Implementing Peer Assessment for Optimal Effects : Learners’ Voice

Abstract

The present study attempted to figure out the optimal conditions for peer assessment to be successful from learners' perspectives. Participants were twenty Korean college students majoring in TEFL, who practiced peer assessment in a content course, completed a pre-, and a post-survey about their perception of peer assessment, and responded to an interview after the semester. Several meaningful themes emerged from their voice in relation to the fundamental elements to be considered in designing and implementing peer assessment. First, working in group to perform the task to be peer-assessed proved to be highly effective in that it could offer much more opportunities to learn from each other first within the group members and then across different groups. Second, face-to-face peer assessment in class was generally preferred over on-line out-of-class, with the immediacy of feedback and other benefits interwoven with it. Third, the more experience of peer assessment in a curriculum and more frequent peer assessing activities in a course was often associated with the learners' perceived learning achievement. Fourth, the teacher's intervention could be a necessary condition to make the benefits of peer assessment greater. Implications for teachers and researchers are stated with limitations of the study.