The Impact of Peer-Assessment and Self-Assessment on Paragraph Writing Ability of EFL Learners
Keywords:
: Assessment; Peer-assessment; Self-assessment; Writing AbilityAbstract
This study was designed to investigate the effects of peer-assessment and self-assessment on the writing performance of Iranian intermediate EFL learners. To this end, 45 female learners, who were studying at Kish English Institute in Rasht were selected based on their performance on Oxford Quick Placemen Test (OQPT). The purpose of OQPT is to homogenize the participants on the basis of proficiency level. The participants were assigned to one control and two experimental groups while each group consisted of 15 participants. A pretest of writing was administered to all the participants. Next, a control group and two experimental groups all received treatment for 8 sessions in which the control group received instruction about paragraph writing while the two experimental groups were trained to do self-assessment or peer-assessment respectively in addition to typical writing instruction. Finally, all the three groups were exposed to the posttest of writing. Based on the statistical results, both the self and peer assessment affected EFL learners' writing ability significantly. However, the extent of improvement that occurred was not the same for both experimental groups, that is, peer-assessment was more effective than self-assessment.
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