【Research Brief】

Learners’ Perspectives of Using Their Video Recordings to Aidin Performing Assessments
Devon Arthurson
Abstract
With the increased availability of technology, video-making and -sharing for brevity. Applications and online tools allow
learners to record their performance of lesson tasks and permit multiple viewings unlike real-time assessments. This
exploratory study focuses on students’ opinions about self-recording’s effects on their ability to self- and peer-assess,in addition to their perceptions of the level of difficulty required to assess. The project participants were 13 first-year
university students from English debate classes at a liberal arts university in Tokyo. Students were required to video
record homework tasks. In the middle of the semester, they were asked to self-assess by comparing their performancesfrom a previous homework task with a later lesson’s task. Throughout the semester, students also peer-assessed
debates. The quantitative data were collected from two surveys. The results were that over half of the participants feltthat recording their own performance helped them to assess both themselves and others. The students’ perceptions
about assessment’s level of difficulty depended on the skills being assessed and how long the students had been using
the skills.
Keywords: assessment, online tools, peer-assessment, self-assessment, video recordings

1. Introduction
In 2020, the global pandemic forced those in education to seek out new ways of connecting with
their learners through the utilization of online learning tools such as sharing platforms applications
and online tools, As conditions for many returned to in-person settings, some, specifically those inlanguage learning, saw the benefits of continuing to use those tools. Having students record theirperformance can be useful for not only the instructor’s assessment but also the students’ self- andpeer-assessments. Some benefits of student-led assessment are that it can allow the learners to
critique their performance, give them more ownership of their learning, and provide more meaningful
discussion with the instructor about assessment (Sebba et al., 2008, p. 16). According to Sumardi,
Adzima, and Wijaya (2020), video recording can transform foreign-language speaking assessments
due to its effectiveness (p. 67). Instructors and students can view performances multiple times for abetter understanding of the performances and can provide more accurate grading. Indeed, tasks
requiring students to record themselves existed before 2020, as shown in Christianson, Hoskins, and
Watanabe’s (2010) study. Nonetheless, other educators may have used the recordings solely for theirown assessment purposes. However, online video tools allow both students and teachers to easily
create recordings anywhere at any time and upload these recordings for the whole class’ viewing.
These tools also let students decide which recordings to share. This study will explore EFL students’opinions about how making videos affected their ability to assess.

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2. Literature Review
The benefits and implementation of self- and peer-assessment have proven to be useful tools in
language-learning classrooms. Baleghizadeh and Masoun (2013) stated that foreign language
teachers who did incorporate self-assessment in the lessons were in favor of using this type ofassessment in their practice (p. 53). In a review of empirical studies about self- and peer-assessments,
Joo (2016) asserted that students felt that increased language skills, more critical awareness, and a
deeper understanding of their abilities were the advantages of these types of assessments (p. 76).
For a successful implementation, it is important that both the students and their instructor view
assessment in a different way. Sebba et al. (2008) contented that these assessments change therelationship between the instructor and learner from from being hierarchal to parallel, consequently
shaping instructor’s practice based on how their students respond (p. 2). Moreover, when instructors
model how to assess for their learners, thus providing them with more autonomy by sharing the
responsibility of assessments, the assessment tasks may result in more success. For those instructors
seeking a more egalitarian classroom, allowing students to assess can be a meaningful exercise.
Communicative tasks can be challenging for those learning a foreign language. Many may feel
reticent and anxious to speak in front of others, especially when formal assessment is also occurring.
Giving assessment tasks to these learners can also be demanding as it is difficult to perform the task,
process the performance, and then assess the performance. Students must have a solid awareness ofthe grading tools as this affects how successfully they can assess themselves or their classmates(Joo, 2016, p. 69). Additionally, utilizing achievable assessment tools is a part of self-assessment(Benson, 2011, p. 168). Therefore, providing students with awareness of grading criteria andopportunities to practice speaking tasks, such as presentations, debates, and speeches using selfrecording tools, can lessen negative feelings and provide other positive benefits such as better
performances. Self-recording tools let the learners record their performance in an environment of
their choosing and allow them to record multiple times before uploading the performance they want
to share with others. Sharing rubrics with students to practice their own self-assessment as well as
giving instructor feedback about their performance can deepen their understanding of the grading
requirements. Furthermore, having students make videos can provide more tangible recognition ofgrading expectations through the practice of self-assessment, and may make peer-assessment tasks
less overwhelming. Having learners upload their recordings of tasks so that the instructor cancomment by either written or oral responses can allow for students to review their performance inconjunction with instructor feedback to more concretely understand ways to improve their skills. The
advantages of students recording videos allows their own and peer viewing of their performance
multiple times, resulting in their ability to more consciously evaluate their delivery and recognize
their skill development (Qureshi et al. 2019, p. 21). Not only can students’ assessment skills increase
through self-recordings, but their feelings about the language being learned and their relationshiptoward the language may also become more positive. The promotion of self-confidence is anotherbenefit of students using the video recordings of their performance (Sumardi et al., 2020, p. 69).
Göktürk (2016) reported that the learners felt making the recordings not only aided with the
improvement of their speaking ability but also increased their motivation to use English and resulted
in a feeling of satisfaction (2016). Even though it may seem that self-recording done in the foreign
language under study could cause stress and be intimidating, the experience can be beneficial tosome learners by developing more confidence and providing enjoyment in communicative languagetasks.

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The literature on the effects of student video recording and students practice of assessment in
EFL or ESL settings is scant. However, Christianson et al.’s (2010) study with students at a university
in Tokyo used webcams, and the recordings were done by students in groups at the instructor’s
office for peer- and self-analysis for an academic speaking course. They emphasized that the use ofrecordings lets the students control the assessment (p. 2). This means that students using their video
recordings for assessment may result in more learner autonomy. Christianson et al.’ study holds
similarities to this study, yet with the changes in technology during these past 10 years, for instancethe increased use of laptops and smartphones in language learning, along with online tools andapplications that allow for the freedom to video record anywhere and at any time, further exploring
student opinions about video recording and student-guided assessment tools is an important area for
examination.

3. Research Methodology
This exploratory study used a quantitative approach to analyze the data from the 13 participants.
They were first-year students from three mandatory debate classes at a Tokyo liberal arts university.
They had TOEIC scores from 480 to 699, with two classes having in-person lessons and one classhaving online lessons. Though the number of students in all classes was much higher than thenumber of participants, these participants were selected as they made videos regularly as part of thehomework tasks and completed both surveys. The surveys were delivered using a Google Forms
link via email and the online learning platform. The first survey was implemented during the middleof the semester and the second survey during the end of the semester. This study analyzes thesurveys’ three-level Likert scale questions’ responses.
The research questions are as follows:
1. Did making videos aid in students’ ability to self- and peer-assess?
2. How do students perceive the level of difficulty in assessing?

Context of the Study
Over the 14-week semester in fall of 2021, students were required to make eight videos with acomputer online tools as part of their homework tasks for weeks 1–6, 10, and 11. The video tasks
were based on the current lesson activities and/or to prepare for the next lesson. Below are two
examples of the homework tasks:
Lesson 2’s task: For the proposition on page 22: “Skipping breakfast is good for your health.” Shareyour arguments for both Affirmative and Negative with “Useful Expressions for Constructing
Arguments” on pages 17 and 18. Use the reflection journal to help you.
Lesson 10’s task: Please use your Reflection Journal to help you. Use the summary your team madein the lesson. Remember to include three points from your team, the other team’s points, theproposition, and your team’s position. Also use Appendix A “Useful Expressions for Debate Skills’’ onpage 58.

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Students were given individual and private feedback on the video-making and -sharing online
tools by the instructor about their performance based on the appropriate section of the course’s
rubric. The assigned textbook Up For Debate (Mishima et al., 2021) that contained the rubric andskills referenced in the above homework example prompts. It was the instructor’s expectation thatthe students would review the comments about their videos to gain a greater understanding of how
to use the rubric. They would be expected to give feedback to their peers as judges during the
mid-term and final-term test debates when their team was not debating.

4. Results and Discussion
The students’ perspectives about making videos’ effectiveness on their ability to assess will beshared. In response to the survey question, “Did watching the two videos help you to learn how tojudge your performance?,” 7 students agreed, 5 were not sure, and 1 disagreed. The process ofmaking a video was viewed as having value to aid in self-assessment for over half of these students.
Regarding the question, ”Do you think watching your own video helps you to judge other students’performances?,” 7 students agreed, 4 were not sure, and 2 disagreed. It appears that watching theirown video-recorded performances was beneficial to these students during peer assessment. Potential
reasons for agreement could be the level of exposure that they had with the rubric on a weekly basisand how the instructor gave written feedback for each video based on the rubric. This echoes what
both Joo (2016) and Benson (2011) maintained that a good understanding of an achievable rubric willaid in students’ ability to achieve assessment tasks. However, the instructor cannot confirm if thestudents reviewed the written feedback of their video performances. It was hoped that if the students
could view their videos again after reading the feedback, they would better understand how the
rubric was used for assessments. In future uses of video recording tasks when written feedback is
given, it will be important to establish how learners review it? Activities such as reflections tasks or
discussions about the feedback could be used to confirm this.
The level of difficulty in assessing given by students will be examined. As different skills needed
to be assessed, students’ opinions about the level of difficulty in assessing, both themselves and theirclassmates, also differed. Self-assessing more concrete skills such as a debate’s organization that
followed a clear pattern was viewed as having a moderate level of difficulty by nearly all students.
Furthermore, when asked about generally assessing organization skills of debates, such as in peerassessment settings, over half of the students responded that the task was easy. A possible reason isthat students felt that assessing themselves was a task with less pressure as regards accuracy thanassessing others, possibly making self-assessment easier than peer-assessment. With more abstract
skills, such as when self-assessing a debate’s strength, over half of the students felt it was a moderate
to difficult task. Yet, when asked about generally assessing a debate’s strength, 10 students agreed
that it was an easy task. There could be a few factors for this. Data were collected about selfassessment in the middle of the semester, while the data about general assessment were collected at
the end of the semester. This means students had more exposure to the skills as well as familiarity
with assessments. Additionally, students assessed their peers with their debate team members
during the test lessons at the middle and end of the semester. It could be that students had more
confidence to assess with their teammates than by themselves, potentially lessening the perceived
level of difficulty. In addition, as Sumardi et al. (2020) write about increased confidence in relation torecordings, it could be that as students completed more self-recorded videos for homework tasks by
the end of the semester, they felt more sure of in their assessment abilities.

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In future uses of video-recording and assessment tasks, it will be beneficial to have students,
either individually or in the teams, submit a written peer-evaluation form, which would be collected,
instead of only giving oral comments to their classmates about their test performance. Then the
instructor can better understand how students assess their peers. This will be helpful to know more
about students’ opinions concerning the assessment task’s level of difficulty. Then the instructor canshare with the students their assessments’ strengths and weaknesses, providing students with morecertainty of their ability to assess and possibly decreasing the level of difficulty to perform
assessments.

5. Conclusion
Video-making and sharing tools and applications are becoming increasingly accessible and canbe a useful tool for students to practice their own self- and peer-assessments. Having students
perform assessments can allow for students to have more autonomy in their learning. Unlike realtime assessments, video recordings can allow for multiple viewings. Using video-making and online-sharing applications tools also gives students more control control over deciding/choosing which
performances to share share with others as well as the freedom to record at any time and anywhere.
Instructors can provide feedback on the learner’s performance with more certainty, and learners canview their performance again along with the feedback. This could allow for the learner to have abetter understanding of how their performance was graded, possibly giving them more understandingof the grading tools.
In this exploratory study, more than half of the participants agreed that making videos helped
them learn how to assess their own performance and their classmates’ performances. The
participants responded that the level of difficulty required to assess varies. Possible factors on thelevel of difficulty might be the type of skills to be assessed and their familiarity with the skills.
Furthermore, assessment done by a learner individually versus assessing as part of a team may also
influence differences in assessment’s level of difficulty. A better understanding of how students
assess compared with the instructor could aid in more effectively using student-recorded videos andstudent-assessment activities. More research needs to be done about having students use their own
self-recorded videos and perform assessments as this is a timely area for exploration.

References
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