Peer- and Self-Assessment in Primary School English Language Classrooms

Abstract

Peer- and self-assessment could benefit the pupils in learning English language as a second language due to the aspects of essential whole group and individual reflections within the practice. This paper intends to investigate the practices of peer- and self-assessment among the national primary school English language teachers in a district in Selangor, Malaysia via a mixed methods approach. A survey was administered on 244 teachers, followed by interview and classroom observation on eight subset participants. From the survey, approximately 93% of the respondents had an emerging practice of peer- and self-assessment in their English language classrooms, which happened 50% of the time. The interview and observation findings show that the teachers needed extra time to train the pupils for the practice of peer- and self-assessment, mostly on written work, but also applicable during reading and speaking lessons. Pupils could apply self-assessment by knowing their levels and what to be done, sometimes based on worksheets and checklists. Sometimes, peer- and self-assessment were difficult and confusing among the pupils with lower English language proficiency levels. In the classroom, the pupils needed more time to receive guidance and training from the teachers in order to practise peer- and self-assessment, despite not fully in English. This implies that the teachers were attempting to enact peer- and self-assessment among the pupils, albeit rather deviating from the target language at times.