The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines confidence as “a feeling or belief that you can do something well or succeed at something.” This is a feeling that teachers from all fields try to instil in their students to maximize their potential. Building confidence is vital in learning as students are forced out of their comfort zone and put into a position where they may go into their shells rather than soar.

In most eastern countries, there is still a perceived fear of teachers, and students may not possess the confidence to raise their hands in fear of mockery and ridicule from the teacher and their peers for answering incorrectly. Peer Feedback is a process applied by the majority of ESL teachers to alleviate such issues. It affords the student the ability to collaborate with friends and classmates during lessons.

Let’s take a look at some of the benefits of adding peer review to your lessons:

• Improved Collaboration: Peer Feedback is not only beneficial for the development language-learning process as a whole but also cooperativeand collaborative learning supports and social interactions.
• Double Review:Students benefit from a double layer of feedback. Their peers will provide initial feedback that will allow students to correct errors and teacher feedback will clear up any conceptual doubts and misconceptions.
• Confidence Building:PeerFeedback affords less confident students the ability to express their thoughts and ideas without any judgement from the teacher.
• Critical Eye: Offering feedback to peers will improve a student’s ability to look at their own work more critically and correct errors that they may not have spotted previously.

It goes without saying that Peer Feedback has various benefits to thedevelopment of ESL students to improve their English skills. To successfully apply Peer Feedback in your classes, it’s recommended to first train students how to do Peer Feedback effectively to avoid misunderstandings and conflicts between students.

Have you implemented Peer Feedback in your lessons yet? Let us know how it went for you in the comment section below. Check out (add website name) for more great ESL articles and let us know any suggestions for future topics you would like covered!