The Role of Peer- and Self-Assessment in Developing Saudi EFL Learners’ English Writing Skills

Abstract

The current study focuses on the importance of integrating peer- and self-assessment in
teaching English as a second/foreign language in Saudi Arabia. It pays special attention to the
mechanisms by which Saudi EFL learners can improve their English writing skills if they
engage in peer- and self-assessment regularly. To this end, the researcher administered a
writing composition task to measure the participants’ ability to express themselves in good
English, focusing on the coherence, cohesion, word choice, spelling, punctuation, and layout
of their essays. The researcher utilised the experimental two-groups design of a pre-test and a
post-test, in order to evaluate the participants’ performance prior to the application of the
treatment (i.e. peer- and self-assessment) and after it. For the purpose of the study, the
participants were divided into two groups: students in group A (i.e. the treatment group)
engaged in peer- and self-assessment regularly throughout the term, whilst students in group
B (i.e. the control group) did not. The results of group A on the pre-test and post-test were
compared to those of group B to determine whether the treatment had any impact on their
performance. The results reveal that group A outperformed their group B counterparts on the
post-test. The statistical analysis demonstrates that the difference between the results of the
two groups was statistically significant, suggesting that the treatment contributed positively to
the performance of the treatment group. Finally, the study concludes with recommendations
for further research.