STUDENTS PERCEPTION OF SELF-ASSESSMENT AND THE USE OF SELF-ASSESSMENT IN ENGLISH WRITING SKILL (A Case Study of the 1st semester Master - Program Students of English Education - Indonesia University of Education) RESEARCH BASED PAPER Arranged to fulfill the task of Language Testing and Evaluation Subject Lecturer: Prof Dr DIDI SUKYADI, M A Arranged by: Theodora Rani 2015 Kelas B 1503324 ENGLISH EDUCATION DEPARTMENT POST - GRADUATE PROGRAM INDONESIA UNIVERSITY OF EDUCATION 2015 / 2016 Theodora Rani STUDENTS PERCEPTION OF SELF-ASSESSMENT AND THE USE OF SELF-ASSESSMENT IN ENGLISH WRITING SKILL (A Case Study of the 1st semester Master - Program Students of English Education Indonesia University of Education) Theodora Rani English Education Department of Post - Graduate Program Indonesia University of Education Korespondensi: Jl Dr Setiabudi No 229, Bandung E-mail: Theodora.raniadhella@gmail.com ABSTRACT Self-assessment has gained much attention in recent years to build students autonomy in learning, in this case to improve their English writing skill Unfortunately, self - assessment is likely rarely used in Indonesia whereas this kind of assignment is quite important to build the students’ autonomy, as we know that the less - autonomy of students is one of problems Teachers often face What is Students’ perception about self - assessment? What are advantages and disadvantages of self - assessment based on their perception? Have they used self - assessment in English writing skill? This present study was an attempt to investigate what the Students’ perception about self-assessment and whether they have used it in improving their English writing skill To fulfill the purpose of the study, 30 participants who are attending the st semester of English Education Master-Program in Indonesia University of Education were chosen to fill in Questionnaire The Questionnaire used to check the self - assessment of English Writing Skill used by learners was ESLP 82 Questionnaire: “Self - Assessment of English Writing Skills and Use of Writing Strategies‟ which was taken from the following Internet site of Marquette University on October, 20th (2011): www.marquette.edu/oie/documentary/ESLPQuestionnaireFa08.pdf Furthermore, the writer also chose of the 30 participants as the representative to answer some open questions After that, qualitative approach method was used to analyze the data For the framework of text analysis, this study draws on the self - assessment theory developed by Brown (2003), and Anne Dragemark Ocarson This study reveals that almost all of the participants are able to use self-assessment of their English Writing Skill even though they rarely use it in their daily learning process It is suggested for the learners to start implementing self-assessments in their learning process seriously to improve their English Writing Skill At the end of this study,, the writer suggest other researchers to investigate further about The Impact of Self - Assessment on Learners’ Writing Skill (A Case Study of Particular School/ University) Keywords: Self-assessment, Indonesia University of Education, Writing skill Theodora Rani I INTRODUCTION As students, we need to know what our abilities are, how much progress we are making, and what we can (or can’t yet) with the skills we have acquired Without such knowledge, it wouldn’t be easy for us to learn efficiently If we can it accurately enough, we not have to depend completely on the opinions of teachers, and at the same time, we can make teachers aware of our individual needs As we know that any test of actual language use can sample only a small proportion of that ability, John Upshur (1975), cited in Heilenman, (1990) pointed out that learners have access to the entire gamut of their success and failure in the use of the second language by using self – assessment He was one of the first who provided a rationale for the use of selfassessment in the measurement of the second language abilities Since then, there has been a growing interest in the use of self-report measures in the assessment of second language competencies Unfortunately, the implementation of self - assessment for learning in Indonesia is still rarely used or rarely investigated by the researchers (Fulcher, 2010), cited in SelfAssessment of Ways of Learning written by Rizma Yuansih in 2014 Why? It is may be because students in Indonesia are not familiar with self – assessment yet or because the teachers haven’t introduced this kind of assessment In the more specific case, the writer is interested to investigate what is self - assessment viewed from the students’ perception and how the use of the self - assessment in their English Writing Skill A highly motivated writer is self-determining and generates his own writing opportunities (Scott, 2005) This kind of writing knows that they want to write and choose to write with personal reasons Motivated students have already had their selfconcept of writing To find out the level of students writing behavior, some researchers have conducted research in this field In line with the theories of learner autonomy, self-assessment is currently playing an important role in language teaching The procedure involves students in judging their own learning, particularly their achievement and learning outcomes Many have argued that teachers should help students construct knowledge through active involvement in assessing their own learning performance, and that students are empowered by gaining ownership of their learning and life-long learning skills (Chen, 2008) Teachers should Theodora Rani provide opportunities for students to assess their language level so as to help them focus on their own learning (Oskarsson, 1989) Hunt, Gow, and Barnes (1989) argue that without learner self-evaluation and self-assessment “there can be no real autonomy” (p 207) Self-assessment is used to prepare students for effectiveness and improvement in their lives Self-assessment is thus linked with the goal of life-long learning and integrated into various subjects and domains It has become not only a means to an end (autonomous life-long learning), but an end itself (a crucial component of autonomy) Through the process of self-assessment, students learn to discern patterns of strength and weakness that can help them become better learners Self-assessment skills help students gradually develop a critical attitude toward learning throughout their lives and then achieve perfect autonomy Along with these theories of learning, the practice of selfassessment also reflects new thinking about classroom assessment: assessment for learning and evaluation The assessment for learning approach shifts the focus from summative to formative assessment, from making judgments to prove that students have learned to provide feedback to indicate that they are making progress (Chen, 2008) Therefore, this study attempts to investigate whether learners’ self-assessment of learning process influences the development of their writing skill Although some student are always happy to have go at writing in English, other can be less keen This unwillingness may derive from anxiety they have about their handwriting, their spelling, or their ability to construct sentences and paragraphs And if these insecurities are reinforced because they are unable to complete writing tasks successfully, then the students’ attitude to writing is likely to become more and more negative With students lack familiarity or confidence with writing (or indeed enthusiasm for it) we need to spend some time building the writing habit – that is making them feel comfortable as writers in English Thus, actually writing is as an activity students can choose to or not to often so it requires behavior and motivation (Harmer, 2014) The study’s aim is to find out the use of the self - assessment in English Writing Skill and the students’ perception towards the self-assessment, Therefore, the main focus of this research is students’ perception towards assessment and the use of self assessment of the Ss’ English Writing Skill Theodora Rani Objectives of the Study Students are expected to answer some questions in ESLP 82 Questionnaire (See Appendix 1) to know the students’ use of English Writing Skill Instead of that, the writer also choose of 30 participants to answer some open - questions related to investigate what their perception towards self – assessment The open question offered to the participants consist of these following questions: What is self - assessment based on the Students’ opinion? Have the Students used self - assessment in improving their English writing skill? What are advantages and disadvantages of using self – assessment based on the students’ perception? This research has three significances for theoretical, practical, and professional benefits Theoretically, this research’s findings can be used as one of the theories concerning the research on the self-assessment applied in writing skill This research is designed for the first semester Master program - students of English Education in UPI Practically, the research findings will be useful for students, teachers, and even for the reader who are interested in the English Education Field, specifically in the area of assessment and writing behavior For Students, this research will inspire them to be autonomous learner who is able to make all decisions concerning their own learning For teachers, this research will encourage them to involve their students in the learning process Moreover, for those who are interested in English Education, the findings will present the alternative technique in assessing writing skill or another skill which can be used in the classroom While professionally, the findings can help teachers to create a good atmosphere between teachers and students II LITERATURE REVIEW Assessment is actually different than a tests which are prepared administrative procedures that occur at identifiable times in a curriculum when the students want to reach the peak of performance Assessment, on the other hand, is an ongoing process Theodora Rani that covers wider domain Whenever students respond to a question, offer a comment, or tries out a new word or structure, the teacher subconsciously makes an assessment of the students’ performance It is written work- from informal phrase to a formal essay- is performance that eventually is assessed by self, teacher, and possibly other students (Brown, 2006) Assessment has an important role which can affect the whole process teaching and learning Therefore Paris and Paris (2001) argued that we need to know both of the product and process of learning so that we would discover what is learned, what additional efforts are required, and what skills are effective In according to Brown (2003), assessment is divide into two kind of assessments, Traditional and Authentic/ Alternative Assessment Traditional assessment is an assessment which is provided by the teacher to measure Students’ progress by giving them some choices (eg True-false, matching, or multiple choices) (Brown, 2006) On the other hand, Authentic/ Alternative assessment refers to a performance that ultimately assessed by self, teacher, and possibly by other students (Brown, 2006) In addition, Paris & Ayres (1994) states that authentic assessment or commonly known as alternative assessment is a formative system of assessment used by the teacher which is reflecting classroom situation and curricula outcome This kind of assessment needs to be aligned with Ss’ needs so the results are genuine and fair for the Ss This following table show the difference between traditional and alternative assessment: Theodora Rani According to Chen (2008), traditional assessment is often regarded as “the realm of the teacher” Chen further argued that the inadequacies of traditional assessment attracted the attention of scholars and triggered a shift toward alternative assessment Knowing to the fact that learning and assessment are strongly related, the growing demand for lifelong learning has led to a reevaluation of the relationship between learning and assessment This reevaluation has influenced the development of the “new era of assessment” according to Dochy, Segers, and Sluijsmans (1999) Thus, the alternative assessments would be important to improve the students’ performances Alternative assessment includes performance assessment, portfolio assessment, students’ self-assessment, peer-assessment, and so forth (Huerta-Macias, 1995) II.1 SELF - ASSESSMENT Self – assessment is a part of either alternative assessment or formative assessment (Brown: 2003) Self-assessment, as one form of measuring learners’ language competencies, has attracted significant attention in foreign language Theodora Rani education Oscarson (1997) recommended learner - centered ways of determining learning In line with this argument, he observes that self-assessment is based on the idea that effective learning is best achieved if students are actively engaged in the process of learning Thus, all other forms of assessment are subordinate to it Self assessment is defined by Boud and Falchikov (1989) as the process by which students make judgements about their learning, particularly their learning outcomes Blanche and Merino (1989) argue that since 1976, when the first reports on selfassessment were published, self-assessment has continued to develop as a distinct field of study in second language (L2) learning and education Studies of self - assessment have mainly investigated the correlations between teacher assessment and selfassessment intended to discover the accuracy of self – assessment (Blanche & Merino, 1989; Boud & Falchikov, 1989; Carr, 1977) Unfortunately, Self - assessment may not be recognized well in Indonesia It is because both of the teachers and the learners haven’t had adequate knowledge about what advantages and disadvantages of self assessment in learning English as a foreign language, especially in writing skill II.2 ADVANTAGES Blue (1994) identified some benefits of self-assessment such as encouraging greater effort, boosting self-confidence, and facilitating awareness of distinctions between competence and performance as well as self-awareness of learning strengths and weaknesses Chamot & O’Mlley (1994, cited in Haris, 1997) said that, self-assessment would make the students realize the huge responsibility of the process of their learning Also, self-assessment had a big role to help learners locate their own strength and weaknesses Then after they know about that, self - assessment can help them to think about what they need to Harris (1997) also mentions that self-assessment helps to direct students to summarize and decide what the best strategy for their learning is Consequently, selfassessment can increase the awareness of the communication strategies they use In line with those statements, Genesee and Upshur (1996) mention some kinds of self- Theodora Rani assessment which can be used by the teachers and learners They are utilizing journal, conferences, portfolios, rating scale, questionnaires, and many more An advantage of self-assessment is that it may lead to more confidence while performing a task (Oscarson, 1997) It is hypothesized that this sense of confidence and perceived self-mastery resulting from self-assessment would contribute to learners’ selfefficacy McMillan and Hearn (2008) also suggested that self-assessment promotes both self-efficacy and motivation Oscarson (1997) found that students’ involvement in all phases of learning process, learner autonomy, the development of the concept of lifelong learning, and increased motivation are some of the benefits of self-assessment In 2009, Anne Dragemark Oscarson argued a number of formative motives for self-assessment practices have been suggested by Oscarson (1989) Among others these are that self-assessment promotes learning, raises learner awaness, improves goal orientation, improves learner autonomy in a lifelong perspective, is conducive to democratic learning processes and needs analysis As indicated by Oscarson (1999, pp 181-183) these are advantages arguments of self-assessment: a the pedagogical-educational argument (i.e giving the student real autonomy), b the practical-pragmatic argument (i.e giving the teacher and the student shared responsibility for assessment), c the logical-philosophical argument (i.e considering the language learner to be in a unique position to judge that which is difficult to reach by external observation) and d the empirical argument, based on research that supports the notion that (language) students are, under certain conditions, capable of realistically assessing their own performance levels According paper written by Abdel Salam and Abdel Khalek El-Koumy (2010), there are some advantages using self-assessment: It enhances students awareness of their own learning and thinking processes (Zohar, 2004) It provides direction for future learning (Chamot and O’Malley, 1994) It makes teachers aware of their students' needs and provides them with an additional lens through which to view their achievement (Blanche, 1988) Theodora Rani It helps learners see gaps in their own learning and initiate self-repair to redirect their learning toward the learning goal (Liang, 2006) It stimulates learners to consider course content critically and helps them achieve a high level of academic thinking skills (Teh, 2006) It promotes learners' autonomy and brings a sense of responsibility and accountability to them (Asadoorian and Batty, 2005) It increases learners’ knowledge of their learning goals and thus enhances their motivation and goal orientation (Liang, 2006) It stimulates learners to exercise a variety of learning strategies and higher order thinking skills (Chamot and O’Malley, 1994) It develops appropriate study skills and strategies and fosters lifelong learning (Zohar, 2004) 10 It helps learners get better marks (Harris, 1997) II.3 DISADVANTAGES According paper written by Abdel Salam and Abdel Khalek El-Koumy (2010), there are some disadvantages using self-assessment: Students are unaware of what they not know (Dunning, Johnson, Ehrlinger and Kruger, 2003) Students tend to view themselves in desirable ways (Shrauger and Osberg, 1981) Many students believe that the duty of assessment is the responsibility of the teacher (Falchikov, 2003) There are doubts about the reliability of this form of assessment in formal education (Dickinson, 1987) There are doubts about the confidentiality of the learners if self-assessment is used for high-stakes decisions (Dickinson, 1987) Instructors are reluctant to lose their control over assessment (Blue, 1988) There may be a mismatch between the goals of assessment as conceived by the learner and the teacher (Oscarson, 1997) Students feel a sense of humiliation in reporting their own weaknesses (Liang, 2006) Some students perceive self-assessment as irrelevant and inappropriate (Liang, 2006) 10 Theodora Rani Writing has many important aspects It makes students more relaxed and confident with new language because it allows them to work at their pace It also allows them to make changes and revision without pressure to perform on the spot that is associated, for instance, with speaking (Mahmoud, 2000) Writing plays two distinct roles in schools ; First, it is a skill that requires mastering basic sub skills and processes such as; handwriting , spelling, a rich knowledge of vocabulary, mastery of the conventions of punctuation, capitalization, word usage, grammar ,and the use of strategies ; planning, evaluating, and revising text All are necessary for the production of coherently organized essays containing well developed and pertinent ideas, supporting examples, and appropriate detail This role can be characterized as “learning to write.” Second, writing is a means to extend and deepen students' knowledge, it acts as a tool for learning subject matter (Graham&Perin, 2007) In brief, we can say that writing skill is important because it covers both of cognitive and meta-cognitive, psychological, socio-mental and structural skills It can’t be separated from other skills (speaking, listening, and reading) because they are related one another III METHODOLOGY As what mentioned above, the purpose of the present study is to find out what students’ perception towards self - assessment and the use of self-assessment in English writing skill Research Question These are questions asked to the participants: What is self - assessment based on the Students’ opinion? Have the Students used self - assessment in improving their English writing skill? What are advantages and disadvantages of using self – assessment based on the students’ perception? Furthermore, the writer choose 10 question of ESLP 82 Questionnaire to the participants The ESLP 82 Questionnaire: “Self - Assessment of English Writing Skills and Use of Writing Strategies‟ which was taken from the following Internet site of Marquette University The Questions are: 13 Theodora Rani NO 10 QUESTIONS I can use appropriate vocabulary and word forms to effectively communicate with the reader I can use appropriate spelling, capitalization, and punctuation I can write an accurate summary of information that I have read in English I can write a good academic research paper I can write a good conclusion for an English essay I can effectively brainstorm to gather ideas before writing I can write quickly in English I write for pleasure in my free time in English I give myself a reward when I have finished writing I make notes or try to remember feedback I get so I can use it the next time I write Table Actually, the questionnaire consist of sub-titles of questionnaire and consists of totally 107 question The first sub-title is Self-Assessment of English Writing Skill consists of 36 questions, the 2nd sub-title is General Writing Strategies consists of questions, the 3rd sub-title is Before Writing (Strategies) consists of 12 questions, the 4th sub-title is During Writing (Strategies) consists of 14 questions, the 5th sub-title is After Writing (Strategies) consists of 15 questions, and the 6th sub-title is General Writing Strategies consists of 21 questions Since the respondents were given some assignments of making Research Based Paper during this study conducted, the writer chose these 10 questions with the criteria that the questions should be related with academic research paper writing skill and learning strategies considered often done by them Thus, the data got for this study would be valid because the respondents filled the questionnaire based on their latest experiences In this questionnaire, students are asked whether or not they have done some self assessments related with their English Writing Skill From those questions, the students were told to choose number (never or almost never true of me), (usually not true of me), (somewhat true of me), (usually true of me), or (always or almost always true 14 Theodora Rani of me) The self - assessment in English writing skill was first completed in the first week of December 2015 Research Design The study is made by using descriptive research designs in which the writer collected the descriptive data related to the topic of What Students’ perception towards Self-assessment As Travers (1978) argued that the main purpose of descriptive research design is to describe a temporary circumstance of one topic and to examine deeply causes of a certain symptoms (Sevilla, Ochave, Punsalan, Regala, & Uriarte, 1993, p 71) Instead of that, this descriptive study is also designed to investigate some characteristics or phenomena which is already existed but we want to describe it in a better way (Sekaran, 2003) In this case, the writer try to find the description of Students’ about Selfassessment and the use of it in English writing skill Data Collection The study was conducted in SPS - English Department of Indonesia University of Education, Bandung in December 2015 The Participants are the thirty students who are attending 1st semester Master - Program Students of English Education - Indonesia University of Education The writer then gave the questionnaire and chose three of the participants to be interviewed by using open-question Instrument The writer interviewed the participants by using her laptop She typed the answer of the participants while interviewing the teachers Furthermore, the writer collected the students’ perception about what is successful teacher by asking them to fill in the questionnaire Data Analysis As Wyse (2011) that qualitative research is primarily exploratory research It is used to gain an understanding of underlying reasons, opinions, and motivations It provides insights into the problem or helps to develop ideas or hypotheses for potential 15 Theodora Rani quantitative research Thus, the Data collected was analyzed by using qualitative method in which the writer tried to analyze and draw conclusion What Makes Successful Teacher be Successful both viewed by teachers and students perception Besides, the writer also use SPSS to know which questions are true/ not true for the students The result and findings of this study would be discussed further in the next chapter Purpose of the Study The purpose of this study is to investigate the students’ perception towards self assessment and to know the use of self-assessment in their English Writing Skill III DISCUSSION & FINDING The first step of data analysis was providing a questionnaire to participants and selected 10 questions out of 170 questions in ESLP82Questionnaire which were considered as the most related with the use of self – assessment in English writing skill A DISCUSSION The writer use SPSS to analyze the questionnaire answers from the participants by using descriptive statistics Thus, the following table shows the result of the analysis P1 means questions number 1, P2 means questions number 2, etc (see table 1) Statistics (Table 2) P1 N Valid P2 P3 P4 P5 P6 P7 P8 P9 P10 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 0 0 0 0 0 Mean 3.57 3.87 3.40 3.40 3.13 3.63 3.57 3.13 3.23 3.03 Median 4.00 4.00 3.50 3.00 3.00 4.00 3.50 3.00 3.00 3.00 4 3 3 3 679 900 675 563 860 490 728 629 774 964 Minimum 2 2 2 1 Maximum 5 4 5 5 107 116 102 102 94 109 107 94 97 91 Missing Mode Std Deviation Sum 16 Theodora Rani From the table above, it can be inferred that from the 10 statements, all of the participants are somewhat agree with the statements These are the detail of the data analysis by using descriptive statistic: P1: I can use appropriate vocabulary and word forms to effectively communicate with the reader P1 Frequency Valid Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent 3.3 3.3 3.3 13 43.3 43.3 46.7 14 46.7 46.7 93.3 6.7 6.7 100 30 100 100 Total From the table and histogram above, it can be inferred that most of the participants are able to use appropriate vocabulary and word forms to effectively communicate with the reader P2: I can use appropriate spelling, capitalization, and punctuation Frequency Valid Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent 10 10 10 16.7 16.7 26.7 15 50 50 76.7 23.3 23.3 100 30 100 100 Total From the table and histogram above, it can be inferred that most of the participants are able to use appropriate spelling, capitalization, and punctuation P3: I can write an accurate summary of information that I have read in English P3 Frequency Valid Total Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent 10 10 12 40 40 10 50 15 50 50 100 30 100 100 From the table and histogram above, it can be inferred that most of the participants are able to write an accurate summary of information that I have read in English 17 Theodora Rani P4: I can write a good academic research paper P4 Frequency Valid Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent 3.3 3.3 3.3 16 53.3 53.3 56.7 13 43.3 43.3 100 30 100 100 Total From the table and histogram above, it can be inferred that most of the participants are somewhat able to write a good academic research paper P5: I can write a good conclusion for an English essay P5 Frequency Valid Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent 6.7 6.7 6.7 2 6.7 6.7 13.3 17 56.7 56.7 70 26.7 26.7 96.7 100 Total 3.3 3.3 30 100 100 From the table and histogram above, it can be inferred that most of the participants are somewhat able to write a good conclusion for an English essay P6: I can effectively brainstorm to gather ideas before writing P6 Frequency Valid Total Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent 11 36.7 36.7 36.7 19 63.3 63.3 100 30 100 100 From the table and histogram above, it can be inferred that most of the participants are able to effectively brainstorm to gather ideas before writing P7: I can write quickly in English 18 Theodora Rani P7 Frequency Valid Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent 3.3 3.3 3.3 14 46.7 46.7 50 12 40 40 90 10 10 100 30 100 100 Total From the table and histogram above, it can be inferred that most of the participants are somewhat able to write quickly in English P8: I write for pleasure in my free time in English P8 Frequency Valid Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent 13.3 13.3 13.3 18 60 60 73.3 26.7 26.7 100 30 100 100 Total From the table and histogram above, it can be inferred that most of the participants are somewhat able to write for pleasure in their free time in English P9: I give myself a reward when I have finished writing P9 Frequency Valid Total Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent 1 3.3 3.3 2 6.7 6.7 3.3 10 17 56.7 56.7 66.7 30 30 96.7 3.3 3.3 100 30 100 100 From the table and histogram above, it can be inferred that most of the participants somewhat usually give themselves a reward when they finished writing 10 P10: I make notes or try to remember feedback I get so I can use it the next time I write 19 Theodora Rani P10 Frequency Valid Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent 10 10 10 10 10 20 15 50 50 70 26.7 26.7 96.7 100 3.3 3.3 Total 30 100 100 From the table and histogram above, it can be inferred that most of the participants somewhat usually make notes or try to remember feedback they get so they can use it the next time they write As what have been mentioned above, the writer also chose participants who were considered have good experience being a teacher to be given some questions related to self - assessment itself The participants are in the same time are the first semester students of Master Program – English Education in UPI and the teacher of various institutions Thus, they are expected to have good perceptions towards self - assessment To simplify the detail of the interview, the writer would give the initial of the participants, they are PP, LH, and RC Here’s the discussion about the questions we proposed to them: in z What you know about self - assessment? PP: I don’t know much about self - assessment LH: Self-assessment is a part of formative assessment, conducted to measure students’ own ability or lesson mastery Here, the students make self-assessment of how well they have learned on going lessons For teachers, they can use the responses to easily identify the teaching area for students’ improvement RC: Self - assessment is a part of authentic assessment, it is a way to reflect on personal achievement in learning it is also a form of formative assessment From the first question, it can be inferred that generally almost of the participants know what self – assessment is although they only understand the surface of knowledge Have you done self-assessment in learning English? Can you explain? PP: No, I think I never it LH: Last year, when the 12th graders did the National Examinations; they made selfassessment of how well they learned about reading skills or strategies RC: I did a self-assessment when I took a lesson plan course for matriculation The lecturer provided us with a self - assessment form to fill out From the answers above, it can be inferred that almost all participants rarely use selfassessment, especially in writing skill In your opinion, what are advantages of using self-assessment? PP: It is the way we can know ourselves and improve our performance or behavior 20 Theodora Rani LH: Making self-analysis better, making self-exploration, self-management, practice self- strategic planning RC: It is an excellent way to reflect on one's learning process It will train learner's to be more aware of their own learning process and reflect their goals and objectives in learning From the answer above, we can conclude that based on the Ss’ opinion, these are the advantages of the self-assessment: a Able to know ourselves well and motivate us to improve the performances b Build Students’ autonomy in learning c Aware of their learning process, weaknesses and strengths In your opinion, what are disadvantages of using self-assessment? PP: Sometimes, we have the self-bias so that I think to ourselves positively LH: How this assessment is integrated with the other assessments RC: Reflections are some kinds of recall and it is not customary for everyody to it what is being recalled (feelings and thought) may be different with what is being experienced previously From the answer above, we can conclude that based on the Ss’ opinion, these are the dis-advantages of the self-assessment: a Students mostly unconfident to assess themselves well b Students mostly are not familiar with the guidelines of self-assessment c The Ss’ reflections are different one another Related to self-assessment, what you think about current situation of testing in Indonesia? PP: Sorry, I have no idea about current situation of testing in Indonesia LH: For language learning, the assessment s are not comprehensive, focusing on certain areas only RC: The current situation of testing in Indonesia is heavily emphasized on standardized testing and traditional assessment using pencil paper-testing Alternative assessment, such as portfolio and authentic assessment are rarely used by teachers Based on the answer above, it can be inferred that self – assessment is rarely used in current testing condition in Indonesia, and when there is a school which implemented it, it is only focusing on certain area IV CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION In this chapter, we can draw some conclusions of the result both of the questionnaire and interview part: 21 Theodora Rani The Participants or Students have known about self - assessment as one part of authentic/ alternative assessment but they haven’t known deeply about it They only know a glance of self - assessment, The Participants rarely use the self – assessment in their learning process because they are not familiar yet to use it, The participants are able to use self – assessment on their English writing skill and motivated after filling the questionnaire These are some advantages and disadvantages of self – assessment: ADVANTAGES learn to learn autonomically DISADVANTAGES Ss' Unconfidence to asses themselves knowing ourselves more Ss' are not familiar with the guideline of self -assessment make ourselves be more motivated Ss' reflection is different one another make Ss aware about their learning process Almost all respondents agreed that self – assessment is rarely used in current testing condition in Indonesia, and when there is a school/ institution which has implemented it, it is usually only focusing on certain area As we know that in Indonesia self-assessment is rarely used, it is recommended that every teacher should teach their students to use self-assessment in their learning process since it can motivate the students and make them aware of their learning process Furthermore, the writer also suggest other researchers to investigate further about The Impact of Self - Assessment on Learners’ Writing Skill (A Case Study of Particular School/ University) V ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Mr Didi who had enlighten me in making this Research Based Paper and to 30 students of the 1st semester of Master Program English Education in UPI who had helped me fill the questionnaire and answer the open questions VI REFERENCES 22 Theodora Rani Al- Shourafa, Areej 2012 The Effect of Motivation on Jordanian 10th Grade Students’ Writing Skill in English European Scientific Journal, October Edition vol 8, No 22 Baleghizadeh, Sasan and Atieh Masoun 2010 The Effect of Self-Assessment on EFL Learners’ Self-Efficacy Canada: TESL Canada Journal Brown, H Douglas (2006), Language Assessment Principles and Classroom Practices UK: Pearson Longman Davidson, Fred and Glen Fulcher The Routledge Handbook of Language Testing London: Routledge Handbooks Fulcher, Glenn and Fred Davidson (2012) The Routledge Handbook of Language Teaching UK: Routledge Harmer, Jeremy (2004) How to teach writing UK: Pearson Longman (http://www.marquette.edu/oie/documents/ESLP82QuestionnaireFa08.pdf) Javaherbakhsh, Mohammad Reza (2010) The Impact of Self-Assessment on Iranian EFL Learners’ Writing Skill Vol.3, No.2, June 2010 Moheb, Narges and Mohammad S Bagheri 2013 Relationship between Multiple Intelligences and Writing Strategies Finland: Journal of Language Teaching and Research, Vol 4, No 4, pp 777-784, July 2013 © 2013 ACADEMY PUBLISHER Manufactured Oscarson, Anne Dragemark Self – Assessment of Writing in Learning English as a Foreign Language (A Study at the Upper Secondary School Level) Sweden: Goteborgs Universitet Salam, Abdel and Abdel Khalek El-Koumy 2010 Paper accepted for presentation at the CPLA Conference, October 29-30: Student self-assessment in higher education:Alone or Plus? Lebanon: Lebanese American University Scott, Marry (2005) Student writing, assessment, and the motivated sign: finding a theory for the times UK: Routledge Yuansih, Rizma 2014 Penggunaan Penilaian Diri Dalam Belajar (Self- Assessment Of Ways Of Learning) Sebagai Asesmen Alternatif untuk Mendiagnosis Kesulitan Belajar Siswa SMP Pada Materi Sistem Pernapasan Indonesia: Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia 23 Theodora Rani VII APPENDIX 24 Theodora Rani 25 Theodora Rani 26 Theodora Rani 27