Overview of Self-Assessment in the Second Language Writing Classroom Friday, March 17, 2006
TESOL 2006, Tampa, Florida Page 1 of 2
Overview of Self-Assessment in the Second
Language Writing Classroom
Paper presented at the 2006 TESOL Convention, Tampa, Florida
John Liang, Biola University, La Mirada, California
Introduction
· Self-assessment a central role in a learner-based curriculum
· Self-assessment different than teacher-directed assessment for summative evaluation purposes
· Self-assessment – an ability to reflect on the goals, content, methods of learning and evaluate learning progress and learning effectiveness
Benefits of Self-Assessment
· Self-assessment directly involves learners in their own destiny.
· Self-assessment promotes learner autonomy and self-sufficiency in language learning.
· Self-assessment trains learners to evaluate their own language performance accurately, see the gap in their learning, and initiate self-repair to redirect their learning toward the learning goal.
· Self-assessment increases learners’ awareness of the learning process and stimulates them to consider course content and assessment critically.
· Self-assessment increases learners’ knowledge of their learning goals and their learning needs, and thus enhances their motivation and goal orientation.
· Self-assessment reduces the teacher’s workload.
Potential Problems of Self-Assessment
· Contextual irrelevance and inappropriateness perceived by students
· Lack of a consistent definition, i.e. self-rating, self-appraisal, self-testing, self-monitoring, etc., making a comparison of empirical findings difficult
· Teachers’ confusion over the diverse functions of self-assessment, i.e. placement, certification, diagnosis, feedback, program evaluation, learner attitudes, learning preferences, etc.
Further Concerns of Self-Assessment
· Summative self-assessment
- Validity: Self-assessment scores in strong average correlations with external assessment on receptive skills but in relative low average correlations with productive skills
- Reliability: Global self-rating scales lacking specificity eliciting student response in relative terms
- Practicality: Lack of meaningful relation to external assessment criteria to establish a sense of development
- Objectivity: Self-flattery or self-abasement
- Capacity: Lack of linguistic competence and familiarity with assessment criteria to perform accurate self-evaluation
· Formative self-assessment
- Reliability/validity questionable though less of importance than that of summative assessment
- Poor learner attitude and motivation leading to strong learner resistance
- Lack of modeling, guidance, and practice leading to lack of learner capacity
Solution to Problems in Formative Self-Assessment
· Creation of a supportive environment, i.e. extensive teacher feedback for modeling.
· Well-defined scoring criteria and good descriptors to provide a close guidance
· Guided experience with peer assessment leading to independent self-assessment
· Self-assessment activities to be task-specific and learner-relevant
· Self-assessment to be both product- and process-based
· Self-assessment techniques to be diversified, i.e. portfolios, questionnaires, checklists, logs, etc.
Conclusion
Selected Bibliography
Learning Autonomy and Self-Assessment
Benson, P. (2001). Teaching and researching autonomy in language learning. New York: Longman.
Ekbatani, G., & Pierson, H. (Eds.). (2000). Learner-directed assessment in ESL. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Littewood, W. (1999). Defining and developing autonomy in East Asian contexts. Applied Linguistics, 20(1), 71-94.
Mason, R. J. (Ed.). (1985). Self-directed learning and self-access in Australia: From practice to theory. Proceedings of the National Conference of the Adult Migrant Education Programme, Melbourne, June 1984. Melbourne: Council of Adult Education.
Overview of Research on Self-Assessment
Blanche, P. (1988). Self-assessment of foreign-language skills: Implications for teachers and researchers. RELC Journal, 19, 75-93.
Oscarson, M. (1980). Approaches to self-assessment in foreign language learning. Oxford: Pergamon, for the Council of Europe.
Oscarson, M. (1989). Self-assessment of language proficiency: Rationale and applications. Language Testing, 6, 1-13.
Oscarson, M. (1997). Self-assessment of foreign and second language proficiency. In C. Clapham & D. Corson (eds.), Encyclopedia of language and education, Volume 7: Language testing and assessment (pp. 175-187). Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers.
Recent and Current Studies on Self-Assessment
Le Blanc, R., & Painchaud, G. (1985). Self-assessment as a second language placement instrument. TESOL Quarterly, 19(4), 673-687.
Little, D. (2005). The Common European Framework and the European Language Portfolio: Involving learners and their judgments in the assessment process. Language Testing, 22(3), 321-336.
Luoma, S., & Tarnanen, M. (2003). Creating a self-rating instrument for second language writing: From idea to implementation. Language Testing, 20(4), 440-465.
Ross, S. (1998). Self-assessment in second language testing: A meta-analysis and analysis of experiential factors. Language Testing, 15(1), 1-20.
Schärer, R. (1983). Identification of learner needs at Eurocentre. In R. Richterich (ed.), Case studies in identifying language needs (pp. 106-116). Oxford: Pergamon Press.
Strong-Klause, D. (2000). Exploring the effectiveness of self-assessment strategies in ESL placement. In G. Ekbatani & H. Pierson (eds.), Learner-directed assessment in ESL (pp. 49-73). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Thomson, C. K. (1996). Self-assessment in self-directed learning: Issues of learner diversity. In R. Pemberton et al. (eds.), Taking control: Autonomy in language learning (pp. 77-91). Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press.
Self-Assessment Techniques
Brindley, G. (Ed.). (1990). The second language curriculum in action. Sydney, Australia: National Centre for English Language Teaching and Research, Macquarie University.
Brindley, G. (Ed.). (1995). Language assessment in action. Sydney, Australia: National Center for English Language Teaching and Research, Macquarie University.
Brown, H. D. (2004). Language assessment: Principles and classroom practices. New York: Longman.
Cram, B. (1995). Self-assessment: from theory to practice. Developing a workshop guide for teachers. In G. Brindley (Ed.), Language assessment in action (pp. 271-305). Sydney, Australia: National Center for English Language Teaching and Research, Macquarie University.
Sullivan, K., & Lindgren, E. (2002). Self-assessment in autonomous computer-aided second language writing. ELT Journal, 56(3), 258-266.
Todd, R. W. (2002). Using self-assessment for evaluation. English Teaching Forum, 40(1), 16-19.
Wei, Y. & Chen, Y. (2004). Supporting Chinese learners of English to implement self-assessment in L2 writing. In H. Reinders, H. Anderson, M. Hobbs, & J. Jones-Parry, (eds.), Supporting independent learning in the 21st century: Proceedings of the inaugural conference of the Independent Learning Association, Melbourne September 13-14, 2003 (pp. 151-160). Auckland: Independent Learning Association Oceania. Retrieved on February 12, 2006 on http://www.independentlearning.org/ila03/ila03_papers.htm.
© 2006. John Liang, Biola University, La Mirada, California E-mail: