Applying Self-Assessment Technique to Improve Speaking Skill on an Elementary School Students

Abstract

The innovation consisted of using self-assessment by applying a rubric to improve speaking skill. The duration of the innovation was 8 teaching hours (4 weeks). A lesson plan was developed in which students worked on speaking skill. There were some exercises where students had to write and read. This lesson plan was designed according to the theory of backward design. It consists on focusing teaching and learning process on making students transfer knowledge. During the time worked with the students, they were taught about the use of a rubric. It is important to denote that due to the students’ level, the guidance was in L1. In addition, the teacher prepared an introductory class to make students know and understand the importance of applying self-assessment to improve speaking skill. Also, the students had to complete a self-assessment checklist in L1 per week to check their progress and know what they needed to improve while they trained speaking skill. In the first week, the teacher presented the final activity of the innovation to make learners be acquainted with it. This activity consisted of watching a recorded video made by the teacher as sample. This video had to be done by students at the end of the innovation. Then, the teacher presented a rubric to students to facilitate their process of acquiring knowledge. Still, students were doing some exercises on their own in regards to practicing the subskills of the rubric, those ones are related to vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation. Along the second and third week, the teacher and students worked together through games. Students were improving their oral production by online readings in regards to the unit. They also read and write sentences that were made in class according to their level. Furthermore, they sent audios via WhatsApp to the teacher, as well as, they made a pre- performance that consisted on introducing their family using slides. Finally, students recorded their last- performance, the one that was presented at the beginning of the innovation. This presentation would be better than the previous one during the last week. They made use of Flipgrid, it is a platform where the students can record videos or their voices. Also, it allows students to leave a comment in any video of any classmate. Thus, the class developed group work to encourage students to speak. They were put into groups randomly, and watched any video of the students, so they could give their opinions about other classmates’ videos.