Updated: Mar 2000 | Assessment - Classroom Approaches | Self-assessment

Assessment - Self-assessment

Self assessment is also known as self evaluation, self rating, self testing, self appraisal or self control.

One of its most important characteristics is the sharing of responsibility for assessment decisions between the teacher and the student.

Its main purpose is to provide students with the opportunity to develop an understanding of their own level of skill, knowledge or personal readiness for a task in relation to goals that are familiar to them.

To do so, they must be able to reflect on their work and objectively apply impartial criteria or performance indicators to it.

They need appropriate practice and feedback to have a well-developed capacity to do this. It is important to help them become aware of their own learning and how assessment is essential to further learning.

When students have the ability to reflect on their learning, they can move from concentrating on the content of learning - 'How many did I get wrong?' - to understanding the processes that produced the outcome.

In doing so, they will:

	achieve more control over what and how they learn, by extending their ability to contribute to their own thinking, monitor their own work, provide their own feedback and define their own strategies for further action.
	enhance their awareness of learning and evaluation processes by being involved in selecting assessment criteria, determining acceptable standards of performance and deciding the types of assessment task to be used.
	gain more opportunities for problem-based and experiential learning, transfer their learning to other subject areas and subsequently carry on their learning outside the classroom.

Well-designed self-assessment activities need to take into account:

	students and the experiences that they bring to the task.
	the particular demands of the subject matter.
	the context in which they take place.

When there is a discrepancy between the student's self assessment and the assessment by others, this must be discussed and is an opportunity to focus the student on the criteria for achievement.

Barbara Cram (1992) believes that effective self-assessment can only be developed over time and as the result of a planned approach. She offers the following table (Figure 25) as a means for teachers to plan for self-assessment strategies in teaching programs.

Figure 25: Sequence of self assessment activities
(Cram, B. in Brindly, G. (ed), Language Assessment in Action (1995), pp.271-305)

Stage	Activities
1. Raising learner awareness	Discussing with peers.
2. Clarifying feelings	Deciding between options (e.g. yes/no questionnaire; then questionnaire with a numbered scale).
3. Collaborative assessment	Small-group problem solving with discussion and/or conclusions recorded.
4. Individual reflective assessment	Keeping a diary; completing a self-reflection sheet after discussion with peers.
5. Diagnostic assessment	Group strategy planning; action planning.
6. Assessment of real-world performance	Developing simple skills profiles and rating scales for self and peer-assessment.
7. Integrating skills, knowledge and practices	Making value judgements against external practice standards; using externally-produced language rating scales and competency scales.
8. Assessing learning	Reflecting on learning styles and achievements, and developing action plans for future learning.