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Aleidine Moeller/ LinguaFolio 1 Self-assessment in the foreign language classroom The final step in the process of learning motivation is self-assessment. Self-assessment can be defined as information about the learners provided by the learner themselves, about their abilities, the progress they think they are making and what they think they can or cannot do yet with what they have learned in a course (Blanche & Merino, 1989). There are a number of definitions of self-assessment. When defining self-assessment, Harris and McCann (1994) describe it as “useful information about students’ expectations and needs, their problems and worries, how they feel about their own [learning] process, their reactions to the materials and methods being used, what they think about the course in general”. Oscarsson (1997) explains that the field of self-assessment of language proficiency is about ''knowing how, under what circumstances and with what effects learners and users of a second language (SL) or a foreign language (FL) judge their own ability in the language''. Self-assessment, according to Oscarsson (1997) comes from the realization that effective learning is best achieved if the student is actively engaged in all phases of the learning process. Self-assessment allows students to judge their own performance and be able to monitor or check their own learning. Also it helps encourage the learners' responsibility for their own learning, thus, it makes learners take charge of their own learning, to become autonomous learners instead of relying on their teachers for judgment and extrinsic motivation in the form of grades or general praise. Since the 1970s there has been an increased interest in self-assessment methodologies in foreign/second language education. Due to the research undertaken on self-assessment, a number of theoretical and practical implications of using self-assessment techniques have

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Aleidine Moeller/ LinguaFolio 1

Self-assessment in the foreign language classroom

The final step in the process of learning motivation is self-assessment. Self-assessment

can be defined as information about the learners provided by the learner themselves, about

their abilities, the progress they think they are making and what they think they can or cannot

do yet with what they have learned in a course (Blanche & Merino, 1989). There are a number

of definitions of self-assessment. When defining self-assessment, Harris and McCann (1994)

describe it as “useful information about students’ expectations and needs, their problems and

worries, how they feel about their own [learning] process, their reactions to the materials and

methods being used, what they think about the course in general”. Oscarsson (1997) explains

that the field of self-assessment of language proficiency is about ''knowing how, under what

circumstances and with what effects learners and users of a second language (SL) or a foreign

language (FL) judge their own ability in the language''. Self-assessment, according to Oscarsson

(1997) comes from the realization that effective learning is best achieved if the student is

actively engaged in all phases of the learning process.

Self-assessment allows students to judge their own performance and be able to monitor

or check their own learning. Also it helps encourage the learners' responsibility for their own

learning, thus, it makes learners take charge of their own learning, to become autonomous

learners instead of relying on their teachers for judgment and extrinsic motivation in the form

of grades or general praise.

Since the 1970s there has been an increased interest in self-assessment methodologies

in foreign/second language education. Due to the research undertaken on self-assessment, a

number of theoretical and practical implications of using self-assessment techniques have

Aleidine Moeller/ LinguaFolio 2

emerged (Oscarsson 1997). Originally interest in self-assessment developed out of a more

general interest in the area of autonomous learning or learner independence. Learners can find

it difficult to think objectively about their own level of language proficiency and may lack the

necessary experience to make such kind of judgments. Nonetheless, there are a number of

reasons why self-assessment should be encouraged. Dickinson (1987) provides three

justifications why self-assessment should be encouraged:

1. It provides the learners with the opportunities to assess their own progress, helps them focus on their own learning and constitutes a fundamental aspect of learner autonomy (Dickinson, 1987; Blanche, 1988; Harris, 1997). Hunt, Gow & Barnes (1989) stated that without learner self-assessment and self-evaluation “… there can be no real autonomy.”

2. According to Rea (1981), self-appraisal helps the learner become aware of his/her responsibilities in planning, performing and monitoring his/her language learning activities, and Oscarsson (1978) points out one more aim of enabling the learner “to assess his total achievement at the end of a course or course unit.” Dickinson (1987) indicates that this does not necessarily conflict with or undervalue external evaluation that is important for providing ''official certification of learning.”

3. Dickinson and Carver (1980) observed: ''A language course can only deal with a small fraction of the foreign language; therefore one objective of language courses should be to teach learners how to carry on the language learning independently. Part of the training learners need for this purpose is training in self-assessment and self-monitoring.”

According to Oscarsson (1984), self-assessment in language education has two major

goals: first, it helps identify the possible ways of realizing the goal of learner participation in

assessment matters and evaluation, second, it helps to examine the degree to which self-

assessment instruments and procedures produce relevant and reliable results.

In addition, Oscarsson (1984) provides six reasons why self-assessment can be beneficial

to language learning process that were later further developed by other researchers in this

field:

First, self-assessment promotes learning. It gives learners training in evaluation, which results in benefits to the learning process. “Self-rating requires the student to

Aleidine Moeller/ LinguaFolio 3

exercise a variety of learning strategies and higher order thinking skills that not only provide feedback to the student but also provide direction for future learning” (Chamot & O’Malley, 1994). Assessment leading towards evaluation is an important educational objective in its own right; training learners in this is beneficial to learning (Dickinson, 1987).

Second, it gives both students and teachers a raised level of awareness of perceived levels of abilities. Training in self-assessment, even in its simplest form, like asking “What have I been learning?” encourages learners to look at course content in a more discerning way. “Students need to know what their abilities are, how much progress they are making and what they can (or cannot yet) do with the skills they have acquired” (Blanche, 1988).

Third, it highly improves goal-orientation. “Engaging the learner actively in the evaluation of learning effects will probably lead to greater interest in techniques for continuous assessment, as opposed … ‘end-of-unit’ assessment” (Oscarsson, 1978).

Fourth, through the use of self-assessment methodologies, the range of assessment techniques is expanded in the classroom. As a result of using self-assessment, the learner broadens’ his/her range of experience within the realm of assessment. ''If learners can appraise their own performance accurately enough, they do not have to depend entirely on the opinion of teachers and at the same time they can make teachers aware of their individual learning needs” (Blanche, 1988).

Fifth, by practicing self-assessment, students participate in their own evaluation (Dickinson 1987). It means that they share the assessment burden with the teacher. “Combining self-assessment with teacher assessment means that the latter can become more effective” (Harris, 1997).

Finally, by successfully involving students in their own assessment, it can result in beneficial post-course effects. ''Self-assessment is a necessary part of self-direction'' (Dickinson, 1987).

However, along with the advantages of self-assessment, research has has identified a

number of disadvantages.

First, self-assessment can be viewed as a non-reliable measure of thinking and learning. The researchers attribute this unreliability to two primary reasons: learners may underestimate or overestimate their level of knowledge and thinking (Heilenman 1990, McNamara and Deane 1995).

The second reason is that learners can cheat when they assess their own abilities (Gardner and Miller 1999). The second disadvantage deals with the fact that self-assessment can be quite difficult for some student types (Burton and Nunan 1986, Miller and Turner 1987).

The third disadvantage of self-assessment is that few students engage in it (McNamara and Deane 1995, Oxford 1990). These disadvantages make it difficult for teachers to decide whether to allow students to assess their own knowledge or not.

Aleidine Moeller/ LinguaFolio 4

Recently, self-assessment has been offered as a type of alternative assessment because

of the concerns that the traditional type of assessment is not authentic and does not help

students develop in knowledge or thinking (Campbell et al. 2000, Hirvela and Pierson 2000,

Santos 1997) while self-assessment is viewed as a logical component of learner-centered

pedagogy. It has become obvious that there are a number of benefits of using self-assessment

in the classroom. It promotes learning autonomy and it positively affects motivation and

outcomes of learning. In addition it is useful because, rather than giving a comprehensive

diagnostic test in order to identify possible problem areas for students, it is faster to ask

students directly what problems they feel they have (Harris & McCann, 1994). At the same

time, it has been found that self-assessment provides students with a useful tool to make

decisions about particular material that might be useful for them outside the classroom,

including awareness of their learning style (Brookhart, 1997). Dodd (1995) suggests that self-

assessment is the best way to promote understanding and learning, supporting the belief that

students who feel ownership for the task become more engaged in their own learning process.

According to Harris, self-assessment is an important element that can help learners become

more active, locate their own strengths and weaknesses and realize that they have the

responsibility for learning. By encouraging individual reflection, “self-assessment can begin to

make students see their learning in personal terms *and+ can help learners get better marks”

(Harris, 1997). In addition, self-assessment allows students to look at their knowledge of the

language at various points during a course. Self-assessment motivates students to look at their

strengths and weaknesses and become more autonomous learners which is a fundamental part

of the learning process.