Peer- and self-assessment in collaborative online language-learning tasks: the role of modes and phases of regulation of learning

This study examined how peer assessment and self-assessment influence higher education students’ use of three modes of regulation of learning (self-regulation, co-regulation, and socially shared regulation) in an online collaborative task during the COVID-19 epidemic. Twenty-one first-year undergraduate students were assigned to one of three assessment conditions: self-assessment, written peer assessment, or oral peer assessment. Interview data was coded into 709 meaningful segments using content analysis and a deductive coding matrix. Segments were then investigated both qualitatively and using Chi 2 quantitative analyses to explore five research questions. Results suggest (a) significant emotional difficulty was associated with peer assessment, both written and oral; (b) although negative affect was associated with the online learning context, this was mitigated in part by the self-assessment condition; (c) self-regulatory processes were more prevalent in the self-assessment condition than in the synchronous (oral) peer-assessment condition; (d) peer assessment was not associated with higher levels of socially shared regulation than self-assessment; (e) socially shared regulatory processes were not more prevalent when peer assessment was provided orally rather than in writing; and (f) modes of regulation were not equally distributed across the cyclical phases of regulation, with socially shared regulation being the predominant mode in the forethought phase and self-regulation in the reflection phase. Findings provide insight into students’ affective experience of self- and peer assessment. They also shed light on the association of modes of regulation with self- and peer-assessment activities and raise new questions about emotional context and variations in modes of regulation throughout the cyclical phases model of self-regulation.