Having second thoughts: Student perceptions before and after a peer assessment exercise

This paper describes part of a research project conducted in the English Department of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Within the project an attempt was made to gauge the students' attitudes towards peer assessment. This was a twofold process: the students' attitudes were canvassed both prior to the peer assessment exercise and at the end of it. This paper focuses on those students who had second thoughts about peer assessment and the reasons given for these shifts in attitude. The implications of the findings for implementing peer assessment on undergraduate courses are then discussed.