Triangulation of language assessment modes: learning benefits and socio-cognitive prospects

ABSTRACT

An experimental design was adopted in the present study to cross-compare the effect of two formative assessments, namely peer assessment (PA) and teacher assessment (TA), with summative assessment (SA) on the improvement of language learners’ writing skill and self-efficacy. Writing excellence was operationalized by structural (grammar), lexical (word choice), and discoursal (cohesion and coherence) well-formedness. Furthermore, focused group interview was run to elicit the learners' attitudes and preferences toward type of assessment. Three cohorts of proficiency-matched language learners sat for a semester-long experimentation (20 sessions × 90 min = 30 h) and three testing sessions. The results revealed that PA group significantly improved in the writing skill, but TA and SA groups did not. Self-efficacy was not enhanced in any of the assessment groups under study. The interviews and follow-up member checkings indicated that the pupils did not have positive attitudes toward PA and preferred TA. Among the sources of this disfavor, they referred to misunderstanding, lack of knowledge or attention, tiredness, poor handwriting of the assesse, shyness, friendship bias, and even feeling not qualified enough to judge their peers’ tasks. Overall, then, the study reported a mismatch between the students’ actual performance and attitudinal beliefs under different assessment conditions, implying that (a) Iranian students are more inclined toward teacher-dominated pedagogies and (b) triangulation of assessment modes provides more reliable optimal results.

KEYWORDS:

• Formative assessment
• summative assessment
• writing ability
• self-efficacy
• learner beliefs

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Research Council of Shahid Bahonar University of Kerman.

Notes on contributors

Shima Ghahari

Shima Ghahari is a senior lecturer (assistant professor) of Applied Linguistics at Shahid Bahonar University of Kerman (Iran). She is a quest editor for SAGE Journals and reviewer for TESOL Journal (Wiley), Cogent Education (Routledge) and International Journal of Society, Culture, and Language.

Farzaneh Farokhnia

Farzaneh Farokhnia holds an M.A. in English Language Teaching from Shahid Bahonar University of Kerman (Iran). She is currently a full-time tutor and supervisor at Jahad Daneshgahi Institute.