Alignment of self-assessment and peer-assessment with teacher-assessment in a university EFL writing classroom

Although self-assessment can been considered an essential skill in the learning process in higher education, it has not been studied as extensively as peer-assessment in the area of second language writing. This study examines how Korean university students in an English as a foreign language (EFL) writing class develop self- and peer-assessment skills over a single semester. To see how self- and peer-assessment aids learners in a writing class, this study records and compares students’ self- and peer-assessment relative to teacher-assessment of the same work. By adopting a qualitative approach as well, this study closely examines the cases of four focal students and explores how they differ in their perceptions of self-assessment, types of feedback they provide to themselves in self-assessment, and the incorporation of feedback into revision. The results indicate that students’ self-assessment aligned with teacher-assessment over one semester, but that their peer-assessment did not align with teacher-assessment as well as self-assessment. Moreover, the students whose self-assessment steadily aligned with the teacher-assessment have more positive attitudes towards using self-assessment, provide more text-specific and directive feedback, and incorporate feedback into their revisions. The findings imply that writing teachers can benefit from encouraging self-assessment and training their students to provide themselves with more effective feedback.