The Effectiveness of Peer-review in Google Docs for Facilitating Writing in an EFL/ESL Environment

Abstract: This study investigates the effectiveness of Google Docs (GD) as a tool when students peer-review writing tasks. It also explorers different strategies for the teacher to use to fully utilize GD for peer-reviewing. Therefore, the research will specify in what ways can GD facilitate better student peer review for writing, both individually and collaboratively and what strategies can teachers employ to fully utilize GD for effective and timely student feedback within writing tasks. By collecting secondary empirical studies, we explore and provide an overview of the possible outcomes when using GD as a digital tool for peer-reviewing and the best strategies for teachers to use. Overall, the empirical researchers all agree that using GD improved students' implication through writing when having these peer-reviewing tasks. The researchers also pointed out that if the students are not trained and instructed the students will not develop a deeper understanding of structure and content when revising, which will lead to students not developing their critical thinking and writing ability when peer-reviewing. Therefore, it is vital for our future position as teachers to acknowledge the importance of using the right teacher strategies for the students to develop their knowledge and understanding of peer-reviewing.