| This study describes the written self-evaluations of selected fifth graders during one school year. The context of the reading/writing classroom that supported the students' efforts in self-evaluation is explained. Writing portfolios were established in the classroom as a framework to facilitate students' reflections on their own work. Students wrote self-evaluations for each piece of writing they included in their portfolios. Three primary characteristics of the students' self-evaluations emerged during analysis: dimensionality, breadth, and depth. First, self-evaluations were either unidimensional (expressed one idea) or multidimensional (expressed more than one idea). More proficient writers always wrote multidimensional self-evaluations. Second, breadth of students' comments refers to the amount or extent of comments made across a variety of categories. Findings revealed that students were able to evaluate many aspects of their writing. The participants in this study described their writing using Impressionistic and Focused comments. Impressionistic comments included holistic assessments and expressions of personal satisfaction. Focused comments included comments about surface features, text features, ideas, process, form, style, word choice, audience awareness, perspective, purpose, and noting a reading/writing connection. Third, depth of self-evaluation refers to the extent students relied on particular descriptors and the level of specificity students reached in their self-evaluations. Overall, students made more Focused comments than Impressionistic comments. However, holistic Impressionistic comments were the single most used category. Results suggest that students reach varying levels of specificity in their self-evaluations. More proficient writers tended to delineate more specific features about their writing in their self-evaluations. Finally, results suggest that students' self-evaluations improve with practice. Self-evaluations became multidimensional and included a broader spectrum of aspects about writing as the school year progressed. |
