Promoting Student Critical Thinking through Integrated Peer and Teacher Feedback in Online Writing

The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact on students' critical thinking of integrating peer corrective feedback (PCF) with teacher feedback (TF) in online L2 writing instruction. Specifically, it examined how this integration affected students' focus, logic, and argumentation. 90 second-year undergraduate students from the English Education Department at a large public university in Bengkulu, Indonesia participated in the study. They were divided into three groups, with 30 students each: an anonymous PCF+TF group, a named PCF+TF group, and a TF group. At the beginning and end of the study, all groups completed pre- and post-tests. Data were gathered from writing assignments and semi-structured interviews. The anonymous PCF+TF group scored significantly higher on the post-test for critical thinking in argumentative essay writing compared to the other two groups ( p < 0.05 ). Furthermore, both PCF+TF groups showed significant improvements across the three critical thinking aspects—focus, logic, and argumentation—from pre- to post-test ( p < 0.05 ). These findings emphasize the pedagogical value of integrating PCF with TF, particularly under anonymous conditions, to enhance critical thinking in second language writing contexts.