Reasoning Behind the Design

    Collaboration skills involve working together to solve problems, answer questions, and achieve common goals. They are essential in learning, where groups work together to solve problems, complete tasks, or produce products. Collaborative activities in writing tasks, such as giving peer feedback, can help students think critically, express themselves more openly, and improve their writing abilities (Luna & Ortiz, 2013). The collaborative writing activities also allow students to learn through language in discussions, enhancing their writing skills (Zhang, 2018). It also aligns with Vygotsky's Zone of Proximal Development, emphasizing knowledge formation through social interaction (Saville-Troike, 2012).

 

    Peer feedback activity in EFL writing courses can help students improve their writing proficiency and, at the same time, communicative skills. Peer feedback is a crucial component of the process-oriented approach to writing, which is grounded on Zone Proximal Development (ZPD) concepts, one of which is that learners can maximize their gains through interaction/collaboration with other people (Vygotsky, 1978). Giving comments on each other's work in offline classroom situations can allow them to practice their English language skills in a relevant environment. Embedding this approach in language classes can help EFL students build cooperation abilities, reader awareness, and writing quality (Hanjani & Li, 2014). Despite the advantages, it also has challenges, such as culture and language proficiency levels (Hansen & Liu, 2005). In the Indonesian context, face-to-face peer feedback can be awkward and embarrassing since the students are not accustomed to giving direct feedback to a particular person. Furthermore, with limited language proficiency, students will work hard to provide feedback. Several other issues also arise from the offline mode peer feedback, such as students' infrequent use of peer feedback, learners' predisposition to address local issues in texts, such as grammar and vocabulary, more repeatedly as compared to global issues in writing, such as content and organization (Cho & Schunn, 2007).

 

    Online peer feedback activities can offer opportunities for peer feedback outside the classroom with minimal cultural and language proficiency challenges. The Internet played an important role in overcoming the cultural background and language proficiency that inhibit participation in learning (Wu et al., 2015; Saeed & Ghazali, 2017; Kurniawan et al., 2020; Pitaloka et al., 2020). In general, some studies found that EFL students had positive perceptions toward using internet technology in their learning process (Abdullah et al., 2015; Sepahpanah et al., 2015). In terms of advantages, online peer feedback can benefit from interactive textual exchange, initiate higher student involvement, optimize the benefits of constructive feedback in collaborative writing, offer group cohesion, and are compatible with current circumstances (Guardado & Shi, 2007; Chen, 2016; Razak & Saeed, 2014). In the online mode of peer feedback, students can do the activity without the pressures of doing it in class, such as embarrassment and unnecessary conflict.

 

    The process-oriented approach in writing is a multi-stage process of drafting-feedback-revision. It takes a longer time and requires more effort to finish compared to a product-oriented approach in writing (Badger & White, 2000; Onozawa, 2010; Stanley, 1993). Motivation and engagement are critical for a successful process writing activity and can pose a significant challenge if the activity is not well-planned. Game-like components, or gamification, can provide an engaging setting that helps boost language proficiency and self-confidence (Castañeda & Cho, 2016). According to Kapp (2012), gamification uses game-based aspects to engage users, stimulate action, encourage learning, and address difficulties. With game components like points, badges, incentives, and accomplishments, gamification increases learning motivation and engagement in educational settings (Zourmpakis et al., 2022). In English as a foreign language learning, the application of a game-like application in a classroom can help to enhance language accuracy (Castañeda & Cho, 2016; Yavuz et al., 2020) and attitudes, motivation, and confidence (Castañeda & Cho, 2016; Phuong, 2020). Adding gamification elements in the online peer feedback tool might enhance process writing activities and help students address the learning activities' issues. On the other hand, teachers can be overwhelmed by facilitating the process of writing activities. They must keep track of students' progress from all the drafts they produce. If an online platform provides good housekeeping of students' drafts, teachers will not lose track and can easily see students progressing.

 

    Google Docs is a popular online cloud collaboration tool that can be the platform for online peer feedback activity. Its use may remedy cultural and language proficiency level challenges in peer feedback. To address all four challenges, i.e., culture, language proficiency, motivation and engagement, and class documentation management, simultaneously, we can design an online application that provides a platform for an online learning platform. It also features gamification aspects, such as badges and leaderboards, and an integrated class documentation system.

 

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