Alternative Assessment: The Impact of Self-assessment vs. Peer-assessment on Iranian Intermediate EFL Learners’ Paragraph Writing Ability

The present study was designed to investigate the effectiveness of two types of alternative assessment, namely self- and peer-assessment in improving paragraph writing ability of Iranian Intermediate EFL learners. In so doing, 45 female learners who were studying at Pardis institute in Rasht, and in the 18-22 age range, were selected among 90 participants based on their performance on OPT. The participants were randomly assigned to two experimental groups and one control group each consisting of 15 participants. A pre-test was administered to the three groups. Then, both experimental groups received 10-session treatments that were the use of self-assessment in the experimental group (A) and the use of peer-assessment in the experimental group (B). A post-test was then administered to all the three groups. A statistically significant difference was found between self, peer and traditional assessment. The results also revealed that the experimental group (B) that utilized peer-assessment achieved significantly higher proficiency in paragraph writing than the other two groups. Additionally, the experimental group (A) that received the use of self-assessment outperformed the control group. Based on the findings of this study, language teachers can utilize both kinds of alternative assessment investigated in this study (i.e. self-assessment and peer-assessment) to improve their learners’ paragraph writing ability.