rbp_-students-perception-towards-self-assessment-and-the-use-in-english-writing-skill

STUDENTS PERCEPTION OF SELF-ASSESSMENT AND THE USE OF SELF-ASSESSMENT IN ENGLISH WRITING SKILL Indonesia University of Education Theodora Rani English Education Department of Post - Gra

(A Case Study of the 1st semester Master - Program Students of English

Education - Indonesia University of Education)

RESEARCH BASED PAPER Arranged to fulfill the task of Language Testing and Evaluation Subject

Lecturer: Prof Dr DIDI SUKYADI, M A

Arranged by:

Theodora Rani

2015 Kelas B

1503324

ENGLISH EDUCATION DEPARTMENT POST - GRADUATE PROGRAM INDONESIA UNIVERSITY OF EDUCATION

2015 / 2016

STUDENTS PERCEPTION OF SELF-ASSESSMENT AND THE USE OF SELF-ASSESSMENT IN ENGLISH WRITING SKILL

Indonesia University of Education)

Theodora Rani English Education Department of Post - Graduate Program

Indonesia University of Education Korespondensi: Jl Dr Setiabudi No 229, Bandung E-mail: Theodora.raniadhella@gmail.com

ABSTRACT

Self-assessment has gained much attention in recent years to build students autonomy in learning, in this case to improve their English writing skill Unfortunately, self - assessment is likely rarely used in Indonesia whereas this kind of assignment is quite important to build the students’ autonomy, as we know that the less - autonomy of students is one of problems Teachers often face What is Students’ perception about self - assessment? What are advantages and disadvantages of self - assessment based on their perception? Have they used self - assessment in English writing skill? This present study was an attempt to investigate what the Students’ perception about self-assessment and whether they have used it in improving their English writing skill To fulfill the purpose of the study, 30 participants who are attending the 1 st semester of English Education Master-Program in Indonesia University of Education were chosen to fill in Questionnaire The Questionnaire used to check the self - assessment of English Writing Skill used

by learners was ESLP 82 Questionnaire: “Self - Assessment of English Writing Skills and Use of Writing Strategies‟ which was taken from the following Internet site of Marquette University on October, 20th (2011): www.marquette.edu/oie/documentary/ESLPQuestionnaireFa08.pdf Furthermore, the writer also chose 3 of the 30 participants as the representative to answer some open questions After that, qualitative approach method was used to analyze the data For the framework of text analysis, this study draws on the self - assessment theory developed by Brown (2003), and Anne Dragemark Ocarson This study reveals that almost all of the participants are able to use self-assessment of their English Writing Skill even though they rarely use it in their daily learning process It is suggested for the learners to start implementing self-assessments in their learning process seriously to improve their English Writing Skill At the end of this study,, the writer suggest other researchers to investigate further about The Impact of Self - Assessment on Learners’ Writing Skill (A Case Study of Particular School/ University)

Keywords: Self-assessment, Indonesia University of Education, Writing skill

I INTRODUCTION

As students, we need to know what our abilities are, how much progress we are making, and what we can (or can’t yet) do with the skills we have acquired Without such knowledge, it wouldn’t be easy for us to learn efficiently If we can do it accurately enough, we do not have to depend completely on the opinions of teachers, and at the same time, we can make teachers aware of our individual needs As we know that any test of actual language use can sample only a small proportion of that ability, John Upshur (1975), cited in Heilenman, (1990) pointed out that learners have access to the entire gamut of their success and failure in the use of the second language by using self – assessment He was one of the first who provided a rationale for the use of self-assessment in the measurement of the second language abilities Since then, there has been a growing interest in the use of self-report measures in the assessment of second language competencies

Unfortunately, the implementation of self - assessment for learning in Indonesia

is still rarely used or rarely investigated by the researchers (Fulcher, 2010), cited in

Self-Assessment of Ways of Learning written by Rizma Yuansih in 2014 Why? It is may be

because students in Indonesia are not familiar with self – assessment yet or because the teachers haven’t introduced this kind of assessment In the more specific case, the writer

is interested to investigate what is self - assessment viewed from the students’ perception and how the use of the self - assessment in their English Writing Skill

A highly motivated writer is self-determining and generates his own writing opportunities (Scott, 2005) This kind of writing knows that they want to write and choose to write with personal reasons Motivated students have already had their self-concept of writing To find out the level of students writing behavior, some researchers have conducted research in this field

In line with the theories of learner autonomy, self-assessment is currently playing

an important role in language teaching The procedure involves students in judging their own learning, particularly their achievement and learning outcomes Many have argued that teachers should help students construct knowledge through active involvement in assessing their own learning performance, and that students are empowered by gaining ownership of their learning and life-long learning skills (Chen, 2008) Teachers should

provide opportunities for students to assess their language level so as to help them focus

on their own learning (Oskarsson, 1989) Hunt, Gow, and Barnes (1989) argue that without learner self-evaluation and self-assessment “there can be no real autonomy” (p 207)

Self-assessment is used to prepare students for effectiveness and improvement in their lives Self-assessment is thus linked with the goal of life-long learning and integrated into various subjects and domains It has become not only a means to an end (autonomous life-long learning), but an end itself (a crucial component of autonomy) Through the process of self-assessment, students learn to discern patterns of strength and weakness that can help them become better learners Self-assessment skills help students gradually develop a critical attitude toward learning throughout their lives and then achieve perfect autonomy Along with these theories of learning, the practice of self-assessment also reflects new thinking about classroom assessment: assessment for learning and evaluation The assessment for learning approach shifts the focus from summative to formative assessment, from making judgments to prove that students have learned to provide feedback to indicate that they are making progress (Chen, 2008) Therefore, this study attempts to investigate whether learners’ self-assessment of learning process influences the development of their writing skill

Although some student are always happy to have go at writing in English, other can be less keen This unwillingness may derive from anxiety they have about their handwriting, their spelling, or their ability to construct sentences and paragraphs And if these insecurities are reinforced because they are unable to complete writing tasks successfully, then the students’ attitude to writing is likely to become more and more negative With students lack familiarity or confidence with writing (or indeed enthusiasm for it) we need to spend some time building the writing habit – that is making them feel comfortable as writers in English Thus, actually writing is as an activity students can choose to do or not to do often so it requires behavior and motivation (Harmer, 2014)

The study’s aim is to find out the use of the self - assessment in English Writing Skill and the students’ perception towards the self-assessment, Therefore, the main focus

of this research is students’ perception towards assessment and the use of self - assessment of the Ss’ English Writing Skill

Objectives of the Study

Students are expected to answer some questions in ESLP 82 Questionnaire (See

Appendix 1) to know the students’ use of English Writing Skill Instead of that, the writer also choose 5 of 30 participants to answer some open - questions related to investigate what their perception towards self – assessment The open question offered to the participants consist of these following questions:

1 What is self - assessment based on the Students’ opinion?

2 Have the Students used self - assessment in improving their English writing skill?

3 What are advantages and disadvantages of using self – assessment based on the students’ perception?

This research has three significances for theoretical, practical, and professional benefits Theoretically, this research’s findings can be used as one of the theories concerning the research on the self-assessment applied in writing skill This research is designed for the first semester Master program - students of English Education in UPI Practically, the research findings will be useful for students, teachers, and even for the reader who are interested in the English Education Field, specifically in the area of assessment and writing behavior For Students, this research will inspire them to be autonomous learner who is able to make all decisions concerning their own learning For teachers, this research will encourage them to involve their students in the learning process Moreover, for those who are interested in English Education, the findings will present the alternative technique in assessing writing skill or another skill which can be used in the classroom While professionally, the findings can help teachers to create a good atmosphere between teachers and students

II LITERATURE REVIEW

Assessment is actually different than a tests which are prepared administrative procedures that occur at identifiable times in a curriculum when the students want to reach the peak of performance Assessment, on the other hand, is an ongoing process

that covers wider domain Whenever students respond to a question, offer a comment,

or tries out a new word or structure, the teacher subconsciously makes an assessment

of the students’ performance It is written work- from informal phrase to a formal

essay- is performance that eventually is assessed by self, teacher, and possibly other

students (Brown, 2006)

Assessment has an important role which can affect the whole process teaching and learning Therefore Paris and Paris (2001) argued that we need to know both of the product and process of learning so that we would discover what is learned, what additional efforts are required, and what skills are effective

In according to Brown (2003), assessment is divide into two kind of assessments, Traditional and Authentic/ Alternative Assessment Traditional assessment

is an assessment which is provided by the teacher to measure Students’ progress by giving them some choices (eg True-false, matching, or multiple choices) (Brown, 2006) On the other hand, Authentic/ Alternative assessment refers to a performance that ultimately assessed by self, teacher, and possibly by other students (Brown, 2006)

In addition, Paris & Ayres (1994) states that authentic assessment or commonly known

as alternative assessment is a formative system of assessment used by the teacher which

is reflecting classroom situation and curricula outcome This kind of assessment needs

to be aligned with Ss’ needs so the results are genuine and fair for the Ss This following table show the difference between traditional and alternative assessment:

According to Chen (2008), traditional assessment is often regarded as “the realm

of the teacher” Chen further argued that the inadequacies of traditional assessment attracted the attention of scholars and triggered a shift toward alternative assessment Knowing to the fact that learning and assessment are strongly related, the growing demand for lifelong learning has led to a reevaluation of the relationship between learning and assessment This reevaluation has influenced the development of the “new era of assessment” according to Dochy, Segers, and Sluijsmans (1999)

Thus, the alternative assessments would be important to improve the students’ performances Alternative assessment includes performance assessment, portfolio assessment, students’ self-assessment, peer-assessment, and so forth (Huerta-Macias, 1995)

II.1 SELF - ASSESSMENT

Self – assessment is a part of either alternative assessment or formative assessment (Brown: 2003) Self-assessment, as one form of measuring learners’ language competencies, has attracted significant attention in foreign language

education Oscarson (1997) recommended learner - centered ways of determining learning In line with this argument, he observes that self-assessment is based on the idea that effective learning is best achieved if students are actively engaged in the process of learning Thus, all other forms of assessment are subordinate to it Self - assessment is defined by Boud and Falchikov (1989) as the process by which students make judgements about their learning, particularly their learning outcomes

Blanche and Merino (1989) argue that since 1976, when the first reports on assessment were published, self-assessment has continued to develop as a distinct field

self-of study in second language (L2) learning and education Studies self-of self - assessment have mainly investigated the correlations between teacher assessment and self-assessment intended to discover the accuracy of self – assessment (Blanche & Merino, 1989; Boud & Falchikov, 1989; Carr, 1977) Unfortunately, Self - assessment may not

be recognized well in Indonesia It is because both of the teachers and the learners haven’t had adequate knowledge about what advantages and disadvantages of self - assessment in learning English as a foreign language, especially in writing skill

II.2 ADVANTAGES

Blue (1994) identified some benefits of self-assessment such as encouraging greater effort, boosting self-confidence, and facilitating awareness of distinctions between competence and performance as well as self-awareness of learning strengths and weaknesses

Chamot & O’Mlley (1994, cited in Haris, 1997) said that, self-assessment would make the students realize the huge responsibility of the process of their learning Also, self-assessment had a big role to help learners locate their own strength and weaknesses Then after they know about that, self - assessment can help them to think about what they need to do Harris (1997) also mentions that self-assessment helps to direct students

to summarize and decide what the best strategy for their learning is Consequently, assessment can increase the awareness of the communication strategies they use In line with those statements, Genesee and Upshur (1996) mention some kinds of self-

self-assessment which can be used by the teachers and learners They are utilizing journal, conferences, portfolios, rating scale, questionnaires, and many more

An advantage of self-assessment is that it may lead to more confidence while performing a task (Oscarson, 1997) It is hypothesized that this sense of confidence and perceived self-mastery resulting from self-assessment would contribute to learners’ self-efficacy McMillan and Hearn (2008) also suggested that self-assessment promotes both self-efficacy and motivation Oscarson (1997) found that students’ involvement in all phases of learning process, learner autonomy, the development of the concept of lifelong learning, and increased motivation are some of the benefits of self-assessment

In 2009, Anne Dragemark Oscarson argued a number of formative motives for

self-assessment practices have been suggested by Oscarson (1989) Among others these are that self-assessment promotes learning, raises learner awaness, improves goal orientation, improves learner autonomy in a lifelong perspective, is conducive to democratic learning processes and needs analysis As indicated by Oscarson (1999, pp 181-183) these are advantages arguments of self-assessment:

a the pedagogical-educational argument (i.e giving the student real autonomy),

b the practical-pragmatic argument (i.e giving the teacher and the student shared responsibility for assessment),

c the logical-philosophical argument (i.e considering the language learner to be in a unique position to judge that which is difficult to reach by external observation) and

d the empirical argument, based on research that supports the notion that (language) students are, under certain conditions, capable of realistically assessing their own performance levels

According paper written by Abdel Salam and Abdel Khalek El-Koumy (2010), there are some advantages using self-assessment:

1 It enhances students awareness of their own learning and thinking processes (Zohar, 2004)

2 It provides direction for future learning (Chamot and O’Malley, 1994)

3 It makes teachers aware of their students' needs and provides them with an additional lens through which to view their achievement (Blanche, 1988)

4 It helps learners see gaps in their own learning and initiate self-repair to redirect their learning toward the learning goal (Liang, 2006)

5 It stimulates learners to consider course content critically and helps them achieve a high level of academic thinking skills (Teh, 2006)

6 It promotes learners' autonomy and brings a sense of responsibility and accountability to them (Asadoorian and Batty, 2005)

7 It increases learners’ knowledge of their learning goals and thus enhances their motivation and goal orientation (Liang, 2006)

8 It stimulates learners to exercise a variety of learning strategies and higher order thinking skills (Chamot and O’Malley, 1994)

9 It develops appropriate study skills and strategies and fosters lifelong learning (Zohar, 2004)

10 It helps learners get better marks (Harris, 1997)

2 Students tend to view themselves in desirable ways (Shrauger and Osberg, 1981)

3 Many students believe that the duty of assessment is the responsibility of the teacher (Falchikov, 2003)

4 There are doubts about the reliability of this form of assessment in formal education (Dickinson, 1987)

5 There are doubts about the confidentiality of the learners if self-assessment is used for high-stakes decisions (Dickinson, 1987)

6 Instructors are reluctant to lose their control over assessment (Blue, 1988)

7 There may be a mismatch between the goals of assessment as conceived by the learner and the teacher (Oscarson, 1997)

8 Students feel a sense of humiliation in reporting their own weaknesses (Liang, 2006)

9 Some students perceive self-assessment as irrelevant and inappropriate (Liang, 2006)

10 There is a confusion over the diverse functions of self-assessment (e.g., certification, diagnosis, placement, feedback, etc.) (Liang, 2006)

II.4 CATEGORIES OF SELF – ASSESSMENT

According to Brown (2003), there are 5 categories of self - assessment got from widely accepted classification:

1 Assessment of (a specific) performance

In this category, a student typically monitord him- or herself – in either oral or written production and renders some kind of evaluation of performance The evaluation takes place immediately or very soon after the performance For example, the students make a journal as a tool of self – assessment Today, the availability of media opens up a number of possibilities for self - assessment beyond the classroom, such as one of Internet sites such as Dave’s ESL Café’(http://www.eslcafe.com/) offer many self – correcting quizzes and tests

2 Indirect assessment of (general) competence

Self-assessment of performance is limited in time and focus to a relatively short performance Thus, a list of attributes can offer a scaled rating, from ‘strongly agree’, to ‘strongly disagree’

3 Metacognitive assessment (for setting goals)

Some kinds of evaluation are more strategic in nature, with the purpose not just of viewing past performance or competence but of setting goals and maintaining an eye on the process of their pursuit For example, Ss wrote:

My goal for this week is to stop during reading and predict what is going to happen next in the story (Newman, Wathen, and Lee (1995))

4 Socio-affective assessment

Examining affective factors in learning is a form of self-assessment in which takers must indicate preference for one statement over the one on the opposite It requires looking at ourselves through a psychological lens and may not differ greatly from self –assessment across a number of subject matter area or for personal skill

test-For example:

5 Student – generated tests

This last type of self-assessment is not usually classified strictly as self-assessment but it is the technique of engaging students in the process of constructing tests themselves For Example:

II.5 WRITING SKILL

Writing behavior comes from individual’s self-concepts and the value the

individual places in writing (Harmer, 2014) Thus, the Students who perceives writing

as valuable and important and who has personally relevant reasons for writing will engage writing in more planned and effort full manner Those kinds of students are called highly motivated writers

Collins (n.d.) believes that “Writing Strategies are cognitive and meta-cognitive procedures writers use to control the production of writing” Writing as a psychological need in the sense that it provides learners with evidence that they are making progress (Takrouri , 2002) Writing also makes language learning more effective and authentic through creating a variety of activities inside and outside the classroom

Al-Mutawa and Kailani (1989) considered writing as significant language skill that should be developed at an early stage of learning the foreign language Yet, writing is a skill that should not be learned in an isolated form, it should be taught interactively with other language skills, i.e listening, speaking, and reading

Writing has many important aspects It makes students more relaxed and confident with new language because it allows them to work at their pace It also allows them to make changes and revision without pressure to perform on the spot that is associated, for instance, with speaking (Mahmoud, 2000)

Writing plays two distinct roles in schools ; First, it is a skill that requires mastering basic sub skills and processes such as; handwriting , spelling, a rich knowledge of vocabulary, mastery of the conventions of punctuation, capitalization, word usage, grammar ,and the use of strategies ; planning, evaluating, and revising text All are necessary for the production of coherently organized essays containing well developed and pertinent ideas, supporting examples, and appropriate detail This role can be characterized as “learning to write.” Second, writing is a means to extend and deepen students' knowledge, it acts as a tool for learning subject matter (Graham&Perin, 2007) In brief, we can say that writing skill is important because it covers both of cognitive and meta-cognitive, psychological, socio-mental and structural skills It can’t be separated from other skills (speaking, listening, and reading) because they are related one another

III METHODOLOGY

As what mentioned above, the purpose of the present study is to find out what students’ perception towards self - assessment and the use of self-assessment in English writing skill

Research Question

These are questions asked to the participants:

1 What is self - assessment based on the Students’ opinion?

2 Have the Students used self - assessment in improving their English writing skill?

3 What are advantages and disadvantages of using self – assessment based on the students’ perception?

Furthermore, the writer choose 10 question of ESLP 82 Questionnaire to the participants

The ESLP 82 Questionnaire: “Self - Assessment of English Writing Skills and Use of Writing Strategies‟ which was taken from the following Internet site of Marquette University

The Questions are: