Self-assessment in English Language Teaching Classrooms
Why should teachers encourage students to self-assessment in English language classes? When teachers evaluate their students, exist quite distinct ways to assess learners in order to find out what they have learned along the course. However, teachers use the same techniques to measure the knowledge that learners have acquired in the learning process. Self -assessment has several benefits for students in the classroom. In addition, self-assessment enhances students' autonomous learning since it makes them realize their weakest skills, so they can get better on them, students feel more confident with their knowledge, and help learners become more responsible.
Learners need to put into practice self assessment because when they do so, they will be more aware of their weaknesses, and they will mainly focus on them. Reflecting their own work is a tool that learners develop self-assessment require to obtain good and positive results (Koutsoupidou,2010). Moreover, students need to reflect on their own work and have a conclusion of the performance they had in a task for them to truly realize if they are getting positive effects in their tasks or not (Koutsoupidou, 2010). When students assess themselves, they get more benefits than they would think. It is a good way to evaluate students with criteria already established because it helps them to know whether they are doing well or not with their tasks and learning. If learners are not improving, they will look for strategies to improving their knowledge, and the students will try to have a more pleasant outcome. In addition, learners work at their own peace. As the learners find out and work out their weakest skills for improving them, they become more confident with themselves.
Students get more and more confident because they keep constantly dominating the content they are learning. The studies also revealed that practicing self-assessment in a correct way helps those students who have more difficulties for learning or acquiring knowledge (Black and William, 2001). Practicing formative assessment (such as self-assessment) showed that learners obtain significant and substantial learning gains. Unfortunately, students are more used to receive the typical classroom classes and not assess themselves instead (Black and William, 2001). On the other hand, students have the possibility of failing in self-assessment since they do not dominate the topic they are trying to learn. They have to have clear goals and settled elements of evaluation for ensuring the effectiveness of self-assessment. Nevertheless, self-assessment, once it begins, functions as supporter for the students to become more autonomous in their learning.
As learners are in charge of their own learning, they have to keep doing learning activities by themselves, hence, learners become more responsible and autonomous as time passes. For those students who practice self-assessment, it is highly probable them to become more responsible of their criteria and actions to evaluate themselves (Boud, 2003). Graduates who ended formal education, that while studying performed self-assessment, showed themselves to monitor their performance in tasks without regular supervision of a teacher. In self-assessment the teacher is not constantly there for the pupil, but teachers offer support to his or her students when needed, for instance, when learners look for clarification about something. However, the person who is completely in charge of the students’ learning is the learner itself; so, teachers do not leave their students, but are not responsible of the students’ learning formation neither.
To conclude, self-assessment offers plenty benefits that learners obtain by practicing it correctly. An example of the results it offers is improvement of their skills, but they more concentrate on which they need to manage the best. Result comes by trying new things, and in a classroom, classes based in self-assessment may be a good and new option that contributes with the enhancements and development of the pupils' performance. Learners do not complete tasks just by themselves, a teacher encourages students to use self-assessment, but what teachers do is to guide their students for them to obtain the desired results. In addition, the results that students have come their personal goals and achievements. When the students have and notice positive results, they feel more confident each time and their learning process improves and their knowledge or the learning of the subject that they are learning also enhances.
References
Black, P. and William, D. (2001). Inside the black box: Raising standards through classroom assessment. Retrieve from http://weaeducation.typepad.co.uk/files/blackbox-1.pdf
Boud, D. (2005). Enhancing learning through self-assessment. USA: New York. Routledge Falmer Taylor and Francis Group. Retrieved from: https://books.google.com.mx/books?id=_fWOAQAAQBAJ&lpg=PP1&dq=enhancing%20learning%20through%20self%20assessment&lr&hl=es&pg=PR3#v=onepage&q=enhancing%20learning%20through%20self%20assessment&f=false
Koutsoupidou, T. (2010). Self-assessment in generalist preservice kindergarten teachers’ education: Insights on training, ability, environments, and policies. Arts education policy review, 105, 105-111. Retrieved from http://web.b.ebscohost.com.dibpxy.uaa.mx/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=652f95ec-62ba-4dfd-bd7b-5603a410d472%40sessionmgr103&vid=1&hid=124