The role of self-, peer and teacher assessment in promoting Iranian EFL learners’ writing performance

In the last decade, with the increased attention to learner-centred curricula, the topic of self-assessment and peer assessment has become of particular interest in testing and evaluation. The present study explores the role of self-assessment, and peer assessment in promoting writing performance of language learners. To do this, 157 intermediate TEFL (Teaching English as Foreign Language) students were assigned to five different treatments in five groups: four experimental groups and one control group. The first experimental group did journal writing as a self-assessment technique, the second group self-assessed their own writings, the third group employed peer assessment, and the fourth group had both self- and peer assessment. Moreover, there was teacher assessment in all experimental groups, except the fourth group, i.e., the self- and peer assessment group. In the control group, there was only teacher assessment. Also, at the beginning and end of the semester, all participants took a writing test. The design of the study was quasi-experimental, non-randomised control group, pre-test–post-test design. The results revealed that in the second and third groups, in which the students employed self-assessment and peer assessment, together with teacher assessment, we observed the maximum improvement in writing.     

Accreditation system for technical education programmes in India: A critical review

This paper gives an overview of the Indian technical education system with regard to both its quantitative and qualitative scenario and upholds the value of accreditation in quality improvement and quality assurance of educational programmes. The paper presents a comparison of accreditation systems being followed in some important countries, including India, that are signatories or provisional members of Washington Accord. It also looks into the reasons of the sparse level of accreditation work completed by the National Board of Accreditation (NBA) since its inception. While mentioning strengths of the NBA accreditation system, the paper points out some shortcomings in the policy, self-assessment questionnaire, criteria, weightage assigned to criteria and rating scheme followed by NBA. Some important recommendations have also been made to render the accreditation system more effective and acceptable to various stakeholders of the technical education sector in India.     

The road to self-assessment: exemplar marking before peer review develops first-year students’ capacity to judge the quality of a scientific report

Lack of clarity about assessment criteria and standards is a source of anxiety for many first-year university students. The Developing Understanding of Assessment for Learning (DUAL) programme was designed as a staged approach to gradually familiarise students with expectations, and to provide opportunities for the development of the skills required to successfully complete assessment tasks. This paper investigated the students’ perceptions of the first two components of the DUAL programme, which assist first-year biology students to engage with stated assessment criteria and standards in order to develop their capacity to make judgements about scientific report exemplars, their peers’ scientific reports and ultimately their own. The study found strong evidence (96% of responses) that the marking and discussion of exemplar reports with peers and demonstrators clarified expectations of scientific report writing. A key feature of this element of DUAL was the opportunity for structured discussion about assessment criteria and standards between peers and markers (demonstrators). During these discussions, students can clarify explicit statements and develop a tacit knowledge base to enhance their ability to judge the quality of others’ work and their own. The peer review exercise (the second element of DUAL) was not rated as highly, with 65% of students finding the process helpful for improving their report. The negative reactions by a sizeable minority of students highlight the need to clearly communicate the expectations and benefits of peer review, with a focus on how the process of giving feedback to peers might benefit a student as much as receiving feedback on their own report.     

同伴互评对非英语专业学生写作水平的影响

同伴互评是过程教学法的重要组成部分,本次调查研究表明,在英语写作教学过程中有效实施同伴互评能够改变学生对写作的态度以及提高写作水平。     

The influences of integrating reading,peer evaluation,and discussion on undergraduate students’ scientific writing

Scientific writing is related to the practice of communicating scientific knowledge. This study treats scientific writing as a social practice, taking as its premise the notion that participating in related activities such as reading, peer evaluation, and discussion would positively affect the competence of students’ scientific writing, by developing their epistemic cognition regarding scientific knowledge communication and legitimation. An empirical study was conducted with twenty-two Chinese undergraduate students to test this premise. These students were majoring in chemistry and undertook a researcher-designed intervention course (Advanced Organic Chemistry Experiment), which embodied the integrated strategy of reading, peer evaluation, and discussion on scientific writing. Based on data pertaining to those students’ performance in terms of the normativity, objectivity, and logicality of scientific writing drawn from a previous study by the current author (Deng, Kelly, & Xiao, 2019. The development of Chinese undergraduate students’ competence of scientific writing in the context of advanced organic chemistry experiment course. Chemistry Education Research and Practice, 20, 270–287), alongside data drawn from students’ written texts in reading reflections and on-line discourse related to peer evaluation and discussion, this study claimed that the tasks of reading, peer evaluation, and discussion were seen gradually to lead to the development of Chinese undergraduate students’ greater competence in scientific writing regarding the synthetic experiments of organic chemistry.     

公共英语写作中引入同伴互评模式的行动研究

通过行动研究的方式探讨在公共英语教学中引入同伴反馈作文评改方式的可行性和有效性.研究结果表明:学生认可同伴评改的方式,学生被证明具备评价他人作文的能力,同伴互评可以使学生的作文在内容、结构、语言上有一定的改进.通过这次行动研究可知只要设计合理、操作严谨,同伴反馈可做为教师反馈方式的一种补充,融入到写作教学中,从而提高公共英语学生的写作水平.     

Putting Rubrics to the Test: The Effect of a Model, Criteria Generation, and Rubric-Referenced Self-Assessment on Elementary School Students' Writing

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of reading a model written assignment, generating a list of criteria for the assignment, and self-assessing according to a rubric, as well as gender, time spent writing, prior rubric use, and previous achievement on elementary school students' scores for a written assignment (N = 116). Participants were in grades 3 and 4. The treatment involved using a model paper to scaffold the process of generating a list of criteria for an effective story or essay, receiving a written rubric, and using the rubric to self-assess first drafts. The comparison condition involved generating a list of criteria for an effective story or essay, and reviewing first drafts. Findings include a main effect of treatment and of previous achievement on total writing scores, as well as main effects on scores for the individual criteria on the rubric. The results suggest that using a model to generate criteria for an assignment and using a rubric for self-assessment can help elementary school students produce more effective writing.     

成人英语词汇教学中的自我评估和同辈评估

在成人词汇学习中引入自我评估和同辈评估,并经过系统的训练,学生不仅词汇量得到了极大地提升,而且自我评估能力及信心也大大增强了。     

A Cohort-Driven Assessment Task for Scientific Report Writing

A formative assessment task was developed to improve the scientific report writing skills of university students. Students undertaking this task typically possessed varying levels of scientific literacy and were drawn from a cohort of mixed abilities. The assessment task involved the construction of a scientific report that included feedback from instructor to students before final submission of the assessment piece. After initial submission of a scientific report, the instructor developed a cohort-specific marking scheme based on the deficiencies that were evident within the class group. Using a mixture of peer and self-review against specific criteria, the students were required to resubmit an amended report. This resulted in elevated marks compared with those that would have been obtained after first submission, thus rewarding the student for the application of feedback. This technique proved to be efficient for both parties and also resulted in improvement of skills of the entire student population, regardless of the ability of the student prior to the assessment task. Using this methodology, students of varying aptitudes were able to measure their own skill improvement against tangible criteria, and enjoy a degree of learning success independent of the ranking within their group.     

‘Becoming and being writers’: the experiences of doctoral students in writing groups

The use of writing groups to support students undertaking post-graduate research within universities has begun to receive attention from academic supervisors and doctoral researchers. Very little has been written by doctoral students themselves on the benefits of working within such writing groups. In this article, the experiences of working within a doctoral writing group at an Australian University are presented, primarily from the perspective of students. The authors identify two main benefits they have experienced through participating in a writing group using a ‘multi-voiced’ approach. First, they discuss the kind of learning that they achieved through working in a writing group. They do this with reference to key principles of peer learning and of peer review. Second, they focus on the ways the group worked as a community of discursive social practice. An overarching message for them in participating in the group and now writing this article is the shift in their thinking and experience of writing from seeing writing as an essentially private and implicit process to writing becoming a matter of public and shared work. These two notions are bound by the concept of identity building, drawing from the literature on communities of practice.     

EFL写作中教师作文书面反馈研究——学生评估,教师自我评估,教师实际书面反馈与教师教学理念

鉴于目前国内关于EFL写作教师反馈的研究中,很少涉及教师对其反馈的自我评估的情况,系统研究了英语作为外语时,教师对作文反馈自我评估的内容、意义和作用。主要研究了以下内容:(1)教师的书面反馈中就整体和局部的反馈各占多少。(2)教师的自我评估和学生对教师书面反馈的评估的吻合程度。(3)教师对书面反馈的自我评估和教师的实际书面反馈的吻合程度。研究结果表明:教师书面反馈的重点仍然是文章的局部问题。教师的自我评估和学生对教师书面反馈的评估的吻合程度低,教师倾向高估所给出的反馈的量,反映出学生希望获得更多的教师书面反馈。而教师的自我评估和教师的实际书面反馈的吻合程度为66%,教师能比较准确地评估就作文局部所给出反馈的量,却倾向高估就作文整体所给出反馈的量。     

老舍序跋论略

老舍序跋包括为自己和他人的作品写的序和后记,为刊物写的发刊词,以及具有序跋性质的自评。它记录了老舍每篇作品的创作缘由以及其一生文学活动的脉络,是研究老舍其人其书的重要依据。此外,老舍序跋的写作艺术独具一格,以当今的序跋写作提供了范例。     

新理念日常作文评价标准要体现以生为本

“以生为本”的作文评价标准指教师尊重学生作文的个性化情感、个性化生活体验、个性化思想,关注每个学生的作文成长过程,而不以传统“应试作文”模式化标准来束缚学生作文表达真情。基础性标准、真实性标准、创意性标准、激励性标准、过程性标准、差异性标准,体现了生本作文评改理念,具有较强实践性、操作性。     

Peer and self-assessment applied to oral presentations from a multidisciplinary perspective

This article analyses the use of peer and self-assessment in oral presentations as complementary tools to assessment by the professor. The analysis is based on a study conducted at the University of Girona (Spain) in seven different degree subjects and fields of knowledge. We designed and implemented two instruments to measure students’ peer and self-assessment, and a rubric to guide the assessment process. Results were compared with the marks awarded by the professor. In contrast with studies by other authors, which show a high correlation between these different assessment systems, our study revealed significant deviations. Applying peer and self-assessment to oral presentation activities also demonstrates their formative value above and beyond their summative usefulness.     

大学英语合作写作过程中同伴间对话研究

合作型写作已在大学英语写作课堂中越来越受到重视和认可。通过对合写者间的互动对话进行定量和定性分析,探寻合写时合作者关注的主要问题有哪些以及解决这些问题的主要策略。研究结果表明,写作内容层面和语言层面的问题是合作者讨论关注的重点,这一点与写作者个体写作时的情况类似。面对合写时的认知冲突,合写者往往通过讨论协商,重建思维,解决分歧。同时,同伴间的互动往往促成\"集体性语言建架\"的形成,有利于同伴间的互相学习。     

江苏省上市公司内部控制自评报告披露现状的实证分析

利用江苏省上市公司2008--2010年的相关资料,对上市公司内部控制自评报告披露现状进行了研究。通过分析发现,在披露比例上,深市已经达到100％,但沪市仍然有一半左右没有披露;在披露形式上,两市均有许多不一致的地方;在披露内容上,在风险评估方面显得不够深入。对此,监管部门还应进一步加强对内部控制自评报告信息披露的监管力度,规范内部控制自评报告的披露形式,重视风险评估并加强对风险的管理,落实责任追究制度。