Self-Assessing Knowledge of Words and Vocabulary Learning Strategies

Alternative assessment procedures have recently contributed noticeably to EFL assessment practices to the effect that a language learner’s role is scrutinized and relied upon as the main constructor of their own learning processes. This is while, Iranian educational systems have been at a loss as to practicing some suitable assessments which allow the EFL learners to reflect upon their own learning behaviors. Accordingly, the present paper targets at investigating the relationship between Iranian EFL learners’ vocabulary self-assessment and their use of cognitive and metacognitive vocabulary learning strategies. To this end, 108 Iranian non-English major learners participated in this study. Four vocabulary quizzes were administered to be assessed by the learners during four instructional sessions. In the fifth session, a validated vocabulary learning strategies questionnaire developed by Gu and Johnson (1996), was filled out by the learners. The results reveal that the learners’ self-assessment seems to have more to do with their metacognitive than cognitive vocabulary learning strategies. The analysis provided may point to the fact that both self-assessment and metacognitive strategies are directly involved with the learners’ self-awareness developing learners’ autonomy, and self-independence. The analysis furthermore suggests practical implications of self-assessment for evaluation in EFL classes.