Investigating ‘mitigation’ and ‘praise’ as affective factors influencing the implementation of peer feedback within an asynchronous text environment

This paper explores how written affective language may influence the uptake of peer feedback within small L2 academic writing groups. The study follows one dyad on a three-month L2 writing course at an Estonian university as one strand of a broader longitudinal study. It measures the type and quantity of affective language the pair use in their feedback exchanges between each other, and in their cover letters to the whole group. Affective language is measured using two coding schemes: one based on hedging devices and the other on ‘social presence’ or how an individual projects their personality. It compares the way they use this language to the number of comments the writer implements in their revised text. The results suggest that when using these two methodologies in tandem, there are individual differences in how peers use written affective language. Future studies could employ this topology in parallel to qualitative research methods to investigate further whether affective factors have a significant impact on the peer feedback process.