Taking a closer look together: written and oral feedback in a faculty writing group

Abstract

Peer response writing groups support faculty in their development as scholarly writers around the globe. Nevertheless, little is known about feedback provision inside these groups. This work analyses written and oral comments in a faculty writing group to determine how feedback progressed as meetings developed. Results indicate that participants shifted from mainly correcting or giving directions to eliciting clarification, confirmation or information. Similarly, orally retaken comments (oral comments that referred to previous written comments) changed from discussing linguistic accuracy issues to centring on the content and cohesion/coherence of the text, with most of the latter prompting exchanges among participants. With continued participation members moved from mainly offering corrections to establishing a dialogue with authors. In writing groups faculty safely engage in peer feedback practices that enrich texts and writers.