The effect of distance self-assessment training on Turkish EFL learners' writing skills

The current study aims to examine the effect of self-assessment training given through distance education to students learning English as a foreign language on their writing performance. In addition, this study also aims to see whether self-assessment training has an effect on students' self-assessment performance. Finally, it is also aimed to reveal the views of the students who receive distance self-assessment training and their teachers about self-assessment training. To achieve the aims of the study, explanatory sequential mixed methods design was followed. Four groups of students participated in this study: two experimental and two control groups. 23 students each in the experimental and control groups, a total of 46 students participated in this study. The participant groups were selected randomly among four B1 level classes whose writing exam averages were the closest. Before collecting the quantitative data, the students in the experimental groups were given the treatment which is the distance self-assessment training. During the quantitative data collection process, while the students in the experimental groups evaluated their writings by receiving self-assessment training, the students in the control groups evaluated their writings without training. Both groups used the same assessment tool to evaluate their own writing. The assessment criteria that was used to collect the quantitative data was developed by the preparatory school and expert opinions were obtained for reliability and validity concerns to use it in the present study. Quantitative data were collected by students' self-assessment by looking at the assessment scales given in the two writing exams, and by their teachers' evaluation of their students in the same way. Qualitative data were collected by interviewing the students and their teachers about self-assessment training. The findings reveal that the distance self-assessment training created a significant difference in the writing performance of the experimental group learners. While the students in the control group did not improve their writing scores significantly, the students in the experimental group had higher scores after the self-assessment training. Besides, the students in the experimental group self-assessed their writing exam as close as their teachers whereas the students in the control group did not self-assess as accurately as the experimental group. Moreover, both the students and teachers had positive opinions regarding the self-assessment training and believed that it was effective.