The Impact of Peer Assessment on Willingness to Communicate Orally among Iranian Advanced EFL Learners

Teachers deal with learners that are willing to communicate orally in their foreign language, while some learners do not use their foreign language, even with high linguistic competence. Peer assessment may be a good form of assessment to enhance willingness to communicate among EFL learners. The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of peer assessment on willingness to communicate (WTC) among Iranian advanced EFL learners in the context of classroom. In order to serve the main purpose of the study, a structured and step by step procedure was designed to achieve the purposes of the present study. First, all participants (n = 73) took English language placement test, Oxford English Language Placement Test (OELPT), in order to homogenize learners in terms of their language proficiency. Thirty three participants were excluded from the study based on the results of OELPT test. The remained 40 participants were then randomly assigned to two equal groups of control and experimental. They were given WTC questionnaire and they answered the items based on their current perception. After the administration of WTC questionnaire, the participants of experimental group watched a sample video about the qualities of a good, an average, and a poor oral presentation in order to learn the general information about the procedures and purpose of the study. The experimental group received the treatment for 10 sessions. In each session the learners were required to give an oral presentation based on a pre-assigned topic provided by the researcher. The students' perceived ability regarding the topic area and students' interest and familiarity were considered as the criteria for the selection of the topics. The students were then supposed to assess their peers with the peer assessment form. Finally, WTC questionnaire was administered again among the participants of experimental and control group. The data were collected and submitted to statistical analyses to investigate the research question of the study. The obtained data was analyzed with two sample independent t-test statistical methods. It was inferred from the results of different statistical analyses that there is a meaningful significant difference among Iranian advanced EFL learners' willingness to communicate of those who assessed their peers' communicative performance based on predefined criteria. It was found that peer assessment increased willingness to communicate of learners' oral performance. In other words, the peer assessment significantly affected their achievement in oral ability

کلیدواژه ها:

Willingness to communicate ، communication ، linguistic competence ، communicative competence ، self-perceived communication competence ، affective variables