Hong Kong Student Teachers' Responses to Peer Group Process Writing
Andy Curtis
Queen's University
Canada
Although process approaches to the development of writing
skills are not new, there is still far from widespread use of such approaches
in Hong Kong and in Asia. One reason for this might be teachers' lack of exposure
to these approaches during their initial teacher training. This study explores
how brief, but hands on, experience of peer group process writing influenced and
shaped the way a group of 100 student teachers in Hong Kong subsequently thought
and felt about their experience. Although some of the student teachers had reservations
after experiencing this approach, the majority saw language and learning benefits
resulting from its use, including finding it easier to get help from peers than
from the teacher and gaining greater understanding than if they were working alone.
