on the experience gained and courses attended at the University of South Carolina, USA in 2012.
Three generations of around 150 students and a team of two teachers worked on process writing both in the new digital environment (provided by the Moodle platform) and in the traditional classroom, combining peer and teacher feedback, and different mediums of communication. In the course of work, the following issues were raised: the issues of digital literacy (what is the minimum and assumed know-how required of digital natives and how comfortable they actually are in a new digital environment), (digital) politeness (especially student-student communication online – on the Moodle platform, and face to face), and the nature and quality of feedback (teacher and student perceptions, assumptions and expectations of meaningful and effective feedback). Here politeness can be assumed to include the (development of) strategies to communicate successfully while giving feedback.
This paper presents some of the insights gained using a combination of surveys, interviews, classroom observation/discussion over the three years of work, and an analysis of student submissions.

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Published

2016-11-30

How to Cite

Čorbić, I. (2016). Peers of the Digital Realm. Belgrade English Language and Literature Studies, 8(1), 133–145. https://doi.org/10.18485/bells.2016.8.7

Issue

Vol. 8 No. 1 (2016): BELLS - volume 8

Section

THEORETICAL AND APPLIED LINGUISTICS

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