Sessions

Perceptions of peer assessments of oral presentations

As more and more EFL programs incorporate oral presentations into their curriculum, the time-consuming nature of presentations where one student presents while the rest of the class listens has necessitated experimentation with alternative formats in presentation procedures and assessment. Peer assessment is one way to help offset this downtime. As well as providing more formative feedback to the students, it is beneficial in focusing attention on those skills needed for making a presentation successful. This presentation will present the findings of a study examining the perceptions of Japanese university EFL students towards peer assessment of oral presentations. Quantitative data was obtained through the use of a survey adapted from Fazel (2015) administered two times to the same set of students; after one semester of instruction (n=19) and at the conclusion of the second semester (n=17). Additional qualitative data will be analyzed in the form of written comments provided by the students. Not surprisingly, the results indicate that the increased exposure allowed the students to developed stronger opinions as to the benefits of peer assessment in the oral presentation classroom. The findings will be discussed as well as considerations offered for future research.