Secret Paper: A Practical Peer Review Technique

Orienting students in proper peer review techniques is not overly challenging in EFL L2 contexts but once actual feedback begins, most students willingly ignore the step of having a peer with whom they are unfamiliar review their paper. Assigning a student to review a peer's paper can therefore be an unpleasant experience, both for the teacher and the student - but it does not have to be, especially for adult students. One way around students' wanting to have a close friend review their paper is to 'secretly' assign the paper to another pupil, thereby ensuring anonymity for both reviewers and receivers. This process can help students focus more on the task of providing constructive feedback and less on worrying about how their classmate (likely a close friend or acquaintance) may be affected by receiving such feedback, an important aspect in high-context cultures. This paper illustrates one simple technique for a blind peer review and highlights why it can be a helpful change of pace from more traditional peer review processes.