Self-Assessment to improve speaking skills: a brief action research

Abstract

The present study aims to demonstrate that “Self-assessment” technique applied with EFL (English as a foreign language) students can improve their speaking skills as well as their self-confidence when speaking. The research was conducted with 34 young male students from the Ecuadorian Navy from Ecuador. The students were trained on how to self-assess their speaking skills focused on the content, grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation, and interaction. They self-assessed using a checklist and the teacher used a rubric to evaluate them. The design of the research was applied through a pretest and a posttest. Between the pretest and a posttest, the researcher implemented an innovation called “The Backward Design” to help students focus on the target, which is having a casual conversation in pairs about daily topics in English with self-confidence. A mixed method was used since the data collected during this study were quantitative and qualitative. The results compare the grades from the pretest and the posttest to determine if self-assessment improved or did not improve the students’ speaking skills and their self-confidence at the end of the innovation. Finally, an argument at the end of the research takes place to discuss the similarities and differences with other investigations.