DISCOVERING LANGUAGE STRATEGIES THROUGH SELF-ASSESSMENT: STUDENTS BECOMING INDEPENDENT LEARNERS

Abstract

This action research study investigated the effect learner-centered assessment had on young adults learning Modern Greek as a foreign language in a post-secondary setting.  Specifically, it investigated how self-assessment affected their perception of their language abilities in reading, writing, listening, and speaking.  The study grew out of a need to create a more learner-centered classroom at the university level and to promote independent learning.  For a six-week period, students in a second-semester Modern Greek language class were asked to self-assess their writing, reading, listening, and speaking abilities given open-ended questions and rubrics for each language skill.  At the end of the six week period, all the participants were given a survey about their self-assessment experiences and asked to reflect how it affected them.  The quantified answers of the Likert-type questions as well as a discourse analysis of the open-ended question on the survey show that the majority of students had become more aware of their learning strategies and that they would continue to use self-assessment in their future coursework, particularly Modern Greek.  As a result of implementing self-assessment in the curriculum, learner activities in the class also changed by becoming more communicative and more learner-centered thus fitting under the social constructivist paradigm of learning.