British Council Malaysia - PDP 4 ELT - B1 - Penang B1 - Unit 4 - Summary of a forum discussion on self-assessment

1. Self-Assessment
British Council Malaysia
PDP 4 ELT
B1 – Penang B1
Unit 4

2. Summary
When we use self-assessment we are giving students an
opportunity to get to know more about their strengths
and their weaknesses, to become more aware of the
skills they have to develop and what they have to
review, to see what they have achieved so far, that is, to
check their own progress. Thus, we can help students
improve as we can check how students feel about our
classes, get to know more about our students’
performance, and plan our classes accordingly.

3. Worksheets 1 and 2
∗ Worksheet 1:
The first worksheet encourages learners to participate actively in class as they must listen
carefully and concentrate fully on everything the teacher is teaching. By doing this, learners can
come up with their own ideas about every aspect of the language.
It can also be adapted and carried out in the beginning of the year so that we can get to
know about students' learning styles in a subject. Teachers can also modify or upgrade their
teaching techniques according to their students' needs. Besides, this type of self-assessment can
also be adapted and used with secondary school learners as the last activity before wrapping up a
class and/or a lesson. They can share ideas on what they do to improve their English with their
classmates.
∗ Worksheet 2:
It is based on students’ routine. It's like writing a diary. They have to write about everything
they do in their own journal. Learners will write about their own experiences.
It should be adapted and carried out after a workshop or a seminar with higher secondary
school learners or college students.

4. More information on Self-Assement
According to Penny Ur in her book A
Course in Language Teaching: Practice and
Theory (1996), self-assessment takes place
when “the learners themselves evaluate
their own performance, using clear criteria
and weighting systems agreed on
beforehand.”

5. According to H. Douglas Brown in his book
Teaching by Principles: An Interactive Approach
to Language Pedagogy (Second Edition – 2001),
the advantages of self-assessment are “speed,
direct
involvement
of
students,
the
encouragement of autonomy, and increased
motivation because of self-involvement in the
process of learning.”

6. Jeremy Harmer in his book The Practice of English Language
Teaching (Fourth Edition – 2007), says that “involving
students in assessment of themselves and their peers occurs
when we ask a class ‘Do you think that’s right?’ after writing
something we heard someone say up on the board, or asking
the class the same question when one of their number gives a
response. We can also ask them at the end of an activity how
well they think they have got on – or tell them to add a
written comment to a piece of written work they have
completed, giving their own assessment of that work. We
might ask them to give themselves marks or a grade and then
see how this tallies with our own.”

7. He also mentions that “self-assessment can be made
more formal in a number of ways. For example, at the
end of a coursebook unit we might ask students to
check what they can now go, e.g. ‘Now I know how to
get my meaning across in conversation/use the past
passive/interrupt politely in conversation’, etc.”

8. References:
Brown, H. Douglas. Teaching by Principles: An Interactive
Approach to Language Pedagogy. New York: Pearson
Education, 2001 – 2nd Edition.
Harmer, Jeremy. The Practice of English Language Teaching.
Harlow: Pearson Education, 2007 – 4th Edition.
Ur, Penny. A Course in Language Teaching: Practice and
Theory. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996.