An Inquiry Into EFL Teachers’ Perceptions of Integrating Student Self-Assessment Into Teaching Academic Writing at a Saudi University
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17507/tpls.1203.06Keywords:
formative assessment, self-assessment, reflection, metacognition, writing stagesAbstract
This paper aims to explore EFL teachers’ perceptions of integrating student self-assessment into teaching writing to EFL students, in the preparatory year at an English language center at a Saudi university. Previous research has indicated that through reflection and metacognition, self-assessment can help students in EFL contexts learn to write and improve the quality of their writing. The bulk of this research, however, simplistically underestimates the socio-cultural context in which learning to write takes place, especially one where the symbiotic relationship between different affordances is far from problematic. Drawing on Vygotsky’s socio-cultural theory, this study explores how these affordances play out in the context of this study and how they impact the quality of learning to write, in EFL contexts. The sample consisted of 53 EFL teachers, exploring their perceptions of, and experiences with, integrating self-assessment into teaching writing to students in the academic English track (ELIS). A mixed methods design was employed, and the findings revealed that although teachers have positive perceptions about self-assessment and encourage its implementation in their writing classrooms, they lack professional support for integrating self-assessment into the various stages of writing. The findings also suggested that the integration of self-assessment into teaching writing is a complex process, and the chaotic relationship between curriculum design, assessment policy, professional development initiatives, and students’ and teachers’ beliefs, might contribute to a lack of engagement when integrating self-assessment into teaching writing. Finally, pertinent recommendations for teaching writing and future research about integrating self-assessment into teaching writing are suggested.
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