Exploring the effect of video feedback from unknown peers on e-learners’ English-Chinese translation performance

Abstract

This study aims to investigate the effectiveness of peer video feedback on adult e-learners’ language learning. The participants were 60 first-year e-learning students majoring in telecommunications at an e-learning college in Beijing and participating in a 19-week English course. They were divided evenly into two groups with two peer feedback methods, namely video feedback and written feedback. The feedback process was anonymous to some extent, since the feedback was provided by unknown peers with the instructor as the intermediator. A pretest, a posttest, an online questionnaire, and a semi-structured interview were employed as research instruments. The results indicated that peer video feedback was more effective in improving e-learners’ translation performance than written feedback. The questionnaire survey and the interview administered to the video group also showed that the video feedback method was generally welcomed and was advantageous in that it was easier to use than written feedback, saved time, and fostered a sense of belonging.

Keywords:

• Peer feedback
• video feedback
• e-learning
• language learning

Disclosure statement

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications 2018 Education and Teaching Reform Project [grant number 2018JY-E11]; and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities [grant number 500419221].

Notes on contributors

Zi-Gang Ge

Zi-Gang Ge is an associate professor at the School of Network Education of Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications. His research interests include distance teaching methodologies, problem-based learning, and online course design.