Page 106 - The SpeakTeach method - Esther de Vrind

Chapter 4. Perspective of the students - adaptivity
non-normative criteria that focused students’ attention on both areas for improvement and positive points of different aspects of their speaking performance.
Another break from common practice was that the self-evaluation procedure in this study not only consisted of a diagnosis of the speaking skills, it also contained a plan for improvement produced by the students and where necessary students’ requests for teacher’s assistance.
Finally, the purpose and use of self-assessment was slightly different from other formative uses. In formative uses, self-assessments are often used by teachers to adapt their teaching (e.g. Black & William, 1998; 2009; Nicol & Macfarlane-Dick, 2006). In this study, however, the diagnoses with plans not only provided information for the teacher, but also aimed to support students to self-regulate their speaking skills. On the basis of their diagnoses, the students themselves had to design and implement their own learning pathways, indicating where they needed help in order to enable the teachers to align their feedback and learning activities.
In conclusion, the results of this study showed that during the self-evaluation procedure students' perceptions of their learning needs did indeed change and that students found the procedure to improve their self-regulation of their speaking skills in foreign languages both adaptive and motivating. We therefore recommend use of the design principles of the self-evaluation procedure for teaching practice in secondary schools. We hope that follow-up research into their effects will be carried out.
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