Self-Assessment Versus Instructor's Evaluation of the Written Product in an EFL Context

Abstract

The focus of this paper was on some EFL students’ self-assessment (vis-à-vis their actual performance) in one writing course at the university level. In addition to contributing to the value of research on ESL learners’ self-assessment, the study attempted to triangulate students' opinions with the grades those students received on their writings in one socio-cultural setting. Fifty EFL English majors taking a required writing course participated in this study. A pretest (the first drafts of the untimed writing) and a posttest (the timed writing) were used to collect data for this study over a whole semester. Oral and written corrective feedback was provided on content, organization, form, word choice, and mechanics. The findings revealed that although the majority of student writers generally claimed that the instructor's corrective feedback helped them improve their writing performance on all aspects of writing, the figures confirmed two specific findings: (1) there was some correspondence between students' claims and their actual improvements on form, word choice, and mechanics, and (2) there was no correspondence between students' claims and their actual improvements on content and organization.