Selection and Review of Outstanding Works by Students from Shanghai and Hong Kong

Author: Cen Shaoji based on Cheng Kun
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-01-01
Features: Preface 1 Cen Shaoji began to dedicate himself to researching how to enhance students' initiative and enthusiasm in writing peer review in the 1980s. Through long-term research on student peer review of essays in Hong Kong, he found that peer review of essays can stimulate students' awareness of revising essays and improve their writing habits. The research results are encouraging. Now, the research has been expanded to cross-regional student essay peer review and exchange between Shanghai and Hong Kong to observe the effectiveness of the two regions' student essay peer review. The specific arrangement of this program is to invite high school students from representative schools in Shanghai and Hong Kong to participate in writing. Twenty-five high school students from each place are selected to write drafts of common genres such as narrative, descriptive, argumentative, expository, and reflective. These drafts are then coordinated by the program for mutual exchange. After being reviewed and revised by students and teachers from the other side, they are returned to the original authors for revision and finalization. The researchers then organize and analyze them. This book includes a full analysis of the drafts and final versions of fifty students, including reviews from students and teachers in the other region, reflections by the original authors, and the editors' organization and commentary on the works of students from both regions. There are encouraging findings. First, students from both regions affirmed the results of the program, highly evaluating the feedback from teachers and peers on their essays, feeling that their reviews helped improve their writing. Second, students felt that while teacher reviews were valuable, they also appreciated peer feedback. In terms of both quantity and quality, peer reviews were not inferior to teacher reviews: in terms of quantity, students generally sent lengthy and substantial comments to their peers; in terms of quality, detailed observations of peer comments and corrections were also noted. Furthermore, during this exchange, students realized that essays must go through a process from draft to final version. Based on text analysis, students' final versions indeed showed significant improvement compared to their drafts,...