Using peer-assessment to mitigate variability in graduate students’ phonetic transcription skills

ABSTRACT

Phonetic transcription is a cornerstone skill in the practice of speech-language pathology. Several factors may impact transcription proficiency including when it was learned, how it was learned, and whether practice continued. Graduate student cohorts are often comprised of students from several different universities and vastly different experiences, resulting in differing levels of proficiency in phonetic transcription. Bringing students to the same proficiency level is time-consuming and often involves re-teaching this skill, which detracts from teaching advanced material. Therefore, the purpose of the present study was to explore the use of peer-assessment of phonetic transcription to mitigate these differences in proficiency. Thirty-four graduate students participated in an experimental study investigating proficiency in phonetic transcription as a result of peer-assessment activities. The students also rated and described their opinions about the peer-assessment process. The results of pretest to posttest measures indicated that students who were not at ceiling at pretest improved their phonetic transcription skills significantly. Results of the survey indicated that not only did students enjoy the process, but they also stated that it promoted self-reflection and improvement of their skills, regardless of proficiency at pretest. These findings suggest that peer-assessment is a beneficial way for students to engage in improving their phonetic transcription skills.

KEYWORDS:

• Phonetic transcription
• education
• speech sound disorders
• pedagogy

Acknowledgments

The author would like to extend gratitude to the participants of the present study, and to Erin Bush for her thoughtful comments.

Disclosure statement

The author received a faculty stipend from the Ellbogen Center for Teaching and Learning to pursue this project.

Correction Statement

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the John P. Ellbogen Center for Teaching and Learning at the University of Wyoming [none].