Unpacking student self-assessment processes: CRADLE Seminar Series

7 November 2018

Student self-assessment (SSA) was the subject of the latest thought-provoking presentation in CRADLE’s 2018 Seminar Series. Visiting academic A/Prof. Yan Zi (The Education University of Hong Kong) shared insights from a series of studies designed to address existing practical and conceptual gaps in the SSA literature.

Here, CRADLE Fellow Dr Bhavani Sridharan reflects on her key takeaways from the seminar. A link to view Yan Zi’s slides is also available at the bottom of the page.

A/Prof. Yan Zi’s interesting and insightful presentation, ‘Unpacking students’ self-assessment processes: From theory to practice’, covered gaps in theory, measurement and practice, using a combination of qualitative and quantitative research methods in a Hong Kong school education context.

Photo: Joanna Tai

The first focus of Yan Zi’s presentation involved unpacking the inner process of self-assessment, considering there is no consensus on ‘what self-assessment is?’ and the inner process is a ‘black box’ in the current literature. To fill this gap, this study identified three important processes in a cyclical self-assessment, including determining criteria and self-directed feedback-seeking from both internal and external sources. In this cyclical model, students go through multiple iterations of self-assessment processes while embedding calibrations. Yan Zi underscored the key role of going beyond self-rating and self-grading by facilitating conditions for enhancing actively feedback-seeking behaviour. He also highlighted that self-assessment skills can be developed via instruction programs and concrete intervention programs, and stressed the role of internalised standards in benchmarking self-assessment against criteria – which is a dynamic process and changes across time and context.

The second focus of Yan Zi’s presentation was around addressing the need for a theory-based instrument to measure the inner process of self-assessment. This involved the development of a measurement instrument with four constructs: inquiry; monitoring; internal sources; and self-reflection. Yan Zi’s findings from a large-scale survey of students’ self-assessment practices included: female students demonstrated higher levels of self-assessment capability than male; older students were less likely to engage in self-assessment practices; and students with a higher level of goal orientation, or a lower level of performance orientation, are more likely to seek feedback on their own performance.

The third focus was to explore the predictors of self-assessment intention and practice to promote meaningful self-assessment processes. Yan Zi’s findings indicated that attitude, subjective norms and self-efficacy are the significant factors influencing self-assessment intention and practice. Even though psychological safety was hypothesised to significantly influence the outcome variables, Yan Zi’s results indicated its weak effect on outcome variables.

Photo: Phillip Dawson

Reflecting on these findings, the key take-home messages for me are: educating students on developing self-assessment skills via more structured instructional programs; deep learning through facilitating repeated exposure to self-assessment practices; implementation via formative assessments with learning orientation rather than performance orientation; and providing conducive environments (e.g. psychological safety) for honestly and accurately assessing one’s own achievement.

However, I see some tension between practical implementations of self-assessment practices in reality. For example, students engage with such self-assessment activities only if it is counted towards a final grade, particularly in a higher education context. On the other hand, if it is included as part of a summative assessment task, the honesty and accuracy of self-assessment is at risk, losing the whole learning plot of the exercise. We need some strategies to circumvent these challenges and encourage higher education students to authentically practice enhanced feedback-seeking behaviour.

View slides from Yan Zi’s presentation here.