self-assessment and peer-assessment in efl context: an investigation of writing performance and writing self-efficacy

The significance of alternative assessment in second language (l2) has been widely acknowledged in the literature. however, the implementation of alternative assessment in english as a foreign language (efl) context has not been much welcome by l2 educators and practitioners. the aim of the present research was set to explore the impact of implementing self-assessment and peer-assessment practices on writing performance and writing self-efficacy of efl learners in iran. a total number of 36 homogeneous intermediate learners were selected as the participants who were then randomly assigned to a self-assessment group (n= 17) and a peer-assessment group (n= 19). as for the treatment of the present study, the participants of the self-assessment group were taught to self-assess their writing tasks, whereas the participants of the peer-assessment group were taught to assess the writings of their peers. two timed-writing essays and the writing self-efficacy scale (wses) were administered to collect the data. the results obtained from performing paired-samples t-tests and ancova indicated that both self- and peer-assessment activities significantly contributed to improving writing performance and writing self-efficacy of the participants. it was revealed that the participants of the peer-assessment group performed better than those in the self-assessment group in terms of both writing performance and writing self-efficacy, showing that peer-assessment activities were more effective than self-assessment activities in increasing writing competencies and self-efficacy of the participants.