The Use of Peer Assessment as an Inclusive Learning Strategy in Higher Education Institutions: Enhancing Student Writing Skills and Motivation

Introduction

The current chapter will examine the use of peer assessment (PA) as an inclusive assessment method that promotes undergraduate students’ (pre-service teachers’) writing performance and willingness to write and learn in Higher Education Institutions (HEI). Inclusive assessment refers to an approach to assessment in terms of which individual learners’ needs, differences and tastes are taken into consideration, as far as possible, to ensure that all students have an opportunity to succeed focusing on their strengths rather than stressing their weaknesses with the aim of unraveling areas for improvement and supporting them throughout this process. As lecturers welcome extremely diverse cohorts nowadays, inclusive assessment does not necessarily refer to students with special educational needs or disabled learners. HEI are increasingly concerned about adopting inclusive teaching and assessment practices to cater for the needs of multilingual and multicultural students who should work together and succeed first in their academic contexts and later in an increasingly complex workplace which has high expectations from individuals who wish to find career-enhancing positions and succeed in their professional lives.

Assessment as learning (AaL) puts students at the centre of learning and is considered a powerful alternative assessment approach that can maximize student learning (Lee et al., 2019). PA, also referred to as peer evaluation, peer feedback or peer review, is an alternative assessment as learning method which enables learners to engage in fruitful conversations about their learning process and academic performance ensuring that they take responsibility for their own learning by relying on themselves and their peers rather than their lecturer. It is also defined as “a communication process through which learners enter into dialogues related to performance and standards” (Liu & Carless, 2006, p. 280). As HEI increasingly stress autonomous and collaborative learning (Voogt et al., 2013), lecturers tend to use more collaborative activities that actively engage students in learning to write (Yang et al., 2021). The impact of constructivism has also initiated a change in how assessment is viewed by researchers and practitioners who currently regard it as an integral part of learning as they try to engage learners in both learning and assessment activities (Sluijsmans et al., 2003). When participating in PA, students can socially construct knowledge through the exchange of peer feedback which allows learners to detect problems with their writing skills and urges them to take action to rectify their errors and resolve their cognitive conflict (Zhao, 2018). In terms of teacher professional development, research indicates that PA can promote their professional advancement (Al-Barakat & Al-Hassan, 2009) and develop their teaching, learning and assessment skills (Sluijsmans et al., 2004).

The current study will explore the impact of PA on undergraduate students’ writing performance and motivation towards learning to unravel the benefits and challenges of this alternative assessment method and provide an insight into students’ viewpoints regarding the implementation of PA in HEI classrooms with the aim of enhancing student academic achievement and willingness to engage in academic writing. In terms of this chapter, the relevant literature on PA in HEI will be explored to provide the background of the study. Then, the methodology of the study will be presented in detail to help readers understand how this innovative assessment as learning approach can be implemented in undergraduate education. The findings of the study will be examined and then discussed to stress the advantages and disadvantages of using this promising method with undergraduate students. Implications and recommendations will be analyzed and then limitations and suggestions for further research are going to be considered to conclude this chapter.