CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

This chapter presents (1) the background, (2) the research problems, (the

research objective, and (4) the significance of the study.

1.1.Background

A contemporary emphasis on student-centered approaches has transformed

education, as the cornerstone of national development. Within this paradigm, the

cultivation of essential skills, particularly in writing, stands as a focal point for

academic success and personal development. In recognition of the crucial role that

effective writing skills play in the learning process, educational institutions are

increasingly exploring innovative methods, such as self-assessment strategies, to

enhance students' learning outcomes. Self-assessment is a reliable procedure that

fosters learners’ reflection to identify needs and overcome weaknesses to

accomplish goals and improve performance (Fitzpatrick, 2006). It is an essential

component in the development of teaching and learning processes. Concerning

learning a foreign language, Rodríguez-Ochoa (2007) agrees that “self-assessment

practices should be a space in which reflection becomes a key aspect to be

considered in the hard process of learning English as a foreign language”

Learning assessment goes beyond simply tallying up student scores; it

involves a deeper, internal transformation that is central to the educational process.

The importance of such assessment stems from its ability to provide critical

feedback to both educators and learners. The aim is to improve the educational

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process within the classroom and help students overcome learning obstacles, thus

supporting their academic development. The ultimate goal of assessment is to

improve the overall quality of learning. As a continual aspect of the educational

path, assessment is a vital element of the learning experience. Exploring the domain

of learning assessment reveals a variety of approaches. This range includes

authentic assessments that directly measure student skills, from formative

assessments aimed at continual improvement to summative assessments that gauge

accumulated knowledge. There are also portfolio assessments that document a

student's progress over time and self-assessments that promote a student's

introspection and self-governing learning.

Anita Woolfolk (2018) states that Self-assessment is a crucial tool for

fostering metacognition and enhancing students' understanding of their learning

processes. According to James H. McMillan (2018), Self-assessment contributes to

a more comprehensive evaluation system, allowing for a holistic view of students'

capabilities beyond traditional assessments. Richard M. Ryan and Edward L. Deci.

(2017) define Self-assessment as aligning with the principles of autonomy,

competence, and relatedness, key components of motivation according to Self-

Determination Theory. It can be concluded that assessment emphasizes the integral

role of self-assessment in promoting reflective learning, holistic evaluation, and

intrinsic motivation within educational settings.

Issac (1999) states that self-assessment or peer assessment can be used for

several things, as follows; 1) Self-assessment can help the development of students’

ability to assess their work and determine the assessment criteria used critically, and

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apply this criterion that have been previously negotiated with the teachers, 2) Self-

assessment helps the students to improve the quality of learning by seeing the

strengths and the weakness on the process and the result from the previous learning,

3) As one way to provide feedback of the students work without burdening the

teachers work, and 4) As kind of the ways to determine the students ability for

summative purposes. Hopfenbeck (2014) argues that self-regulated learning

involves controlling and monitoring own learning, selecting appropriate learning

strategies, and taking responsibility of own learning. Panadero (2011) defines Self-

assessment as a descriptive and evaluative act carried out by the student concerning

his or her work and academic abilities.

Self-assessment serves as a valuable assessment method wherein students

engage in exploring, discovering, and deliberating on both the merits and

drawbacks in various ways. This approach enables students to identify and rectify

their weaknesses while enhancing and cultivating their strengths. Self-assessment

becomes imperative throughout the learning journey, allowing students to

acknowledge and bolster their existing capabilities. The concept of students

conducting self-assessment inherently promotes the cultivation of their inherent

skills. The concept is consistent with the principles of character education designed

to foster honesty, especially among students at SMA Negeri 11 Palembang,

specifically within the English subject. Beyond assessing intelligence, students can

acquire a deeper understanding of the extent of their abilities. Cultivating the habit

of self-assessment will empower students to actively engage in the learning process.

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 According to Boud (1998), self-assessment requires students to reflect on

their own work and judge how well they have performed according to the

assessment criteria. The focus is not necessarily on having students generate their

grades, but rather providing opportunities for them to be able to identify what

constitutes a good (or poor) piece of work. Some degrees of student involvement in

the development and comprehension of assessment criteria are therefore an

important component of self-assessment.

Among these are four self-assessments in English subject, self-assessment

in writing is one of the important skills to be assessed because it has a variety of

reasons. According to Jing (2017) states that self-assessment in writing can support

student self-regulated learning as students need to constantly monitor the extent to

which they have fulfilled the set goals. Foster (1996), Encourage students to engage

in personal writing to develop self-understanding.

From the recent academic literature, several studies have explored similar

themes. The first notable study, by Susanti (2023), investigates students' reactions

to self and peer assessment in creative writing classes, providing insights into how

these practices are perceived and their effectiveness in enhancing students' writing.

This study showed that the benefits of peer assessment and self-assessment

outweigh the drawbacks, as they can provide students with new knowledge, skills,

and understanding of the writing process and student achievement. Peer assessment

and self-assessment enable students to gain better experience, making it easier for

them to apply and respond to their writing. The study concludes that English

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teachers are recommended to implement these teaching techniques in facilitating

the students to fully experience their writing process and boost their writing ability.

Another study by Cheong et al. (2022) highlights the complementary role

of self-assessment in peer assessments for undergraduate students, emphasizing the

importance of self-evaluation in academic writing tasks. In addition, Cang (2023)

explores the impact of portfolio-based writing assessments on students' perceptions

and writing performance, offering insights into alternative assessment methods. The

results of the research pointed out that the experiment group had a significant

improvement in writing performance. The participants in the control group also

improved their writing performance, however, their improvement was less than that

of the experimental group. Finally, the suggested pedagogical implications are

hoped to contribute to the innovation of assessment methods in teaching writing.

Lastly, Takrouni and Assalahi (2022) delve into teachers' perspectives on

integrating student self-assessment in teaching academic writing, providing a

broader understanding of this practice from an instructional standpoint. In the field

of education, Stanley, & Hopkins (1990) state that some form of assessment is

inevitable; it is inherent in the teaching–learning process.

On the whole, self-assessment has both strengths and weaknesses. It

improves learning and it is a means to understand better for what purpose the

students are doing and have done a given activity or work (Zhang, 2021). With

regard to the weaknesses, there are doubts that some students may not be able to

pinpoint their strong and weak aspects of their work (Gazza et al., 2018). So, the

development of self-assessment skills requires support from lecturer and working

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with peers as part of cooperative work. Nieminen (2022) found that working with

a lecturer compared to the only individual’s self-assessment, integrated instructor’s

feedback helped students to make more amendments. Helping students to

internalize and use feedback from diverse sources is an important aspect of self-

regulation and co-regulation (Xiao & Yang, 2019). This notion has the implication

of accompanying self-assessment with peer and co-assessment so as to get effective

feedback and learning. The other problems of this type of assessment, if students

lack awareness on the purpose, include: reliability, validity and reluctance from the

students, considering that it is teachers’ job. Here, the role of teachers so as to avoid

the drawbacks, include: raising awareness, providing guidance and helping learners

understand the significance of its effects (Pop & Khampirat, 2019).

As a final point, to encourage student-centered learning, therefore, giving

an opportunity for students to be engaged in reflective learning and self-assessment

is vital (Omarakly & Tamer, 2021). They assert that reflective learning,

accompanied by self-assessment, makes students aware of their own learning,

especially in how and what of their learning through the use of criteria that help the

self-assessors to guide the activity and make it more feasible.

The understanding has emerged that writing is among the key English skills

essential for English language learners to acquire. Furthermore, writing is seen as a

measure of a student's proficiency in English and an indicator of their prospective

success in their professional life. Writing, as a fundamental component of English,

is closely interwoven with other English skills like reading, listening, and speaking.

Given its integrated nature and connection to these skills, students should develop

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their writing abilities at an early stage. The advantages of mastering writing are

manifold. It not only enables students to articulate their thoughts and ideas but also

aids in expanding their vocabulary.

Moreover, writing plays a crucial role in enhancing memory retention and

fostering critical thinking abilities, representing just a few of the numerous benefits

students can gain from it. Kingston et al. (2002, as cited in Februansyah et al., 2020)

state that a student’s achievement in learning English is only measured by

productive skills, especially writing performance. Further, writing is important, not

only because of the need to generate and organize ideas using the right choice of

vocabulary, sentences, grammar, and paragraph organization but also to transform

them into readable text (Richards & Renandya, 2002).

Nonetheless, numerous students continue to shy away from writing. A

prevalent belief among them is that learning to write is a complex endeavor. The

extensive process involved in writing and the challenge of generating ideas for their

compositions are two primary reasons why many students tend to avoid engaging

in writing activities. No doubt, Rahmatunisa in Rosiana & Yasmin (2017) stated

that, in terms of a common problem, Indonesian students think that writing is such

a difficult skill to be learned due to the long process of writing it selves which

consist of the plan, draft, re-draft, edit, re-edit, re-plan, etc

In my initial research conducted at SMA Negeri 11 Palembang, which

involved interviewing an English teacher, I found the application of self-assessment

in the English curriculum, particularly in writing sessions. This approach was

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consistently used to enhance the students' writing skills. The teacher highlighted the

effectiveness of self-assessment in engaging students in writing activities and

boosting their interest. During the implementation of self-assessment, the teacher

instructed the students on how to evaluate their writing, covering the various

components of assessment. The students were taught to self-evaluate using a

teacher-provided rubric. Following this, they were required to assess their own

written work.

Moreover, in every session, the self-assessment technique was implemented

to continually improve students' writing proficiency. For evaluating student writing,

the teacher supplied rubrics comprising various aspects. Each aspect included a

statement focusing on a specific skill, allowing students to assess and determine

their level of proficiency in writing. Subsequently, students were given time to

review their work and self-rate it. This process enabled both the teacher and the

students to collaboratively analyze and compare the scores from the teacher’s

evaluation and the student’s self-assessment.

In practice, while applying self-assessment, it was observed that students

faced challenges in understanding the assessment criteria. Confusion arose when

they were tasked to compose paragraphs on topics assigned by the teacher. The

teacher acknowledged issues in teaching writing, noting students' struggles with

formulating statements in English (Kalila, personal communication, September

18th, 2023). Additionally, a student expressed difficulties due to limited vocabulary

and grammatical errors (Fadiah, personal communication, September 18th, 2023).

However, some students exhibited enthusiasm during self-assessment, as it

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provided insights into the quality of their writing. This scenario led me to reflect on

the diverse opinion’s students held regarding self-assessment in writing.

Consequently, I am motivated to delve deeper into students’ perceptions of self-

assessment's role in writing activities.

In summary, as outlined in the preceding discussion, an inquiry into

students' perceptions regarding the utilization of self-assessment in writing is set to

be undertaken at SMA Negeri 11 Palembang. Consequently, a research endeavor

entitled "Students’ Perception on Self-Assessment in Writing Class at SMA Negeri

11 Palembang" will be initiated.

1.2.Research Problem

Based on the background, the research problem is formulated in the

following question: How are the students’ perceptions of the use of self-assessment

in Writing Class at SMA Negeri 11 Palembang?

1.3.Research Objective

Based on the formulation of the problems above, this study aims to

determine student’s perceptions of the use of self-assessment in writing class at

SMA Negeri 11 Palembang

1.4.Significance of the Study

The result of this research is hoped to be useful information for educational

participants.

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1. Provide teachers with an explanation and deeper understanding of the use of

self-assessment.

2. Students will gain a better understanding of their own opinions and perceptions

of self-assessment. As a result, the students can appraise themselves, correct

themselves, and deepen their understanding of the text.

3. Provide valuable insights for educators, curriculum developers, and

policymakers, aiding evidence-based decision-making for curriculum

enhancement and instructional improvement.

4. In conclusion, the findings of this study can provide supplementary insights for

future research focused on the utilization of students' self-assessment in the

context of writing.

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