13th June 2015, Hong Kong

Faces of English CAES

Using self-assessment to maintain motivation in a
dynamic classroom environment
Richard Pinner rpinner@sophia.ac.jp

www.uniliterate.com@uniliterate

Abstract:
In this presentation I outline how and why I haveestablished a self-assessment system in which
students give themselves a score for classparticipation, worth 30% of their overall grade forthe semester. I explain how my experience ofteaching an EFL speaking skills course for the
English literature department of a Japanese
university has led me to initiate and further develop
this method of assessment. By expanding learners’
locus of control I hoped to help them maintainmotivation, and in this presentation I attempt tospecifically show how abstract concepts likeautonomy and motivation have a tangible place inthe everyday dynamics of the language classroom.
This paper presents the narrative of an ongoing
Exploratory Practice inquiry which I have been
engaged with for over three years. Data come frompedagogically generated sources and teaching
journals, with the aim of the research being toimprove the quality of classroom life. I approach
motivation from a complex dynamics systemsperspective, looking at the interactions andprocesses that define it. I attempt to bridge thecomplex dynamics of motivation with actual
teaching practices and classroom based
practitioner research.

Chaos/Complexity
Recent scholars have been viewing both language and the process of acquiring a language
from the perspective of complex systems theory or chaos theory (Ellis & Larsen-Freeman,2009; Kramsch, 2011; Larsen-Freeman & Cameron, 2008; Menezes, 2013). Motivation is
also been examined from this perspective, as motivation is dependent upon many othervariables and is a dynamic process (Dörnyei, MacIntyre, & Henry, 2015). How can such‘complex’ theories be relevant to the language classroom?

Autonomy and Motivation
Self-Determination Theory (Deci, Kasser, & Ryan, 1997; Deci & Ryan,1985) posits that learners are more likely to be motivated and show
engagement in the learning process if they have a degree of autonomy- meant as self-volition in this context; competence -they believe they
are able to succeed in the task; and relatedness - here meaning thesocial relations between people or “feeling close and connected toother individuals” (Dörnyei & Ushioda, 2011, p. 25).

AutonomyCompetence
Relatedness

The importance of autonomy in L2 motivation is also a key theme in much of Ushioda’s work (2007, 2011b)
and is very much an embedded principle in her person in-context relational view of motivation (2011a; 2009)
which encourages us to view learners as people “with particular social identities, [within] the unfolding culturalcontext of activity” (2009, p. 215). Simply put, my basic rationale for introducing self-assessment in myteaching was that by fostering learner autonomy or increasing my learner’s ‘capacity for control’ (Benson,2013) I hoped to engage them more in the learning process. This was a strategy to help my learners maintainmotivation, not just over the course but in language learning generally as a long-term endeavour. One way I
felt I could foster autonomy was by encouraging reflection, and the most obvious way to do this seemed to be
self-assessment.

Sat June 13 10:00-25 CPD-LG07

Faces of English CAES

Pinner

Self-Assessment
In education, self-report has been shown by Hattie (2008) as “one of the greatest influenceson student achievement” (p. 31). In this study, Hattie synthesized 800 meta-analyses,
effectively reviewing thousands of studies relating to student achievement in order toidentify the major contributors. Self-report grades were found to have the highest effectsize of all the 138 other impact factors identified.

Exploratory Practice
The data I present come from on-going Exploratory Practice (Allwright, 2003; Allwright & Hanks, 2009) inquiryon using self-assessment, see Pinner (2015).

ReferencesAllwright, D. (2003). Exploratory practice: Rethinking practitioner research in language teaching.
Language Teaching Research, 7(2), 113-141.
Allwright, D., & Hanks, J. (2009). The developing language learner: An introduction to exploratory
practice. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Benson, P. (2013). Teaching and researching: Autonomy in language learning. London: Routledge.
Deci, E. L., Kasser, T., & Ryan, R. M. (1997). Self-determined teaching: Opportunities and obstacles. InJ. L. Bess (Ed.), Teaching well and liking it: Motivating faculty to teach effectively (pp. 57-71).
Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.
Deci, E. L., & Ryan, R. M. (1985). Intrinsic motivation and self-determination in human behavior. NewYork: Plenum.
Dörnyei, Z., MacIntyre, P., & Henry, A. (Eds.). (2015). Motivational dynamics in language learning.
Bristol: Multilingual Matters.
Dörnyei, Z., & Ushioda, E. (2011). Teaching and researching motivation (Second ed.). Harlow:
Longman Pearson.
Ellis, N. C., & Larsen-Freeman, D. (Eds.). (2009). Language as a complex adaptive system. Sussex:
John Wiley & Sons.
Hattie, J. (2008). Visible learning : a synthesis of over 800 meta-analyses relating to achievement.
London: Routledge.
Kramsch, C. (2011). Why is everyone so excited about complexity theory in applied linguistics?
Melanges CRAPEL, 2(33), 9 - 24.
Larsen-Freeman, D., & Cameron, L. (2008). Complex systems and applied linguistics. Oxford: Oxford
University Press.
Menezes, V. (2013). Chaos and the complexity of second language acquisition. In P. Benson & L.
Cooker (Eds.), The Applied Linguistic Individual (pp. 59 - 74). Bristol: Equinox.
Pinner, R. S. (2015). Trouble in paradise: Self-assessment and the Tao. Language Teaching Research,1-15. doi: 10.1177/1362168814562015
Ushioda, E. (2007). Motivation, autonomy, and socio-cultural theory. In P. Benson (Ed.), Learner
Autonomy 8 (pp. 5-24). Dublin: Authentik.
Ushioda, E. (2011a). Motivating learners to speak as themselves. In G. Murray, X. Gao & T. E. Lamb(Eds.), Identity, motivation and autonomy in language learning (pp. 11 - 25). Bristol:Multilingual Matters.
Ushioda, E. (2011b). Why autonomy? Insights from motivation theory and research. Innovation inLanguage Learning and Teaching, 5(2), 221-232. doi: 10.1080/17501229.2011.577536
Ushioda, E., & Dörnyei, Z. (2009). Motivation, language identities and the L2 self: A theoreticaloverview. In Z. Dörnyei & E. Ushioda (Eds.), Motivation, language identity and the L2 self (pp.
1-8). Bristol: Multilingual Matters.