Assessment as learning in an ESL writing classroom: Promoting students' self-assessment using the S.E.L.F. model

Assessment in ESL writing classroom has been undergoing a paradigm shift from teachercentered (assessment of learning) to student-centered (assessment for learning). In studentcentered classroom assessment, importance is given to the formative role played by feedback to help students improve their learning (Lee, 2017). To promote students’ ownership of their writing, a recent notion, assessment as learning, has been coined by Earl (2013). Being a subset of assessment for learning, assessment as learning accentuates the proactive role played by students in the assessment process through the setting of individualized goals and giving feedback to peers. To date, much discussion of this new assessment paradigm has centered on the theoretical and philosophical terrains while there remains a lack of practical exploration of how this paradigm can be translated into practice systematically and formally in the writing classroom (Boud, Lawson, & Thompson, 2015). This presentation aims at bridging the research-practice divide by first discussing the theoretical underpinnings of assessment as learning and the importance of self-assessment in it. Then, a systematic approach to implementing self-assessment tasks devised by the presenter, known as the S.E.L.F. model, will be introduced with reference to relevant literature and the presenter's own classroom practice. Copyright © 2017 by TEA Conference 2018. All Rights Reserved.