TITLE:
Learner Perceptions of Peer Feedback and Writing Activities: Associations with Writing Fluency and Sentence-Rewriting Performance among Japanese High School EFL Learners
AUTHORS:
Ikuya Yuasa
KEYWORDS:
Peer Feedback, Learner Perceptions, Writing Fluency, Sentence-Rewriting Performance, EFL Learners
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Modern Linguistics,
Vol.16 No.5,
October
22,
2026
ABSTRACT: This study examined how learners’ perceptions of peer feedback and learning benefits were associated with two distinct outcomes among beginner-level Japanese high school EFL learners: revised-draft word counts and posttest sentence-rewriting performance, after adjustment for the corresponding initial performance. Drawing on the classroom project reported in Yuasa (2025), the study analyzed writing tasks completed under self-review and peer feedback conditions, a 30-point sentence-rewriting test, and a post-task questionnaire. Analyses included negative binomial generalized linear mixed models, exploratory factor analysis, a paired-samples t-test, and regression analyses. The questionnaire factor analysis and word-count regression included 101 learners, whereas the sentence-rewriting comparison and regression included 95 learners. An exploratory interaction analysis indicated that, after adjustment for initial word counts, perceived peer feedback effectiveness was positively associated with revised-draft word counts when perceived learning benefits were high, but the association was not significant when perceived learning benefits were low. In contrast, neither perception measure was significantly associated with posttest sentence-rewriting performance after adjustment for pretest performance. Essay word counts increased during the peer feedback task and remained above initial levels at the delayed stage, while sentence-rewriting scores increased from pretest to posttest. These findings suggest that learners’ perceptions were not uniformly associated with the two writing-related outcomes examined. Fixed task order and differences in writing prompts and test forms limit causal interpretation.