The Effect of Distance Self-Assessment Training on Turkish EFL Learners' Writing Skills

Abstract

This study aims to examine the effect of distant self-assessment training on Turkish EFL learners’ writing and self-assessment performance. Additionally, it also aims at revealing the views of the students and their teachers regarding distance self-assessment training. To this end, explanatory sequential mixed methods design was followed. Four groups of students participated in this study: two experimental and two control groups. 23 students each in the experimental and control groups, a total of 46 students who were of B1 level participated in this study. The students in the experimental groups were given the distance self-assessment training as treatment. After that, the quantitative data were collected through the self-assessment scores of both groups and teachers in two different writing exams. The assessment criteria used to collect the quantitative data was developed by the preparatory school and expert opinions were obtained for reliability and validity concerns. Qualitative data were collected by interviewing the students and their teachers about self-assessment training. The findings reveal that the distance self-assessment training created a significant difference in the writing performance of the experimental group learners. While there was no significant improvement in the performance of the students in the control group, the students in the experimental group had higher scores after the training. Besides, the students in the experimental group self-assessed their writing exam as close as their teachers whereas the students in the control group did not. Moreover, both the students and teachers had positive opinions regarding the self-assessment training.