Self-Assessment: Its Roles in Academic Writing Class (A Case Study in Higher Education Students)

The objectives of this research were to (1) identify students’ difficulties in conducting self-assessment in the Academic Writing class; (2) find the solutions by the students to overcome the difficulties in conducting self-assessment in the Academic Writing class; and (3) describe the role of self-assessment in the Academic Writing class. The design of this research was case study. This research was conducted at the first semester students of Academic Writing class, which consisted of twenty-eight students. The participant of this research was chosen purposively by using purposive sampling. In collecting the data, the researcher used questionnaire, interview, observation and document. In analyzing the data, interactive model by Miles and Huberman was considered to be used through data condensation, data display, verification, and drawing conclusion. Based on the research, it was found that (1) Students are difficult to conduct self-assessment at the first. The lack of the students understanding about the criteria in the assessment sheets and the lack of time in conducting self-assessment make students are difficult to conduct self-assessment, (2) Students make the clear criteria of self-assessment with the lecturer, ask to the lecturer, and add the knowledge about the concept of self-assessment, (3) Self-assessment promotes students’ learning in writing and helps in finding the mistake in their writing product. From those research it can be concluded that implementing self-assessment in the Academic Writing Class has the roles as a suitable assessment technique to help students in revising their writing product, knowing the strength and the weakness in writing and motivating the students to achieve their goals. This research can be used as a reference for the teacher in improving the teaching writing quality by applying the self-assessment technique toward improving the students’ writing skill. Keywords: case study, role, self-assessment, Academic Writing class, qualitative approaches