An Empirical Study On The Application Of Co-constructed Rubrics In Writing Self-assessment In Middle School

Assessment is an essential part of writing instruction and is vital in improving all aspects of students’ English writing.The English Curriculum Standards for Compulsory Education(2022)suggests that students should play an important role in the assessment and that all assessment activities should aim to facilitate students’ learning.Meanwhile,teachers need to guide students to become designers,participants,and collaborators of various assessment activities,thus giving them more ownership of the assessment.Self-assessment is a student-centered form of assessment that has a positive effect on students’ writing learning,and the importance of rubrics in writing self-assessment has been widely discussed.To further empower students to participate in the assessment process and maximize the positive effects of rubrics,the co-constructed rubric has received increasing attention.Therefore,the present research attempts to explore the effects of the co-constructed writing self-assessment rubrics on middle school students’ writing learning by involving them in the construction and use of the self-assessment rubrics.The research questions are as follows:(1)What are the effects of the co-constructed writing self-assessment rubrics on middle school students’ English writing ability?(2)What are middle school students’ perceptions regarding the adoption of the co-constructed rubrics in self-assessing their writing?(3)What are the difficulties in the application of co-constructed rubrics in middle school writing self-assessment?The present research was conducted with a total of 86 students from two classes of Grade 7 in a public C Middle School in Hangzhou for a 12-week experiment.Both two classes were divided into high-level,mid-level,and low-level groups according to their writing ability before the experiment.The experimental class applied the co-constructed writing self-assessment rubrics in the writing instruction,while the control class maintained the existing assessment method.The research results show that:(a)The co-constructed writing self-assessment rubrics have a positive effect on middle school students’ writing ability,especially on the structure and the content parts.Meanwhile,the co-constructed writing self-assessment rubrics have a more significant positive impact on the writing ability of the students in the mid-and low-level groups,especially those in the mid-level group.(b)The co-constructed writing self-assessment rubrics enable middle students to become aware of the role of writing assessment in promoting writing learning and facilitate the improvement of their writing attitudes,especially the emotional dimension.(c)The difficulties in the application of co-constructed writing self-assessment rubrics are that the process of co-construction can be time-consuming,and the effectiveness of the rubrics can be affected by students’ individual differences.Based on the above research findings,to improve the writing ability of middle school students,teachers should(a)shift the assessment idea from “Assessment of Learning” to “Assessment as Learning”,(b)provide students with effective assessment tools to make them aware of the role of assessment in promoting learning,(c)adjust the process of students’ participation in constructing assessment criteria in accordance with the actual instructional situation,and(d)utilize multiple assessment forms to intervene in the application of the co-constructed rubric for students at different levels.