SYNCHRONOUS ONLINE PEER RESPONSE IN LEARNING JAPANESE WRITING SKILLS: A COMPARISON OF FACE-TOFACE AND NON-FACE-TO-FACE ONLINE INTERACTIONS

Abstract

The Covid-19 pandemic has affected the way we live. Various activities are carried out online to prevent the spread of the Covid-19 virus, including Japanese Language Writing Classes. One of the language learning activities to improve writing skills is peer response. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, peer response is performed online instead of offline. Online peer response can be carried out in two ways: face-to-face and non-face-to-face. To determine the more effective online peer response, it is necessary to compare the interactions between the two activities. This qualitative, descriptive study focused on the interactions in synchronous online face-to-face and non-face-to-face peer responses. The respondents of this study were students of the Department of Japanese Language and Culture, Al Azhar University Indonesia, with intermediate-level Japanese language skills. The findings reveal that synchronous online face-to-face and non-face-to-face peer response have their own characteristics and various types of interactions. However, online, face-to-face peer response has more variations of interactions and activities than online non-face-to-face peer response, indicating that the first tends to be more active than the later.