The similarities and differences in the responses student writers received from peer groups communicating face-to-face and by electronic mail were examined in this study. Subjects were 20 English/language arts teacher education students at the University of Virginia, who were divided into four groups with each group randomized to a treatment order (face-to-face or electronic mail first) and topic order. Comparisons were made on the number, tone, and content of writers' comments; writers' reasons for revisions; quality of final compositions; and writers' preference for a mode of communication when forced to select a single mode. Analyses of data obtained from the peer response sessions, follow-up interviews, and the students' compositions indicated that: (1) writers received equal numbers of comments in the two modes of communication; (2) positive comments addressing specific, substantive features of writers' text predominated in both modes, although writers received greater numbers of these comments in face-to-face sessions; (3) few differences were found in writers' reasons for revisions, but they identified the advice of peers with equal frequency for both kinds of sessions; and (4) the final compositions were of comparable quality. It was concluded that electronic mail sessions may function best as a complement to rather than a substitute for face-to-face sessions. Implications are drawn for a prototype in which an electronic mail environment could provide the tools necessary for teacher education students to learn to write and to teach writing, and data for the study are presented in three tables. (43 references) (Author/EW)