Evolving students' beliefs about peer-evaluation

Present trends in education emphasize the importance of student participation in all parts of their assessment processes (Spiller, 2012). However, literature states problems in the implementation of peer-evaluation and have indicated that little is known about students’ thinking of this type of assessment (Hanrahan & Isaacs, 2010). Although, literature has argued for developing teachers and student assessment literacy in higher education (Price, Rust, O’Donovan, Handley & Bryant, 2012), changes seem difficult to achieve. The present qualitative study was carried out in a public university in the Northwestern part of Mexico in a Bachelor of Arts in English Language Teaching. The focus was to identify the perceptions about peer-evaluation of students of this program at two different points in time. The study also researched whether these perceptions were maintained or changed after four semesters of instruction in relation to Liu and Carless’ (2006) possible reasons of resistance for peer-feedback and peer-assessment. These reasons regarded the issues of reliability, perceived expertise, power relations and grading by peers. Interesting insights emerged from the comparison. Students’ perceptions about peer-evaluation evolved into a more positive view. In regards to the issues of resistance, students think that reliability and perceived expertise could be problematic and that they depended on students characteristics. It was up to the teacher to judge student maturity and responsibility. Against literature and expectations, grading by peers was not perceived as important as reliability and perceived expertise for resistance. Results suggest that these students view peer-evaluation as a complex but necessary process which is also a part of life. Students offered various suggestions for teachers to make peer-evaluation more efficient such as monitoring students during the process and developing teacher and student assessment literacy as Price, et al. (2012) suggest.