PEER ASSESSMENT AT TERTIARY LEVEL

Abstract

Autonomous second language learning (SLL) is a topic of focus in every educational setting and almost universally supported by institutions and scholars in the whole world. One aspect of autonomous learning is peer evaluation (Harmer, 2001; Benson, 2001; Cottrall, 1999; Everhard&Murphy) Seeking to make students more autonomous leaners and take more responsibility for their learning, as well as assess the effect of peer assessment, on language acquisition, peer assessment has been introduced to student of the final semester of their studies. This paper reports initial results from a study into the effectiveness of peer assessment in an EFL (English as a Foreign Language) classroom instruction, in a methodology course, conducted in the second semester of the academic year 2017/2018, at the Department of English Language and Literature, at the University of Tetovo, Macedonia. Applying frequency statistics, Fraenkel&Wallen, (2003), the study has analyzed peer assessment; in contrast to teacher assessment of student presentations. Content analysis (Leedy & Ormord, 2005) to identify themes biases and meaning, the study investigated the validity and reliability of peer assessment. Convenience sampling among students enrolled in the seventh semester identified a non-random sample of 20 students representing 41% of the possible cohort. The findings of the study revealed that students were not prepared to assess each other and rather acted on their personal feelings towards their peers. In conclusion, it is argued that research designs involving an extended period of time and with a larger sample will be needed to confirm these results.