Self-assessment in EFL instruction: Why does it matter

Self-assessment in EFL instruction: Why does it matter? By Anak Agung Istri Ngurah Marhaeni E-mail address: [email protected] Ganesha University of Education (Undiksha) Singaraja- Bali

Abstract This paper describes and analyzes that the use of self-assessment in EFL instruction for Indonesian students matters. For that purpose, it discusses the results of two research studies conducted in 2005, on which the analysis of problems on the use of self-assessment is based. The result of the first study shows that portfolio assessment in which selfassessment is the key (O’Malley and Valdez Pierce, 1996), affects the students’ writing ability better than the conventional approach to assessment does (Marhaeni, 2005a). On the second study, it was proven that self-assessment can improve the students’ scores in writing as they used self-assessment checklists in revising their pieces (Marhaeni, 2005b). Seen from this evidence, self-assessment is a matter to be considered in EFL instruction. Despite the good results of the studies, the reflection of the second study reported that the students struggled hard to do self-assessment in English. There are some reasons for this. First, systematic self-assessment is new for the students. Second, it is the first time they are given autonomy to evaluate their own writing, and they are mentally not ready for it. Third, as English grammar is difficult for most EFL students, self-assessing own grammar is almost impossible for them. Fourth, the students say they have no right to do the assessment; they believe the assessment must be done by the lecturer. Seen from these problems, the use of self assessment in English instruction is a cultural, psychological, and pedagogical matter. Culturally, Indonesian schooling so far is still top-down oriented, very far from autonomous learning. Psychologically, the students feel incompetent to assess their own work. They think that their self-assessment must be correct; while at the same time they know that they are still learning. The two factors create pedagogical problem, that is, it becomes difficult to teach the students to do self-assessment. Key words: self assessment, EFL instruction, writing ability

1. Introduction The global world requires that all learning provides the learners with meaningful experience that can help them survived. Buchori (2001) contented that education must be meaningful for learners, because meaningful education can help but meaningless education will burden life. An analysis has been done toward what education is needed in this era (Delors, 1996). The analysis recommends four pillars of education under which a meaningful

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education rests. The four pillars – learning to know, learning to do, learning to be, and learning to live together- require not only good knowledge on the part of the learner, but also how the learner become the agent of his/her life, becoming knowledgeable, skillful, self-regulated, and independent. This means that the learner must be the center of the learning. As the center, the learner can choose what and how to learn, and develop the knowledge in the way he/she wants and does it. Here, the learner constructs his/her own knowledge. Elliot (2002) states that constructivist learning involves two things, meaning and action. This means that the learner must seek meaning by doing it herself, not others doing it for her. If learning is to develop competency, individual student must develop it by themselves. In order to know and assure competency, learning must be assessed. Learning involves assessment to know what is learnt. Viewed from the above perspective toward learning, assessment must include students’ assessment to both their product and process of learning. In regard to the above view, many teachers now reconsider their traditional approach to assessment. Traditionally, assessment had been dominated by testing, a quantitative orientation toward the students result of learning. In writing, for example, the teacher tends to do holistic scoring given to the product of learning. Sometimes the teacher gives some corrections but whether or not the corrections impact on a better learning result, is considerably a question because systematic follows up of the feedback to improve product is rarely reported. So it can be assumed that the feedback is not effective to improve learning. There have been efforts done lately to make assessment more authentic and meaningful. One of them is self-assessment. This paper discusses self-assessment based on two research involving self-assessment, and an analysis of why self-assessment matters in EFL, especially in Indonesia.

1. Self-Assessment in EFL Writing Self-assessment is defined as the involvement of students in identifying standards and/or criteria to apply to their work and making judgments about the extent to which they have met these criteria and standards (Boud 1991 in Brew 1999). The definition reflects the two elements of any assessment process: the identification of standards related to specific criteria and the making of judgments based on them. Brew (1999) further argues that the

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ability to critically assess one’s own work may be a goal of higher education irrespective of whether or not self-assessment exercises as such are involved. Assessment is actually an exercise of power, of the teacher as the assessor and the students as the assessee. In regard to autonomous learning above, perhaps the most significant shifts in thinking about assessment is the recognition of the need to be mindful about how that power is exercised. If it is exercised in a way which lessens the person’s sense of self-worth, then, it is unlikely that learners will develop the ability to think for themselves, or to develop confidence in their ability to learn and to evaluate what they learn and who continue to learn when their college days are over. (Brown & Glesner, 1999). Rollheiser and Ross (2005) has clearly shown how self-assessment contributes to learning; as below.

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(1) goals

(2) effort (3) achievement Self-evaluation (4) self-judgment (5) self-reaction (6) self-confidence

The theoretical model above shows how self-assessment contributes to the achievement of goal. The model states that when students evaluate their performance, the result of it encourages them to set higher goals (1) and commit more personal resources or effort (2). The combination of goal and effort equals achievement (3). Then, a student’s achievement results in self-judgment (4). The result of self-judgment is self-reaction (5). Then, goals, effort, achievement, self-judgment, and self-reaction all can combine to impact self-confidence (6) in a positive way. Self-assessment is actually the combination of selfjudgment and self-reaction components of the model. The task of the teacher is to teach the students to do this better to enhance learning. The two writers also convinced that self-assessment system like the above can enhance learning for the following reasons: a) self-assessment will focus student attention on the objectives of learning, b) the assessment provides teachers with information they would otherwise lack, c) students will pay more attention to the assessment, and d) student motivation will be enhanced. Self-assessment may probably be first introduced as a formal, systematic exercises in assessment since portfolio assessment has become the prima donna of authentic assessment, regarding the introduction of the competency-based curriculum in the early 2000. Self assessment is one of the three basic elements of portfolio assessment (Wyaatt III & Looper, 1999). The other two are student’s artifacts, and assessment criteria. Artifacts are the evidence of the student’s growth in writing, the assessment criteria provide guidelines so 4

that the student goes right on the track of the requirements, and self-assessment provides help to a student to produce a piece which highly meets the assessment criteria. Among the three elements, self-assessment is said to be the key to portfolio (O’Malley & Valdez Pierce, 1996) because portfolio assessment concerns both the process and the product of learning. While the final decision toward the student’s result of learning is traditionally made by the teacher, the use of student’s self-assessment is possible as process assessment.

3. Stories of Two Studies Involving Self-Assessment The first study is an experimental research was done (Marhaeni, 2005a) to prove whether or not portfolio assessment affects English writing ability of college students. Achievement motivation in learning a foreign language (Gardner, 1996), in this case, English as a foreign language, was considered as the moderator variable in the constellation of the study. It was a factorial two-by-two design, in which two groups of students with different level of achievement motivation (high and low) were taught writing using process approach with portfolio assessment, and another two groups were taught writing using process approach and the conventional assessment practice. The results of the analysis show that, first, portfolio assessment affects significantly the students’ writing ability in which those students learning writing with portfolio assessment achieve better than those learning writing with conventional assessment; second, for those students having high achievement motivation in learning English, portfolio assessment affects better than conventional assessment; third, for those students having low achievement motivation in learning English, conventional assessment affects better than portfolio assessment; and forth, there is an interaction between portfolio assessment and achievement motivation in learning English in affecting English writing ability. The findings above indicate that portfolio assessment is more effective in improving the students’ English writing ability. This has also been proven in a study by Gipayana (1998) which found out that the use of portfolio assessment and process approach to writing is effective in improving writing skills. Moreover, a study by Marhaeni and Darti (2004) shows that the use of portfolio assessment and children’s literature in an elementary school classroom improves the students’ language literacy and their affection toward reading and writing. It is obvious that portfolio assessment in writing instruction plays two important functions at the same time; as an assessment tool and as a feedback. This is possible because portfolio assessment occurs along the process of writing. Assessment on the earlier draft of a piece of writing gives feedback that will help the student to improve his/her later drafts, 5

until he/she finally finishes with a final draft as his/her product which satisfies him/her. It is proven by this study that portfolio assessment can facilitate the development of writing ability which is complex, involving both cognitive and creative processes. The findings also suggest that achievement motivation plays an important role in the constellation between portfolio assessment and writing ability. The findings show an interaction effect of the assessment approaches applied with achievement motivation toward writing ability. It is proven that portfolio assessment is effective in improving the writing ability of students with high achievement motivation; while it is less effective than the conventional assessment approach in improving the writing ability of the students with low achievement motivation. The finding seems to stem on the effect of self-assessment done during the implementation of portfolio assessment, like a study reported by Tuckman and Sexton (Tuckman, 1999) which concludes that there is a clear relation between students’ ability in assessing their own ability to do a task well (self-efficacy) and their academic productivity. Tuckman also maintains that for students with high achievement motivation, self-monitoring and self-correcting can improve performance. It is obvious that both selfmonitoring and self-correcting are activities in self-assessment, one of the basic elements of portfolio assessment. Further discussion can be made concerning with the relation between achievement motivation and portfolio assessment. Although portfolio assessment is not effective to improve writing ability of students with low achievement motivation, yet it might be effective in promoting achievement motivation. A report from Kelly Elementary School in San Diego, USA in San Diego Office of Education (1997) says that self-evaluation activities can make students work harder. In line with this, Dantes (1997) maintains that creative activities can promote higher achievement motivation. Self-assessment provides ample opportunities for creative activities. This means that self-assessment is also useful for students with low achievement motivation, not directly to improve their ability, but to promote their achievement motivation. This, in turn, will improve achievement. In short, it can be said that portfolio assessment relates highly with achievement motivation, both high and low. The second study is a classroom-based action research was done (Marhaeni, 2005b) to a group of third semester students taking Writing Two Course at the English Education Department Undiksha Singaraja in the academic year 2005/2006. The study optimized the use of self-assessment in the revising stage of the process writing. The use of selfassessment was based on the analysis of problems encountered by the students in Writing 6

One classes. In general, the students’ progress in completing the writing tasks was slow, provided that the wait-time for lecturer’s feedback in which the students would obtain feedback for revision takes a long time. As the result, the students’ writing achievement was low. The second problem was that the students were never confident about their writing. As writing was considered the most difficult job, they seemed like they could never do a good job; and what they turned in just for the sake of completing the assignments given by the lecturer, regardless of whether the pieces are good enough or not. Before the action began, the class discussed how to overcome the problems. The lecturer offered self-assessment for two basic reasons. First, by assessing their own, they could have feedback immediately not waiting from the lecturer’s-too-late feedback. Second, by assessing own work, they could see how they progress as a writer. The students seemed like they were not ready to self-assess their pieces but the lecturer convinced them that it was worth trying. Self-assessment exercises as the action of the research had the following syntax: introducing the philosophy of self-assessment as a means to improve achievement and selfregulated learning, providing English-at-hand helps, determining criteria of task accomplishment, developing self-assessment checklists, discussing how to use the criteria and the checklists as a self-assessment tool, writing (which involves three steps: inventing ideas, composing, and revising) and self-assessing, lecturer-student conferencing, and publishing the final product. The results of the study show that self-assessment can improve the students writing achievement. From the result, it can be said that self-assessment is effective when both process and product of learning are needed. As can be seen, self-assessment was used in writing exercises which require the students to work in process which basically involves three steps (Ede, 1992): inventing ideas, composing, and revising. If we examine the nature of writing itself, that it is a process, self-assessment is a good tool to facilitate an effective writing process. The students can continually monitor their progress in writing by doing revision at hand, any time. It is important to mention here that the use of self-assessment in the study was not instant-effective. At the beginning of the practice, the progress was slow. The reflection done after the first cycle concluded that the students are not confident in doing selfassessment. The reasons are twofold: that they are not competent in English, especially in grammar and style, and that they think doing assessment is the authority of the teacher, not 7

the learner. Although there is improvement in writing achievement, it can be seen that the increase is not much, and that actually the students were working under a relatively hard pressure (that they must do that). Based on the above reflection, the planning of the second cycle was developed by optimizing the English-at-hand helps by allocating a portion of the class time to learn and discuss grammar points selected by the students. The observation toward the students writing activities and the result of lecturer-student writing conferences show that there is much less pressure on the part of the students, they are more relaxed, active and selfregulate. They also began to realize that they can do assessment. The study proved that self-assessment has improved the students’ writing ability. Additionally, the self-assessment has also helped students practice risk-taking and developed their sense of ownership toward their learning. This, of course, eventually help the students develop as autonomous writers.

4. Why does self-assessment matter? The theoretical perspective on self-assessment especially in EFL writing, as reviewed above confirms us that self-assessment is a good tool to promote learning. It can affect student achievement positively, and at the same time support the student to be an autonomous learner. These points were proven by the results of the two studies described above. Based on those review and the empirical contributions, it can be said that selfassessment is a matter for EFL instruction especially in writing, because it has been proven that systematic self-assessment is a good tool in EFL instruction. The fact, however, that self-assessment can create new problems for students is another matter. As has been discussed above, the students under the second study were reluctant to do self-assessment. Realizing that self-assessment is a powerful tool to enhance learning, this matter is a serious aspect to consider. The reflection of the second study above indicates that the use of self assessment in English instruction is a cultural, psychological, and pedagogical matter. Culturally, Indonesian schooling so far is still top-down oriented, meaning that the students rely heavily on the teacher as the manager of the learning. Everything must be decided by the teacher and the students feel like they do not have the right to intervene the job of the teacher. Psychologically, the students are not ready to assess their own work. They think that their self-assessment must be right; while at the same time they know that they are still learning. They are doubtful whether a learner can become a 8

judge of own learning. The two factors create pedagogical problems, that is, it becomes difficult to teach the students to do self-assessment. 5. Conclusion The paper has tried to describe self-assessment by referring to some theoretical perspectives and two empirical studies which involved the use of self-assessment in EFL writing instruction. The description of the results of the two studies shows that selfassessment can contribute to better writing achievement, especially in writing. In this regard, self-assessment is a matter for EFL instruction in the sense that it can be a powerful tool that can help enhance learning. On the other hand, an analysis to the use of selfassessment, especially in the second study reveals that self-assessment is not easy to implement, which stems on three major factors namely cultural, psychological, and pedagogical. And these are factors that also make self-assessment matters, but in another regard. Realizing that self-assessment is an effective tool to promote learning; and at the same time it is difficult to make students accustomed to using self-assessment independently, teachers of EFL must find ways to incorporate self-assessment in their teaching.

References

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Gipayana, M. (1998). ‘Keefektifan Pendekatan Bertahap dan Penilaian Portofolio dalam Mengembangkan Keterampilan Menulis Siswa Sekolah Dasar’. Jurnal Ilmu Pendidikan. Year 25 No. 2 (July). 191-201. Marhaeni, A.A.I.N. and Darti, N.W. (2004). Optimalisasi Pembelajaran Literasi pada Kelas IV SD Lab. IKIP Negeri Singaraja Melalui Pembelajaran berbasis Buku Bacaan dan Asesmen Portofolio. Singaraja: The Research Center of Ganesha University of Education (unpublished research report). Marhaeni, A.A.I.N. (2005a). Pengaruh Asesmen Portofolio dan Motivasi Berprestasi terhadap Kemampuan Menulis Bahasa Inggris. Jakarta: State University of Jakarta (unpublished dissertation). Marhaeni, A.A.I.N. (2005b). Optimalisasi Kegiatan Evaluasi Diri dalam Pembelajaran Berbasis Portofolio untuk Meningkatkan Kemampuan Menulis dalam Bahasa Inggris. Singaraja: The Research Center of Ganesha University of Education (unpublished research report) O’Malley, J.M. & Valdez Pierce, L. (1996). Authentic Assessment for English Language Learners. New York: Addison-Wesley Publishing Company. Rolheiser, C. & Ross, J. A. (2005) Student Self-Evaluation: What Research Says and What Practice Shows. Internet download. San Diego County Office of Education. (1997). Portfolio Assessment. Available at URL:http://www.sdcoe.kl2.ca.us/notes/5/portfolio.html Tuckman, B.W. (1999). ‘A Tripartite Model of Motivation for Achievement: Attitude/Drive/Strategy’ makalah disampaikan dalam symposium Motivational Factors Affecting Student Achievement – Current Perspectives. Boston: Annual Meeting of the APA. Wyaatt III, R.L. & Looper, S. (1999). So You Have to Have A Portfolio, a Teacher’s Guide to Preparation and Presentation. California: Corwin Press Inc.

Bio data: Dr. Anak Agung Istri Ngurah Marhaeni, M. A. is a lecturer at the English Education Department, Ganesha University of Education, Singaraja Bali. She earned S1 degree in English Education from Udayana University in 1989; masters degree in Language Arts from the Ohio State University in 1996; and doctoral degree in Educational Research and Evaluation from the State University of Jakarta in 2005.

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