Study On The Effect Of Checklist-Referenced Peer Assessment On The English Writing Of Senior High School Students

As an important expression skill,writing is one of the language competences that high school students should cultivate and develop.The English Curriculum Standard for Senior High Schools(2017 Edition)puts forward that multiple forms of classroom assessment and student-dominated assessment should be advocated.Students are encouraged to carry out self-assessment and peer assessment.The part: Reading for Writing is included for each unit in the Compulsory Courses,Selective Compulsory Courses and Selective Courses(2019 Edition).Students are required to conduct checklist-referenced peer assessment.However,what effect checklists have on students’ writing assessment and how this kind of assessment influences students’ EFL writing performance are worth exploring.This study aims to answer the following research questions:(1)What effect do checklists have on students’ writing peer assessment?(2)How does checklist-referenced peer assessment influence students’ EFL writing performance?A comparative method is adopted throughout this study,which is tested on 108 Senior 2 students of Lin Qi’en Memorial Middle School in Lufeng Shanwei Guangdong Province.There are three phases,and before each phase is launched,students are trained.During a 20-week experiment,the experimental class(EC)apply checklists while doing peer assessment on their writing,while the control class(CC)are doing summative peer assessment.Data sources include students’ scores in pre-test and post-test,questionnaire,classroom observation,interviews and students’ writing drafts.Quantitative and qualitative results indicate that the EC students have made significantly stronger progress than the CC in the post-test.And their attitude towards peer assessment,revising ability according to the feedback and the awareness of writing criteria has also improved.The EC students hold more positive attitude towards peer assessment,and their interest and self-confidence in peer assessment have also been raised and improved.What’s more,the results suggest checklistreferenced peer assessment can help students be more aware of the criteria of a good composition and undertake the writing task requirements better.