（外国语言学及应用语言学专业论文）大学生英语阅读能力自我评价的研究.pdf

华华 中中 科科 技技 大大 学学 硕硕 士士 学学 位位 论论 文文 iii 摘摘 要要 近年来，由于对学习者独立性和自主性的强调，自我评价也越来越引起人们的注 意。大学教育的重点从教师如何教转向学生如何学，这使得人们对自我评价的好处 也开始逐渐产生兴趣。自我评价有助于学生设立自己的学习目标并为之去努力，它 被认为是学生有效地学习以及将来职业发展和终身学习所必须具备的一项很重要的 技能。在过去的数年里，国外进行了相关的研究去了解学生自我评价的信度，自我 评价与语言水平的关系以及学生对于自我评价过程的反应。然而，现有的研究结论 却不尽相同，而且对于自我评价的研究在国内也很少，尤其是关于阅读能力的自我 评价。本研究的实施是为了更多地了解中国学生的自我评价，尤其是对于阅读的自 我评价。学生能否对于自己的阅读能力做出有效的评价？哪种评价任务能够更好地 帮助他们做出有效的评价？自我评价是否会受到语言水平的影响？学生对于自我评 价的过程有着什么样的反应？本文将通过实证研究寻找上述问题的解答。在介绍对 于自我评价进行的相关研究以及其研究成果的基础上，作者设计并实施了对于学生 阅读能力进行的一次自我评价研究。湖北教育学院 97 名大二学生参与了本研究。学 生们先通过问卷调查对自己的阅读能力做了自我评价，然后通过外部的阅读理解测 试来检验他们的阅读能力。通过相关分析来检验学生自我评价的效度，通过 one-way anovo 来检验学生的自我评价是否受到语言水平的影响。最后，通过另外一个问卷调 查来了解学生对于自我评价过程的反应。在收集到的信息以及数据的基础上，本文 得出如下结论： （1）一般来说大多数学生能对自己的阅读能力做出相对有效的评价， 而且评价任务越具体，越能帮助他们做出有效的评价。 （2）学生的自我评价与语言 水平之间有着密切的关系。 （3）大多数学生对于自我评价过程都有积极的反应。此 外，本文还提出了本研究对于教学的启示，同时也讨论了本研究的不足之处以及将 来对于自我评价进行进一步研究的一些建议。 关键词关键词：自我评价 阅读能力 语言水平 反应 华华 中中 科科 技技 大大 学学 硕硕 士士 学学 位位 论论 文文 i abstract in recent years self-assessment has gained much attention owing to growing emphasis on learner independence and learner autonomy. as emphasis in university education has switched from teaching to learning and from teacher management to student self-direction, interest has mounted in the educational advantage of students assessing their own work (self-assessment). self-assessment will help students to set goals and thus to learn for themselves. it is considered one of the most important skills that students require for effective learning and for future professional development and for lifelong learning. in the past years, relevant studies have been done in foreign countries to assess the reliability of students self-assessment, to identify the relationship between self-assessment and language proficiency, and to identify students response to and views of self-assessment process. however, the existing studies have revealed different results and few studies have been done on students self-assessment of their reading ability domestically. the present study is conducted to know more about chinese students self-assessment, especially in reading ability. can students make reliable self-assessment of their english reading ability? which type of task can best help students make reliable self-assessment？ is the students self-assessment affected by their language proficiency? what are the students reactions to and views of the self-assessment process? the present thesis endeavors to answer such questions. it starts with literature review on relevant studies in self-assessment as well as the findings of such studies. based on the research findings of such studies, the author conducted a self-assessment study on students reading ability. 97 second-year college students in hubei college of education participated in this study. first the students used the reading ability questionnaire (appendix i) to make a self-assessment of their reading abilities. then the reading comprehension test was conducted to assess their reading abilities. correlation study was used to look at the relationship between self-assessment 华华 中中 科科 技技 大大 学学 硕硕 士士 学学 位位 论论 文文 ii ratings and objective exams and one-way anovo was used to examine whether the students self-assessment was affected by their language proficiency. at last, qualitative data about the students response to and views of the self-assessment process was collected through the second questionnaire (appendix ii). based on the information and data collected, it is concluded that: (1)generally most of the students can make a relatively reliable self-assessment of their reading ability and the more specific task can better help students to make reliable self-assessment of their reading ability. (2) there exists a close relationship between the students self-assessment and language proficiency. (3)most students hold positive views about the self-assessment process. finally, teaching implications are suggested and the limitations of the research and suggestions for future research are given. key words: self-assessment reading ability language proficiency response 独创性声明独创性声明 本人声明所呈交的学位论文是我个人在导师指导下进行的研究工作及取得的研 究成果。尽我所知，除文中已经标明引用的内容外，本论文不包含任何其他个人或 集体已经发表或撰写过的研究成果。对本文的研究做出贡献的个人和集体，均已在 文中以明确方式标明。本人完全意识到，本声明的法律结果由本人承担。 学位论文作者签名： 日期： 年 月 日 学位论文版权使用授权书学位论文版权使用授权书 本学位论文作者完全了解学校有关保留、使用学位论文的规定，即：学校有权 保留并向国家有关部门或机构送交论文的复印件和电子版，允许论文被查阅和借阅。 本人授权华中科技大学可以将本学位论文的全部或部分内容编入有关数据库进行检 索，可以采用影印、缩印或扫描等复制手段保存和汇编本学位论文。 保密 ，在_ _年解密后适用本授权书。 不保密。 （请在以上方框内打“” ） 学位论文作者签名： 指导教师签名： 日期： 年 月 日 日期： 年 月 本论文属于 华华 中中 科科 技技 大大 学学 硕硕 士士 学学 位位 论论 文文 1 introduction informal self-assessment is a natural part of language learning. most language learners, and one suspects, most successful language learners, regularly engage in self-assessment as part of their learning. they do exercises, and check, by whatever means available, whether their responses are correct or not. they write passages in the foreign language and monitor the correctness and appropriateness of the language used. they construct simple test of vocabulary. they assess their understanding of reading passages. they check other peoples comprehension of their spoken language, and adjust it when necessary. these are all examples of self-assessment in one sense of the term. assessment tends to shape every part of the student learning experience. it often defines what the student regards as important (orsmond, merry (2) to enable students to become reflective practitioners; and (3) to provide formal accountability and accreditation of knowledge (boud, 1995). assessment of learners performance is a complex process. the prevailing model for assessing student work in higher education is an authoritarian one. staff exercises unilateral intellectual authority. students do not significantly participate in decision making about their learning objectives or learning programs, or in setting criteria and applying them in assessment procedures. such exclusion of language learners in the crucial process of test development has led to significant discrepancies in the respondents test scores and their actual abilities. such external assessment can encourage passive, reproductive forms of learning while simultaneously hiding the inadequate understanding to which such forms of learning inevitably lead. 华华 中中 科科 技技 大大 学学 硕硕 士士 学学 位位 论论 文文 2 self-assessment has been presented as an empowering tool in that it allows students to be involved with what is center of the seat of power-assessment. the development of self-assessment has coincided with the desire to give students more control over their own learning and confidence and skill in their judgment. if teachers want students to take responsibility, then we have to allow them to do so. if students are excluded from assessment, they are excluded from any real responsibility. since assessment is central to higher education, teachers have to engage students with it in ways that are productive, fair and democratic. student self-assessment allows this to be done simply and effectively. in recent years self-assessment has gained much attention owing to growing emphasis on learner independence and learner autonomy. as emphasis in university education has switched from teaching to learning and from teacher management to student self-direction, interest has mounted in the educational advantage of students assessing their own work (self-assessment). many teachers wish to encourage students to take a more active role in their own learning and to develop more responsibility and autonomy in their study. for this reason, some teachers have adopted self-assessment methods. “self-assessment gives learners responsibility for, confidence in, and practice at developing a reliable nose for the quality of their own products, and it is therefore an essential ingredient of any course that seeks, as it now must, to help students become better learners at the same time as they are mastering specific bodies of knowledge and skill” (claxton, 1997, p. 320). just as boud (1995) stated: it is important for all learners to develop the ability to be realistic judges of their own performance and to effectively monitor their own learning.in the protected environment of the educational institution it may just be possible for the learners to get by without being able to plan and organize their own learning, but in the world of life and work, this is rarely the case. the ability to self-assess is a key foundation to a career as a lifelong learner (p.13-14). on the other hand, two recent movement in applied linguistics-learner-centered 华华 中中 科科 技技 大大 学学 硕硕 士士 学学 位位 论论 文文 3 language teaching and a renewed interest in the authenticity, interactiveness, and impact of language assessment-have come together to bring about a greater concern for and interest in expanding the role of the learner or test-taker in the assessment process. self-assessment skills are needed by graduates in the course of working and private lives. self-assessment will help students to set goals and thus to learn for themselves. it is considered one of the most important skills that students require for effective learning and for future professional development and for lifelong learning. if teachers wish to support independent and life-long learning, put the students at the heart of the leaning process and to help students take responsibility for their own learning, they should include students in assessment. formalizing self-assessment should help focus the learners attention on their strengths, weaknesses, and future needs. if used continuously throughout a course, self-assessment has been shown to be of great value to both teacher and learner. teachers could have more time and focus more on enhancing their teaching techniques. in addition, the students will benefit from the process of self-assessment which can make them become more responsible and more autonomous lifelong learners. the aim of this research is to have a close look at the students self-assessment of their reading comprehension ability. the thesis consists of five parts. the introduction part deals with some theoretic background of assessment and self-assessment and explanations of the need for this study. chapter 1 introduces the literature related to self-assessment and some empirical studies in this respect. the second chapter focuses on the authors application of this study, providing details of methodology and procedure of the research, followed by data analysis and detailed discussion of the research findings in chapter 3. in the last part, a conclusion containing both a review of the research conducted and prospects for further studies ends the thesis. 华华 中中 科科 技技 大大 学学 硕硕 士士 学学 位位 论论 文文 4 1 literature review 1.1 assessment the current evaluation system merely gathers information on test takers language competence and language proficiency through tests for decision making, while test takers ability to learn, which is becoming more and more demanding in this knowledge-driven economy era, has not yet been taken into consideration. this practice of assessment is beset with problems and shortcomings. the most important ones may be briefly summarized as three groups. the first is concerned with effective learning: 1）teachers tests encourage rote and superficial learning. 2）there is a tendency to emphasize quantity of work and to neglect its quality in relation to learning. the second group is concerned with negative impact: 1）the giving of marks and the grading functions are over-emphasized, while the giving of advice and the learning function are under-emphasized. 2）pupils are compared with one another, which highlights competition rather than personal improvement. such feedback teaches pupils with low attainments that they lack “ability”, and that they are not able to learn. the third group focuses on the managerial role of assessment: 1）teachers feedback to pupils often seems to serve social and managerial functions rather than learning. 2）the collection of marks to fill up records is given greater priority than the analysis of pupils work to discern learning needs; yet some teachers pay no attention to the assessment records of previous teachers of their pupils. today, in the age that is characterized by changing, most people are under great pressure to learn new things. the pressure is from several aspects. some comes partly from the organizations where people work, but the broader source is that people lack the 华华 中中 科科 技技 大大 学学 硕硕 士士 学学 位位 论论 文文 5 ability to learn independently due to the traditional education and evaluation system. the traditional education and evaluation system aims to transfer knowledge to students. traditionally, classes are always lectures and students learn passively, reacting to the stimulus of instructors. under this circumstance, to learn is to memorize mechanically what the books have said and what the teachers have taught. the cultivating of learning ability is ignored in the traditional evaluation system. on the other hand, self-assessment is to empower students to evaluate their performance and progress, making them responsible for and reflective of their own work. self-assessment is particularly important in promoting learning. if the individual is to have the motivation and self-insight to go on learning, to be able to set their own direction and to measure their progress, self-assessment is quite necessary for them. the process of gathering information is an indispensable part of assessment. although, it seems partly similar to the process of test, the process of assessment is far different from that of tests. tests mean administering a particular set of questions to an individual or a group of individuals to obtain a score. assessment is integral to the whole educational process of teaching and learning. it is the means by which students learning development and achievements are monitored over time. in short, assessment in educational situation is to observe students closely and gather information form multi-perspectives for later decision-making or other purposes. assessment can help students to learn. it is viewed as a particular important purpose. assessment can stimulate learning from various ways. for example, by: 1）prompting or otherwise motivating students 2）giving students practice so they can see how well they are achieving learning outcomes 3）following the practice with feedback to help students diagnose their strength and areas that they need to improve 4）providing information that helps students plan what to do next 华华 中中 科科 技技 大大 学学 硕硕 士士 学学 位位 论论 文文 6 5）helping students and others concerned with their learning to track their progress assessment procedures designed to facilitate students learning and skills as reflective practitioners can be either formative or summative (orsmond et al, 2000). summative assessment is often carried out at the end of a unit or year or key stage or when a pupil is leaving the school to make judgments about pupils performance in relation to national standards. but formative assessment processes are an essential part of everyday classroom practice and involve both teachers and learners in reflection, dialogue and decision making. it happens all the time in the classroom and should be recognized as central to classroom practice. much of what teachers and learners do in the classroom can be described as assessment. that is, tasks and questions prompt learners to demonstrate their knowledge, understanding and skills. what learners say and do is observed and interpreted, and judgments are made about how learning can be improved. formative assessment is rooted in self-referencing; a pupil needs to know where he or she is and understand not only where he or she wants to be but also how to “fill the gap”. this involves both the teacher and the pupil in a process of continual reflection and review about progress (leung (2) it provides feedback for immediate action; and (3) it aims at modifying teaching activities in order to improve learning processes and results. formative assessment has a primary function to provide information for learners about their progress. if students are to improve they must have a concept of their learning goal, the ability to compare actual with desired performance, and the ability to act in such a way as to close the gap. in this process assessment information is very helpful. teachers are responsible for providing the feedback students need to do this and their provision of that feedback itself is sometimes called “formative assessment”. but accurate self-assessment and appropriate use of feedback are also necessary. formative assessment can facilitate learning. there is a flood of literature documenting at relationship between formative assessment and students learning. among them, crooks (1988) identifies a range of short, medium and long-term effects of assessment in this respect. in the short term, he argues that formative assessment has a function on the consolidating of existing learning, highlighting what is important to learn, influencing whether learning is passive or active, reinforcing new learning, helping learners to develop self-monitoring skills and providing feedback and encouragement for 华华 中中 科科 技技 大大 学学 硕硕 士士 学学 位位 论论 文文 9 students and teachers. in the medium to longer term, it can help to determine appropriate learning goals, influence students choice of learning strategies, their motivation and their sense of themselves as successful or unsuccessful learners. crucially, it also influences the students ability to retain and apply what has been learne