Htqe.2022.26

https://doi.org/10.22364/htqe.2022.26 | 360-368 | PDF

Attitudes of English Students Whose Skills are Peer-Assessed

Aurelija Daukšaitė-Kolpakovienė
Vytautas Magnus University, Lithuania

Abstract. Peer-assessment (PA) has been used in all study cycles for over three decades. In foreign language classes, for example, it has mostly been applied to assess writing rather than other skills. However, this study focused on PA of oral skills and aimed to learn about university students’ attitudes towards their experience of being peer-assessed in their English classes online during the pandemic when PA was used as a way of formative assessment (the grades suggested by peers were not a part of final course grades).
The study involved 49 Vytautas Magnus University (VMU) students (Lithuanians) studying general English at upper-intermediate level online in 2021. They were first and second year (first cycle) students aged 19 to 20. The research was both qualitative and quantitative. It used online PA forms, which the students who were assessors filled in anonymously to evaluate their peers’ oral production, and an online questionnaire with open and closed questions that the assessees filled in after they had received anonymous feedback from their peers.
The study showed that over 70% of the students liked it when their oral production was assessed by their peers. It seemed to be an interesting activity for them. Yet, they raised many concerns about PA. Some of them believed PA was not accurate and their peers did not put much effort into it. They also thought their peers lacked experience in PA. They emphasised that their teacher was more experienced and objective and thus should assess their skills rather than peers.

Keywords: being peer-assessed, English as a Foreign Language, oral skills, peer assessment, university students

In: Human, Technologies and Quality of Education, 2022. Proceedings of Scientific Papers = Cilvēks, tehnoloģijas un izglītības kvalitāte, 2022. Rakstu krājums
Riga, University of Latvia, 2022. 1135 p. Ed. L. Daniela
https://doi.org/10.22364/htqe.2022
ISBN 978-9934-18-911-1