English Teaching

ELT365 · Day 198 — Peer Editing: What to Train Learners to Notice

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Idea — Untrained peer editors either praise everything or correct spelling. Trained peer editors follow a checklist: Is the aim clear? Does each paragraph develop one idea? Does the ending follow from the body?

Example — A peer-editing checklist with three questions produces more useful feedback than “correct your partner’s work” — which invites surface edits, not structural thinking.

Try — Write a 3-item peer-editing checklist for a writing task you assign regularly. Give it to learners before they write so they know what reviewers will look for.

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