Effects Of Teacher-Student Rubric Co-construction On Chinese Vocational College Students’ Writing Self-regulation And Performance

Rubrics are typically deemed as effective assessment tools for teachers to evaluate students’ learning outcomes.Yet in recent years,with the growing shift from"Assessment of Learning" to "Assessment for Learning" in the field of language assessment,the role of rubrics as instructional tools has drawn more attention from both teachers and researchers.Research has suggested that the availability of rubrics prior to tasks can help students better self-regulate their learning behavior and improve their performance.Also,compared with providing rubrics to students directly,teacher-student rubric co-construction may display more instructional value.This study,therefore,is intended to explore the effects of teacher-student rubric co-construction on students’ writing by engaging students in co-constructing a writing rubric with the help of their English teacher.Three research questions are addressed:(1)What are the effects of teacher-student rubric co-construction on students’ writing self-regulation?(2)What are the effects of teacher-student rubric co-construction on students’ writing performance?(3)What are students’ beliefs about co-constructing a rubric with their peers and teacher?To answer the research questions,a teaching experiment lasting for ten weeks was carried out.The participants were students from two intact classes at a vocational college in Shandong.They were randomly assigned as an experimental group and a control group.While the experimental group participated in teacher-student rubric construction and used the co-constructed rubric to self-assess their subsequent writing assignments,the control group was explicitly provided with the rubric of the experimental group for self-assessment.The research instruments included two writing tests evaluating students’ writing performance,and a questionnaire measuring students’writing self-regulation before and after the experiment.And after the intervention,a semi-structured interview was conducted with six students from the experimental group in order to elicit students’ beliefs about the co-construction of the writing rubric with the support of their teacher.After the procedure of data collection,the test scores and questionnaire answers were entered into SPSS 26.0 for statistical analyses.The interview recordings were transcribed and then used for a qualitative analysis.The results indicated that compared with providing rubrics to students explicitly,teacher-student rubric co-construction could play a more positive role in promoting students’ writing self-regulation,although the effects were not statistically significant.Besides,the practice could have a significant effect on improving students’ writing performance.Additionally,students generally held a positive belief about rubric co-construction.They claimed that the process increased their writing knowledge,elevated their writing attitudes,and enabled them to make focused efforts to improve their writing.Students also voiced their recommendations about future practices on teacher-student rubric co-construction.The findings of the study could help enhance EFL students’ and teachers’understanding of the role of rubrics.It is advisable for college English teachers to integrate the method of rubric co-construction into their current ways of writing instruction,thus facilitating students’ writing development.