Role of Self-Assessment in Developing Self-Regulation

Several instruments for self-assessment are used in educational practice.

Harrington (1995) proposes three approaches:

1. checklists of competencies
2. Likert scales
3. descriptive examples

McNamara and Deane (1995) suggest activities such as:

1. writing letters to the instructor
2. keeping a language learning journal
3. creating portfolios that help students identify their strengths and weaknesses, track their progress, and set goals for independent learning

Keith (1996) further proposes a variety of self-assessment tasks as tools for fostering reflection and responsibility:

1. expressing prior beliefs about learning
2. comparing learning goals
3. encouraging collaborative learning
4. stimulating reflective thinking
5. self-assessment after exams
6. co-assessing assignments

The effectiveness of these methods depends on students’ effort and their willingness to take responsibility for their own learning.

In contemporary higher education, self-assessment is increasingly implemented as a form of formative assessment aimed at strengthening metacognition, self-regulation, and responsibility for one’s own learning.

Successful self-assessment requires a developed ability to realistically assess one’s achievements, which is built through experience, clear criteria, and feedback. Beginning students often overestimate their work because they rely on subjective impressions rather than objective criteria, whereas more advanced students tend to demonstrate greater self-criticism. For this reason, instructors should scaffold the self-assessment process by demonstrating examples of good practice and discussing what constitutes “good performance” according to the rubric.

Example in practice: In the course “Research Methodology,” students complete a brief self-assessment form before submitting their essay, answering questions such as:

• Which part of your work do you consider the strongest, and why?

• Which part are you least confident about?

• How would you assess your work according to the clarity-of-argumentation criterion?

Figure 1. The self-regulated learning cycle