Self-assessment of writing in independent language learning programs: The value of annotated samples

The availability of multi-media technologies in education has made the option of independent learning increasingly attractive. Whilst independent learning presents learners with a more flexible learning context, it also presents new challenges in assessment in that the onus is placed upon the learners themselves to monitor and evaluate their own learning.This paper reports on the development of an approach to learner self-assessment which aims to facilitate the self-assessment of performance on extended-response writing tasks. Whilst such tasks are typical within current approaches to communicative language learning, a review of the self-assessment literature reveals no precedent for how actual task performance might be effectively and reliably self-assessed. A methodology was therefore developed which used annotated samples of learner-produced texts, where the annotations would elucidate both the criteria by which performance should be judged and the standards expected, thus enabling learners to assess their own performances by comparing their work with these samples. The methodology was trialled on a small sample of students. It was found to be both reliable and useful, allowing students not only to accurately evaluate their own performance but also to learn new language skills from the samples.