SKKN Applying self - Assessment rubrics to improve 10th graders’ writing skill at Quynh Luu 2 High School

tronic devices to help 
them learn effectively and avoid the bad effects on their learning. 
B. LANGUAGE FOCUS 
Key terms/ Vocabulary: 
Cheat (v)/ access (v) / embarrassing (a)/ inappropriate (a) 
Key grammatical structure(s): 
- distract sb from sth / doing sth 
- The simple present tense. 
- Modal verbs 
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- Connectors: First of all, Second, Last but not least, In conclusion 
C. INSTRUCTIONAL RESOURCES 
Some pictures of electronic devices, 2 pictures of using electronic devices in 
classroom, computer, projector, self-assessment sheet and self-assessment rubrics 
STAGE 2: ASSESSMENT EVIDENCE 
Performance Tasks Performance products Assessment tools 
Look at the pictures and talk 
about advantages and 
disadvantages of using 
electronic device in learning. 
The list of advantages and 
disadvantages of using 
electronic device in 
learning. 
Answer keys and 
questions & 
answers 
Identify the disadvantages and 
the advantages of using 
electronic device in learning 
Students‟ answers 
and students‟ discussion/ 
interaction 
Answer keys and 
questions & 
answers 
Underline the words/ phrases 
used to link the ideas. 
Students‟ answer. 
Answer keys and 
questions & 
answers 
Write a short text about 
advantages of using electronic 
device in learning 
Students‟ writing about 
advantages of using 
electronic device in 
learning. 
Observation 
Self – assess the texts Self –assessment sheet 
Self - assessment 
rubrics 
Talk about the value of using 
personal electronic devices 
appropriately to help them learn 
effectively 
Students‟ answer. 
 Observation 
Questions & 
answers 
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STAGE 3: TEACHING PROCEDURE/ LEARNING EXPERIENCES 
I/ Warm up 
- Students look at the pictures and call the name of some electronic devices used in 
the classroom. 
(laptop, smartphone, tablet, projector) 
- Elicit Ss‟ opinions about the pictures 
- Give suggestions if necessary by asking questions : 
1. What do you use these electronic devices in learning for? 
2. Using electronic devices in the classroom is good or bad? 
Lead in the new lesson 
II. New lesson 
Activity 1: 
- Ask students to look at the pictures of people using electronic devices. 
Think about one advantage and one disadvantage of using electronic devices in the 
classroom. Write them down and exchange your ideas with your partner. 
- Call on some students to present their ideas in front of the class. 
- Give feedback and comment 
Activity 2: 
- Give sts time to read the sentences about some advantages and 
disadvantages of using electronic devices in learning. Write A if it is an advantage 
or D if it is a disadvantage. 
- Elicit different opinions 
- Have them compare their answers with a partner first, and then ask some 
sts to read out loud their answers to check with the class. 
- Elicit students‟ different opinions and give feedback. 
Key: A: 2,4,6 D: 1,3,5 
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 Activity 3 
- Ask students to read a paragraph about disadvantages of using electronic 
devices in learning. Underline the words or phrases the writer uses to link the 
ideas. 
First of all, 
Second, 
Last but not least, 
In conclusion, 
- Help students to analyze the structure of a paragraph step by step. 
- If necessary, explain to students. 
- Remind them of the structure of a short text that starts with a topic 
sentence, followed by supporting ideas 1,2,3 and ends with a concluding sentence. 
PARAGRAPH OUTLINE 
Introduction: I support / do not support. 
Body: support the topic 
Supporting idea 1 and further explanation 
Supporting idea 2 and further explanation 
Supporting idea 3 and further explanation 
Cues: 
First of all/ secondly/ thirdly/ Finally/ Last but not least, S + V 
First/ Next/ Last, S + V 
Conclusion: summary the topic 
In conclusion/ In short/To sum up..... 
Activity 4: 
- Have students read the sentences in Task 2 again and use them to write a 
short text the advantages of electronic devices in learning 
- Tell sts to work in 4 groups to write a short text about the advantages of 
electronic devices as learning tools. 
Activity 5 
- Deliver self-assessment rubrics to grade a text and self-assessment sheets to 
students and instruct SS to self-evaluate. Students still work in 4 groups 
- Walk around and offer help if necessary. 
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- Choose one or two paragraphs and their self-assessment sheets to show on 
the screen, tell the group leader to explain with the whole class and then ask the 
whole class to give comments and corrections. 
- Get students' answers and comments. 
- Get some outputs to highlight and comment and correct the possible 
mistakes of students. (If time is available, evaluation can be done in class. If not, 
this can be assigned as part of the homework) 
III. Wrap-up & Assignments 
- Ask students to answer the following questions: 
1.What did you learn from the lesson today? 
(Recognize the disadvantages and the advantages of using electronic 
devices in learning) 
2.What are the core values of the lesson? 
(Students should take advantage of personal electronic devices to help them 
learn effectively and avoid the bad effects on their learning ) 
Here are some pictures taken from the lesson 
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2.4. Finding and Evaluation 
Before the study began, all subjects ( class 10A2 and 10D6) were tested their 
writing skill. I chose the writing task of Unit 1 as a pre – test. Students were asked 
to write a paragraph about how people in their family share housework. I then 
graded them and used the grades as pre-test results. The students of class 10A2 
were purposefully assigned as the experimental group while class 10D6 was a 
control group. In the experimental group, each student was asked to independently 
assess his own writing after each session. I also instructed them to self-assess their 
pre-test. At first, the students showed that they were unable and afraid of self-
evaluation. Besides, they were not serious and began complaining and explaining 
that they were not used to it. Before the beginning of each writing lesson, the 
teacher urged the students to use the rubric and they followed the teacher's 
instructions until they got used to using it. Gradually, they changed from reluctant 
to better writers. They could confidently self- assess their own writing products. In 
the control group, students were taught with the same traditional method without 
self- assessing their own writing. The study was conducted in a period of six 
months (from Unit 1 to Unit 8). At the end of this period, all subjects were tested 
on the writing skill. I chose the writing task of Unit 8 as the post test. The results of 
pre-test and post – test were illustrated as follow: 
Figure: Pre-test and post-test mean scores by the control and experimental groups 
It can be seen from the chart, there were no significant differences between 
the two groups prior to the inception of the innovation because the mean score of 
the pre-test results for both groups was 4.45 and 4.63 respectively. 
However, the difference is significant in that of the post-test. In the post-test, 
the mean score for the control group is 4.63 compared with 5.76 for the 
experimental group. This shows the improvement in students‟ writing performance 
after applying self- assessment with the use of rubrics. From the results above, it 
4.45 4.63 
4.95 
5.76 
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Control Group Experimental Group
Pre-test
Post-test
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can be inferred that the innovation with self-evaluation rubrics utilized in a writing 
lessons for 10
th
 graders seemed to ameliorate the writing skill in this class. 
The table below illustrated the remarkable improvements in students‟ ability 
in their writing achievement after implementing self- assessment with the use of 
rubrics 
Results of 
tests 
Level 1 
( Score: <5) 
Level 2 
( Score: 5-
>under 7) 
Level 3 
( Score: 7-> 
under 9) 
Level 4 
( Score: 9-> 
10) 
No % No % No % No % 
Pre-test 18 45% 16 40% 6 15% 0 0% 
Post-test 8 20% 22 55% 8 20% 2 5% 
Table: Pre-test and post-test results by experimental group 
PART C: CONCLUSION 
With the respect to the fact that many Vietnamese high school students are 
passive learners primarily concerned with getting good marks, rubric-referenced 
self-assessment can be implemented as an ultimate tool to foster 10
th
 grade students‟ 
writing skill. Besides, along with enhancing students‟ learning, they are proved to 
effectively help them to become a “self regulated learners”, which supports the 
educational goal of student- centred approach. Since rubric-referenced self-
assessment concerns both reflection and evaluation of one‟s work, it helps students 
to accurately locate their own strengths and weaknesses and allows them to think 
clearly about what they need to do to accomplish their goals, enhancing their 
motivation and self-efficacy so as to improve learning overall. Within this process, 
students can develop a sense of autonomy and responsibility in their learning; 
consequently, they may become independent learners in control of their own 
learning, which is one of the prominent general competencies in the General 
Education Program 2018 of MOET. 
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However, using rubrics for self-evaluation is not really easy for all students 
due to their various level of proficiency. I, therefore, attempt to make some 
following pedagogical suggestions 
To begin with, teachers should not be the only one creating rubrics. 
Therefore, after a considerable amount of time getting used to using teacher-
designed rubrics to assess some products, students should be encouraged to create 
their own version of rubrics. Nevertheless, it is advisable that students should 
know the expectations from their teachers prior to their rubric design. 
In fact, assessment has never been an easy task even for teachers. For this 
reason, teachers should bear in mind that students will need a great deal of 
assistance when it comes to self-assessment. Indeed, rubrics should be widely used 
in teaching writing. It is clear that learners need frequent practice of using rubrics 
when writing so that they can take on the rubric criteria and as such they can get 
better writing performance. Besides, students should be promoted to identify the 
strengths and weaknesses in their own and peers‟ writing work, recognize the 
reasons for these weaknesses, and have discussions about possible improvements 
with their peers and their teachers. This will allow students to flourish a more 
visible individual voice in their writing attempt. 
Moreover, through responses to the feedback regarding self-assessment, 
teachers may understand students‟ affective states, use of strategies, and goals. 
Ultimately, this facilitates teacher-student interaction, while also alleviating some 
of the burden of assessment for teachers. 
In short, the study suggests the clear feasibility of implementing self- 
assessment in high school English classrooms: with proper preparation, implementing 
rubric-references self-assessment can be a good alternative to traditional assessments, 
fostering self-regulated learning and a student-centered learning context and 
enhancing students‟ overall English learning. 
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REFERENCES 
 Andrade, H. L., & Cizek, G. J. (2010). Handbook of formative assessment. 
Routledge. 
 Andrade, H., Du, Y., & Mycek, K. (2010). Rubric-referenced self-assessment 
and middle school students‟ writing. Assessment in Education, 17(2), 199-214. 
 Arter, J., & McTighe, J. (2002). Scoring rubrics in the classroom: Using 
performance criteria for assessing and improving student performance. 
California: Corwin Press. 
 Boston (Ed.), Understanding scoring rubrics: A guide for teachers (pp. 5-13). 
College Park, MD: University of Maryland Press. 
 Busching, B. (1998). Grading inquiry projects. New Directions for Teaching 
and Learning, 74(2), 89-96. 
 Carver, C. S., & Scheier, M. F. (1981). Attention and self-regulation: A 
control-theory approach to human behavior. New York: Springer 
Science & Business Media. 
 Dawson, P. (2017). Assessment rubrics: Towards clearer and more replicable 
design, research and practice. Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education, 
42(3), 347-360. 
 Johnson, R. L., Penny, J., & Gordon, B. (2000). The relation between 
score resolution methods and interrater reliability: An empirical study of 
an analytic scoring rubric. Applied Measurement in Education, 13(2), 
121-138. 
 Hoang Van Van, Hoang Thi Xuan Hoa. (2021). Tiếng Anh 10. NXB Giao Duc. 
 Stiggins, R. J. (2001). Student-involved classroom assessment (3rd ed.). 
Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill/Prentice-Hall. 
 Perlman, C. C. (2002). An introduction to performance assessment scoring 
rubrics. In Popham, W. J. (1997). What‟s wrong and what‟s right with rubrics. 
Educational Leadership. 
Whats-Right_With-Rubrics.pdf 
 Zimmerman, B. J., & Schunk, D. H. (2004). Self-regulating intellectual 
processes and outcomes: A social cognitive perspective. In D. Y. Dai & R. J. 
Sternberg (Eds.), Motivation, emotion, and cognition: Integrative perspectives 
on intellectual functioning and development (p. 323-349). New York: 
Routledge. 
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APPENDIX 
APPENDIX 1 
QUESTIONNAIRE FOR TEACHERS 
This survey questionnaire is intended for the study 
“APPLYING SELF- ASSESSMENT RUBRICS TO IMPROVE 10TH 
GRADERS’ WRITING SKILL” 
We are grateful for your goodwill and cooperation in truthfully completing 
the questionnaire, which hopefully takes you just little time. Please be 
assured that the information you provide will be treated in the strictest 
confidence. 
Thank you very much! 
Please tick or write answer where necessary. 
1. What problems do you face when correcting students' writing tasks? 
A. Students‟ limitation of vocabulary and grammatical structures 
B. The lack of students‟ background knowledge of writing tasks 
C. The limited time 
D. Large classes 
E. Others (please 
specify)...................................................................................... 
2. What techniques do you usually use to correct students' writing tasks? 
A. students' self-assessment 
B. peer editing 
C. teacher‟s quick correction 
D. alternative assessment techniques 
3. How often do you use self- assessment rubrics to correct students' writing 
tasks? 
A. Always 
B. Usually 
C. Sometimes 
D. Seldom 
E. Never 
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4. Do you think that it is useful to use self- assessment rubrics in writing 
lesson? 
A. Strongly disagree 
B. Disagree 
C. Neither disagree nor agree 
D. Agree 
E. Strongly agree 
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APPENDIX 2 
SELF – ASSESSMENT SHEET 
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APPENDIX 3 
Some writing products of the experimental class (10A2) 
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 41 
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APPENDIX 4 
Some writing products of the control class (10D6) 
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