Exploring Online Writing Assessment Amid Covid-19: Challenges and Opportunities from Teachers’ Perspectives

Abstract

Remote online second language (L2) writing instruction, in general, and remote online L2 writing assessment, in particular, require a holistic structural approach that results in improving students’ L2 writing, as well as offering an authentic and fair assessment of students’ L2 writing performance. The study described in this paper employed a convergent parallel mixed methods approach where the Covid-19 pandemic, as well as the purpose of the research, necessitated the adoption of this research design since it can provide the basis for answering the question: What impact did full mode online teaching have on L2 education. In the survey part of the research, 241 English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers working in Saudi Arabia participated in a custom-designed 30-item questionnaire utilizing a five-point Likert scale. In the qualitative part of the study, nine EFL teachers (four males and five females) participated in a semi-structured interview which lasted from thirty-five to fifty minutes. A detailed analysis of both the quantitative and qualitative primary data indicated that EFL teachers are aware of the importance of rubrics and standardized assessment procedures in awarding fair grades to students. Teachers also highlighted several important advantages of teaching online L2 writing remotely. However, the vast majority of teachers questioned the accuracy of online writing assessment, indicating the need for a more developed model for the post Covid-19 era. Recommendations included the adoption of unanimously suggested practices (by participating teachers) in teaching remote online L2 writing as well as mandating the presence of the students onsite during the sitting of the writing exams, thus providing the assurance of authenticity of students’ performance in the writing exams as well as the possibility to monitor all the students while they sit the exams.

Intersections of Student Engagement and Academic Integrity in the Emergency Remote ‘English for Academic Purposes’ Assemblage

“…Language testing, through these providers, occurs in heavily controlled contexts where testtakers have little to no access to external tools or linguistic input (Huang, 2018). Expectations of test validity transfer over to ERT-EAP teaching where the assessment of L2 writing proficiency must be students' individual performance produced without the immediate influence of external input (Al-bargi, 2022). Indeed, completion of universityaffiliated EAP courses as part of conditional admission to degree-granting programs often acts in lieu of a standardized test score as fulfilling university admission requirements.…”

“…Research in the context of ERT points to growing concern regarding academic dishonesty in L2 writing assignments and the validity and authenticity of students' written production in ERT contexts. This concern has led some to question the accuracy of online writing assessments (Al-Bargi, 2022, Guo & Xu, 2021Zou et al, 2021).…”

Assessing students’ writing skills in virtual classroom: strategies and challenges in EFL context

“…Previously, some studies have been conducted in order to investigate online writing assessment. The studies were dominated by investigating challenges and opportunities offered by online writing assessment and online writing assessment tools (Al-Bargi, 2022;Dwiyanti & Suwastini, 2021;Jong & Kim Hua, 2021;Zou et al, 2021). Al-Bargi (2022) studied the challenges and opportunities in conducting online writing assessment.…”

“…The studies were dominated by investigating challenges and opportunities offered by online writing assessment and online writing assessment tools (Al-Bargi, 2022;Dwiyanti & Suwastini, 2021;Jong & Kim Hua, 2021;Zou et al, 2021). Al-Bargi (2022) studied the challenges and opportunities in conducting online writing assessment. Some challenges were identified regarding the fairness and the accuracy of the assessment.…”

Design of online formative assessment of nursing humanities curriculum during the COVID-19 pandemic: A teaching practice research

“…Formative assessment (FA) is a form of teaching assessment that generates useful feedback on students' learning, and helps teachers improve their teaching programmes ( Black and Wiliam, 2018 ). Online formative assessment (OFA), which is conducted through information and communication technology, is receiving increasing attention from educators ( Al Bargi, 2022 ; Zou et al, 2021 ). With the outbreak of the COVID-19, most higher education schools have been forced to shift from traditional face-to-face teaching to online teaching, and OFA has gradually become the “new paradigm “ for online teaching, learning and assessment.…”