Self-AssessmentBritish Council Malaysia

PDP 4 ELTB1 – Perak 5

Unit 4

We can do this activity at the end of a lesson. I think this activity is suitable for secondary school children aged 13-17. We can start by explaining how it works before carrying it out. We can pin the worksheet at the back of the classroom and ask the lower level students to fill it in. We can distribute the worksheets to good students and ask them to fill them in individually once a week or depending on how many times you want your students to assess themselves.

Worksheet 1

We can carry this activity out before we start our lesson. The first two parts can be completed first before we plan our lesson in order to get to know our students. This activity is suitable for primary school children aged 7-12. We can explain how to fill in the worksheet to students. For weak or average students, we can pin the worksheet at the back of the class and ask them to fill it in. We can give good students the worksheet and ask them to fill it in individually once a week or depending on how many times you want them to assess themselves.

Worksheet 2

We can work on these activities outdoors. We have to find ways to grab our students' attention so that they will do the activities we propose and will enjoy them. We can pair them up and they can talk to each other. Of course, we'll guide them fully throughout the activity.

Worksheets 1 and 2

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.”

Some information on Self-assesment

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.”

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.”

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.”

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.