The Effects Of Exemplar-referenced Self-assessment On Writing Performance

The present study is a cross-sectional inquiry into Chinese learners' changes during revision after self-assessing with reference to the exemplar and perceptions of the effects of self-assessment on their EFL writing.It deals with three research questions:(i)What changes do students make during the revision of EFL writing in terms of complexity,fluency and accuracy?(?)How does such exemplar-referenced self-assessment affect students' writing based on their perception?(?)How do students perceive the exemplar's role in self-assessment of EFL writing.47 Chinese high school students were chosen to participate in the study.Three types of data were collected: 1.The drafts and the revised compositions;2.The questionnaire data;3.The reflective reports.All data were collected through an on-line platform developed by the expert in Linguistic Testing.Through qualitative and quantitative methods,results show that the exemplar-referenced self-assessment has a significant effect on their writing in the aspects of syntactic complexity,lexical complexity and fluency.According to students' own perception,they think that providing the exemplar has a positive influence on their content,grammar,vocabulary and mechanics use.They also regard self-assessment as very useful/useful,which can be reflected in the parts of knowing their shortness,arousing their attention to some language points and figuring out the way to correctly answer the question.In addition,it plays certain a role in improving grades and enhancing confidence.The study has attempted to explore the usefulness of exemplar-referenced assessment and its effects on students' perceptions towards such a self-assessment in writing,which is of pedagogical and learning implications.