Involving students in the assessment process can pose a challenge both to the learners and their instructors as it goes against the grain of the testing, assessment and evaluation (TEA) processes with which they are familiar. While the European Language Portfolio (ELP) encourages reflection on what has been learnt and self-evaluation of learning progress and achievements, using criteria checklists, it stops short of awarding real grades to peers and selves. Indeed, information about peer-assessment and self-assessment of the productive skills is scant, particularly with regard to EFL higher education (HE). Such moves towards assessment bring both the instructor and the learners to unfamiliar terrain, which must be carefully engineered and negotiated, like tiptoeing through a field of tulips, which requires Trust, Understanding and Learning through, and Investment in, Peer-assessment and Self-assessment processes. In this way, learners become less reliant on others to evaluate their progress, more self-directed and, ultimately, assume a greater degree of autonomy. Evidence from the Assessment for Autonomy Research Project (AARP), involving students in peer- and self-assessment of writing and speaking skills, using pre-determined assessment criteria checklists, seems to suggest that recalibration of assessment power can help promote autonomy amongst EFL students at HE level.
Developing students’ soft skills in the context of teaching foreign languages at higher education institutions