The Effect of Assessment Technique on EFL Learners’ Writing Motivation and Self-Regulation

The inherent deficiencies of teacher-centered assessment have led many researchers to investigate the challenges and possibilities of alternative assessment. From among the various forms of alternative assessment, self and peer assessment have not been adequately scrutinized in the Iranian context. The present study examined the effect of three different assessment techniques, namely teacher, peer, and self-assessment, in writing tasks on a cohort of Iranian English learners’ writing motivation and self-regulation. Ninety-five female intermediate EFL learners were randomly assigned to three groups of self, peer, and teacher-assessment. Before the treatment, all the participants produced an argumentative essay while thinking-aloud and recording their voice, and completed the questionnaires. After the treatment, the participants once again completed the writing motivation and self-regulation questionnaires and wrote an argumentative essay, while thinking aloud and recording their voice. Both qualitative and quantitative data were collected using questionnaires, interviews, and think-aloud protocols. Having analyzed the interviews qualitatively, and analyzed the writing motivation questionnaires results through a one-way ANCOVA test, the researcher concluded that self-assessment had an advantage over the two other techniques in promoting writing motivation. Similarly, the analysis of the coded think-aloud protocols and a one-way ANCOVA yielded support for the superiority of the alternative assessment particularly self-assessment in promoting the use of self-regulatory strategies. Implications for writing classes are discussed.