The Efficacy of Peer vs. Teacher Response in Enhancing Grammatical Accuracy & General Writing Quality of Advanced vs. Elementary proficiency EFL Learners Maryam Jalalifarahani 1+ , Hamid Azizi 2 1 Taft Branch, Islamic Azad University, Taft, Iran 2 Taft Branch, Islamic Azad University, Taft, Iran Abstract. The primary purpose of this study is to examine the effectiveness of two kinds of feedback (teacher vs. peer) on grammatical accuracy and overall writing improvement of High vs. low-proficiency Iranian EFL learners. In order to determine which type of feedback leads to more accuracy and overall writing improvement, 126 English learners in a language school did six narrative tasks during seven weeks of study. The participants of the study were divided into two groups (low vs. high proficiency level) based on a proficiency test (Nelson). They were further divided into four groups according to the kind of feedback (peer vs. teacher) they would receive on their initial writing tasks. All participants performed a new writing task each week using either feedback types. After they finished the sixth narrative, writing performance at the beginning (pre-test) and end of the study (post-test), was measured and compared with each other to determine the short-term effect of peer vs. teacher corrective feedback. The secondary purpose is to investigate students' attitudes toward these two feedback types. The results revealed that peer feedback did not affect grammatical accuracy improvement for both high and low-proficient students, but teacher feedback was found to be effective for grammatical accuracy especially for low proficient learners. In terms of overall writing performance, both feedback types were significantly effective, irrespective of the proficiency level. The study also showed that learners favored teacher feedback and saw the teacher as a figure of authority that guaranteed quality. The research findings, though inconclusive, have raised several significant issues for writing teachers to consider. The possible implications of the findings of this study for the writing teachers were also discussed. Keywords: Teacher Feedback; Peer Feedback; Writing proficiency; Accuracy; Proficiency level; Correction 1. Introduction Second language writing became an important instructional issue in the mid-20th century since writing would enable learners to plan and rethink the communication process (Celce- Murcia, 2001). Due to the fact that writing involves not just a graphic representation of speech, but the development and presentation of thoughts in a structured way, it is often considered to be the hardest of the skills, even for native speakers of a language. Ferris (1999) claimed that students do not become more proficient writers just by reading and writing, but they need some form of feedback to see how others think of their writing. Indeed, responding to students’ writing is one of the most challenging and time-consuming aspects of the writing instructor’s duties. Writing instructors themselves are often uncertain of the best way to provide feedback to their students (Paulus, 1999). Many questions and issues underlie the processes of reading students’ papers and providing effective feedback. Ferris (1997) noted that response to writing is arguably the teacher's most crucial task. It allows for a level of individualized attention and one-to-one communication that is rarely possible in the day-to-day operations of a class, and it plays an important role in motivating and encouraging students. + Corresponding author. Tel.: + 98-352-622-8000; fax: +98-352-622-8090. E-mail address: jalali@taftiau.ac.ir. 88 2012 International Conference on Language, Medias and Culture IPEDR vol.33 (2012) © (2012) IACSIT Press, Singapore