ENGLISH FRANCA Academic Journal of English Language and Education https://doi.org/10.29240/ef.v8i2.11009 - http://journal.iaincurup.ac.id/index.php/english/index pISSN: 2580-3670, eISSN:2580-3689; Vol. 8, No. 2, 2024, Page 255-268 Article info: http://journal.iaincurup.ac.id/index.php/english Received 24 April 2024; Received in revised form 10 July 2024; Accepted 24 August 2024, Available Online 24 November 2024 Published by Institut Agama Islam Negeri (IAIN) Curup on behalf of ENGLISH FRANCA: Academic Journal of English Language and Education. This is an open-access article under the CC BY-SA license Copyright (c) 2024 Author Self-Assessment in EFL Writing Class: Students’ Practices Winny Agustia Riznanda Universitas Islam Negeri Raden Fatah Palembang, Indonesia Corresponding Email: winnyagustiariznanda_uin@radenfatah.ac.id. To cite this article: Riznanda, W. A. (2024). Self-Assessment in EFL Writing Class: Students’ Practices. ENGLISH FRANCA: Academic Journal of English Language and Education, 8(2). https://doi.org/10.29240/ef.v8i2.11009 Introduction In higher education, writing is undeniably an indispensable skill to pursue. Graham (2018) argued that writing is beneficial since the skill enables students to discover new concepts, convince people, document information, build fictional worlds, convey emotions, amuse others, mend psychological damages, document undergoes, and weigh the significance of events and circumstances. In the academic setting, Al Khazraji (2019) proposed that teaching is aimed at facilitating students to become better writers. Furthermore, Rahmawati et al. (2019) argued that undergraduate students need to be proficient in writing since they need to produce academic essays, papers, and other scientific publications. Writing essays in a university setting provides an opportunity for students to think critically and logically while supporting their arguments with relevant facts or information. Writing an essay allows students to develop skills needed for a successful career after graduation, for essays provide an opportunity to show the students’ subject-matter knowledge and comprehension (West et al., 2019). In addition, essay writing is beneficial since it assists not only in daily communication but also in getting good marks and becoming a professional (Okpe & Onjewu, 2019). Even though essays are substantial, writing them is regarded as challenging. A study conducted by Bulqiyah et al. (2021) revealed three problems in essay writing, they are: (1) affective issues, which result from the attitudes of students and lecturers of the writing course, Abstract. Self-assessment has evolved into a tool for achieving learner-centered education's objectives, which include assisting students in becoming self-sufficient academics. Regarding this idea, self-assessment was employed in a writing class in a tertiary institution in South Sumatera, Indonesia. Therefore, this study is aimed to ascertain: (1) how the students utilize the self- assessment checklist when they are editing their writings; and (2) how the students perceive about the way in which self-assessment is implemented in their essay writing class. Thus, mixed-method research, typically the explanatory sequential design was applied. For the quantitative data, 30 tertiary-level students who wrote 120 cause/effect and argumentative essays were chosen by applying purposeful sampling technique. For the qualitative data, 9 students were selected by applying the simple random sampling technique to find out their how they perceive the implementation of self-assessment in their writing class. The quantitative analysis revealed a total of 362 revisions made by the students, namely: 42.82% (155) phrase-level revision, 21.27 % (77) surface-level revision, 19.61 % (71) content-level revision, 15.19 % (55) lexical-level revision, and 1.11% (4) structural-level revision was found. In addition, based on the qualitative data, the students believed that self-assessment in essay writing provides the following advantages, such as: facilitates learning, promotes reflection, provides immediate feedback, promotes ownership, sharpen critical thinking skills, and enhances self-regulation. Keywords: Practices, Self-Assessment, Writing https://doi.org/10.29240/ef.v8i2.11009 https://portal.issn.org/resource/ISSN/2580-3670 https://portal.issn.org/resource/ISSN/2580-3670 http://journal.iaincurup.ac.id/index.php/english mailto:winnyagustiariznanda_uin@radenfatah.ac.id. https://doi.org/10.29240/ef.v8i2.11009 Winny Agustia Riznanda Self-Assessment in EFL Writing Class: Students’ Practices 256 | V o l . 8 , N o . 2 , 2 0 2 4 ( 2 5 5 - 2 6 8 ) (2) cognitive issues, namely difficulties with the viewpoint of writing, language transfer, and the writing process, and (3) linguistics issues, which includes difficulties in lexical and grammatical, vocabulary, and essay structure. Moreover, a study conducted by Ariyanti and Fitriana (2017) found five problems, they are organization of paragraphs, dictions, misspellings, time limitation, and class size. Concerning the issue, a preliminary study was conducted by observing the students of the Essay Writing class of a tertiary institution in South Sumatera, Indonesia. Based on the observation, the students can be categorized to have medium to high level of grammar and vocabulary mastery. Furthermore, the students tend to have good interest in writing class. However, the students depend on the lecturer’s feedbacks and commentaries on their essays as a source of information available to them in improving their essay writing skill. Nonetheless, it seemed that the students took up some tips from these criticisms on how to make their writing better. In addition, the students modify their essays as an attempt to improve their grade. This indicated that learner-centered learning is not well-promoted in this writing class. Therefore, it is necessary to provide an opportunity for the students to acquire knowledge independently. It is generally acknowledged that providing learners autonomy during the process may improve language learning outcomes. According to Holec cited in Yildiz and Yucedal (2020), learner autonomy is described as learner control since it empowers learners to take ownership of their learning. In addition, learner autonomy is proposed to enhance the quality of language acquisition, advance democratic societies, equip students for lifelong learning, and enable them to take full advantage of opportunities for learning both in and out of the school (Borg and Al-Busaidi cited in Hermagustiana and Anggriyani, 2019). Thus, it is necessary, especially for writing, to adopt autonomous learning in the process of teaching as well as learning. One of the methods for stipulating autonomous learning is to employ self-assessment in learning a language. According to Andrade (2019), self-assessment is an action of observing students’ processes and outputs to allow adjustments to foster deeper learning and improve performance. In addition, Henning cited in Elgadal (2017) argued that self- assessment serves many functions, such as: determining the proper placement of the learners, diagnosing and providing feedback for the learners, evaluating programs, and assessing attitudes and social and psychological distinctions. Thus, over the last several decades, educators and researchers purposed self-assessment as to tool not only to guide students’ learning but also to build students’ competence upon attaining the ability to learn. In learning writing, besides having a deeper understanding of their writing process, self-assessment provides chances for students to improve their skills. According to Boud cited in Litterio (2018), self-assessment in writing should concentrate on assisting students in becoming more perceptive and critical of their daily learning. Furthermore, Fung and Mei cited in Thongpai and Deerajviset (2019) suggested that students who are aware of the shortcomings in their writing, such as missing or incomplete sections, can utilize a self- assessment checklist to efficiently arrange their writing outlines and support their claims using the evidence they have presented. Some scholars investigated self-assessment in EFL writing classes. First, a study by Mat and Par (2022) in an EFL writing class recommended encouraging self-assessment as a strategy in enhancing students’ writing proficiency. Secondly, Cömert and Kutlu (2018) conducted a study in a state university in Ankara indicating that self-assessment in the writing class is superior compared to other conventional methods of teaching writing. Thirdly, a study conducted by Elgadal (2017) in Libya found that a vast majority of the students showed positive attitudes toward self-assessment implementation. Lastly, research by Rezai et al. (2022) in a senior high school in Iran proved that the students’ content, language, organization, and task requirements are enhanced. Based on the explanation above, the writer is interested in implementing self- assessment in an EFL writing class at a tertiary institution in South Sumatra, Indonesia. Thus, this research aims to find out: (1) how much the students apply the self-assessment checklist Winny Agustia Riznanda Self-Assessment in EFL Writing Class: Students’ Practices 257 | V o l . 8 , N o . 2 , 2 0 2 4 ( 2 5 5 - 2 6 8 ) in revising their essays, and (2) how the students perceive the implementation of self- assessment in the essay writing class. Theoretical Framework Essay Writing An essay is a composition of written work that focuses on a single topic, is divided into multiple paragraphs, begins with an introduction, and ends with a conclusion (Oshima & Hogue cited in Bulqiyah et al., 2021). Furthermore, an essay has three basic components, they are: (1) an introductory paragraph which consists of general statements that hook the reader, and a thesis statement that utters the essays’ topic of the essay specifically, (2) body paragraphs which the development of the essay’s subtopics, and (3) a concluding paragraph which consists of a summary of the key ideas of the essay and closing remarks. In essay writing class, cause/effect and argumentative essays are two types of essays taught to the students. According to Oshima and Hogue cited in Sari (2018), writing a cause/effect essay involves discussing the causes or reasons of something, the effects or results, or both. Thus, an essay on causes and effects focuses on the reasons behind events as well as their effects (Robitaille and Connelly, cited in Aini et al., 2022). Furthermore, an excellent argumentative essay should include a clear claim that is backed up by logic, evidence, and argumentation. It should also acknowledge counterarguments to the initial assertion and integrate them in a way that could help the reader decide on the matter (Noroozi et al. cited in Latifi et al., 2019). Self-Assessment Educators believe that learners need to be actively involved in their process of learning and take charge of their learning. Correspondingly, LeBlanc and Paschalud cited in Elgadal (2017) argued that learners should actively participate in the learning cycle, which includes taking part in assessments because these are seen as fundamental to the process of education. Similarly, Boud cited in Cömert and Kutlu (2018) argued that self-assessment is when students actively participate in the learning process by helping to develop the criteria that will be applied to evaluate the outcomes or by deciding whether the outcomes adhere to those criteria following receiving comprehensive information about them. In self-assessment, there are at least three guiding concepts or procedures of its implementation as proposed by Andrade and Valtcheva cited in Jamrus and Razali (2019), they are: (1) articulating expectations, (2) self-assessing, (3) revising. The initial phase involves a teacher outlining each of the criteria that will be included when conducting self- assessment in addition to specifically defining expectations for the assignment at hand. For instance, in the context of teaching writing, a teacher may define or discuss with the students the criteria before performing each activity. With this, students and teachers can agree on the standards for evaluating the performance of a task as well as what constitutes work of superior quality. For the following phase, the students create preliminary drafts of the assigned work, such as an essay, and continuously assess their performance on their assignments by comparing it to the stated expectations. If the students discover that they have fallen short of their mark, they may jot down a few quick thoughts to remind themselves of what to revise for the final compositions. In the final phase, students revise their work with the help of the feedback. As a result, the students complete a final self-evaluation that they can compare to the teacher's and their peers'. It is also advised that the teacher create a list of typical errors that students make. This list can serve as an additional self-editing checklist that students can use to ensure that their work is edited correctly. For self-assessment to be conducted efficiently, several factors must be taken into account when developing the instruments. Andrade cited in Jamrus and Razali (2019) proposed the following eight characteristics of self-assessment: 1) Understanding the importance of self-evaluation; 2) Having access to precise assessment standards; 3) A particular assignment or achievement to evaluate; 4) Self-assessment models; 5) Direct teaching and support in self-assessment; 6) Practice; 7) Indications of when it is suitable to Winny Agustia Riznanda Self-Assessment in EFL Writing Class: Students’ Practices 258 | V o l . 8 , N o . 2 , 2 0 2 4 ( 2 5 5 - 2 6 8 ) conduct a self-assessment; and 8) Possibilities in modifying as well as enhancing the assignment or achievement. When it comes to construction, self-assessment is usually focused on certain projects wherein a set of criteria are presented in an understandable manner as well as models or samples that are provided to help the students understand how every standard relates towards the work. Furthermore, teachers must structure the work so that students may quickly evaluate their performance once they have finished it. In addition, experts recommend utilizing a rubric in determining the criteria for evaluation since a properly designed rubric explains what types of errors the students typically make and how exceptional work is produced. Consequently, instead of having to hazard a guess as to the learning objectives along with the way to accomplish them, the students acquire important details regarding what will be demanded of them from their work. Students would find it easier to identify and become familiar with the process of self-assessment if they were given models of self-assessment as well as an assessable task and clear criteria. This could assist them in comprehending how assessments work because they would be able to see how the criteria are applied and completed in real-world scenarios. In addition to the assignment, standards, and models, the teacher's involvement in carrying out the self-assessment is also essential (Jamrus and Razali, 2019). The teacher must first raise the students’ understanding of the beneficial effects of employing self- assessment prior to attempting to explain to them the standard requirements of the self- assessment. If not, the students may view self-assessment as an extraneous activity. Students can only truly understand and want to self-evaluate if they start to recognize its benefits, especially in terms of facilitating learning. To make sure students comprehend the criteria and are accurately evaluating themselves against those provided, the teacher additionally serves a crucial part in helping as well as leading the students throughout the implementation of self- assessment. Lastly, the teacher should provide ample opportunity for students to practice self- evaluation in addition to further chances for them to edit and enhance the work that they have already finished and self-assessed. Permitting students to do so helps them learn how to evaluate themselves more properly and, as a result, helps them identify those areas in which they need to enhance the accuracy and quality of their projects. Oscarson cited in Belachew et al. (2015) proposed five advantages of self-assessment for students, as follows: 1. Facilitates learning Self-assessment teaches students how to evaluate themselves, which is a valuable skill in and of itself for learning 2. Increases awareness Self-assessment training encourages students to think more critically than they often do about the principles of assessment and the content of the course. Thus, applying the concepts of self-assessment helps learners develop critical evaluative attitudes. 3. Enhances orientation toward goals Self-assessment contributes to broaden learners' awareness of the range of potential objectives in the majority of language learning contexts. Therefore, learners will be better equipped to take charge of their own learning environment because they will have a greater awareness of and understanding of the diversity of language learning objectives. 4. Expanses of the assessment scope For obvious reasons, the learner's assessment of his own language proficiency is sometimes higher than that of an external assessor, particularly in areas of affective learning (which deal, among other things, with attitudes toward the language). Therefore, it is expected that learner involvement will lead to broader views in the evaluation of obtained communication ability. 5. Positive outcomes after the course One of the most essential goals of teaching foreign languages to pupils is teaching them how to continue learning the language on their own after the sessions. The Winny Agustia Riznanda Self-Assessment in EFL Writing Class: Students’ Practices 259 | V o l . 8 , N o . 2 , 2 0 2 4 ( 2 5 5 - 2 6 8 ) capacity to monitor and evaluate the progress that is being made is an essential component of this skill. Material and Method Research Design This study utilized a mixed-method design. According to Creswell and Creswell (2018), mixed-method research entails collecting data in both forms of data, quantitative and qualitative, merging the two kinds of data, and using innovative designs that may include theoretical frameworks as well as philosophical presumptions. The key principle of this kind of research is that integrating both qualitative as well as quantitative findings yields novel perspectives in addition to the given information. Thus, throughout a prolonged amount of period, a range of methodologies for gathering data will be utilized to obtain comprehensive information. In addition, one of the mixed methods research types, explanatory sequential design, was applied for this study. Explanatory sequential design involves a two-phased data collection project where the researcher acquires quantitative data in the first phase, analyzes the results of the first data, and uses the results to plan the qualitative data (Creswell and Creswell, 2018). First, the researcher investigated the quantitative data which is the students’ revision of both their Cause/Effect and Argumentative Essay. Then, the researcher investigated the qualitative data which is the students’ perceptions of the implementation of self-assessment in the Essay Writing Class. Population, Sample, and Participants This study’s population were all the third-semester students of the English Education Study Program who were taking the Essay Writing course with a total of 110 students. Furthermore, to decide the sample, purposeful sampling was applied. Purposeful sampling involves the researcher selecting only those individuals who, in their judgment, fulfill the goals of the study (Obilor, 2023). Thus, a total of 30 students from Class A was chosen since they: (1) have been pre-trained on the criteria and standard of self-assessment from the previous essay tasks (Five Paragraph and Process essay), and (2) have been familiarized with applying the self-assessment checklist from the previous essay tasks. Thus, during the research, the researcher collected essays before the application of the self-assessment checklist (Cause/Effect essay 1 and Argumentative essay 1), distributed the self-assessment checklist to the students, and collected essays later to the application of the self-assessment checklist (Cause/Effect essay 2 and Argumentative essay 2). In addition, for the qualitative data, simple random sampling was applied. This sampling facilitates the generalization of the population and assures that each member has the same opportunity to be selected (Obilor, 2023). Out of 30 students of Class A, 9 students were randomly selected to be interviewed on how they perceive the implementation of self- assessment in their Essay Writing course. Data Collection For the qualitative data, the students’ writing tasks of Cause/Effect and Argumentative essays were obtained. The students were tasked to write Cause/Effect and Argumentative essays by choosing one of the topics provided. For each type of essay, the students need to write at least 5 paragraphs, which consist of 1 introductory paragraph (general statements and thesis statement), 3 body paragraphs, and 1 concluding paragraph (summary of the important points and final comments). After completing each of the Cause/Effect and Argumentative essays, the self-assessment checklists were distributed to the students. Then, the students submit the revised version of their Cause/Effect and Argumentative essays. For the quantitative data, semi-structured interviews were used. Megaldi and Berler (2020) asserted that semi-structured interviews allow researchers to delve deeply for discoveries and are usually guided by a predetermined topic and focus on a single issue that offers a broad pattern. Thus, 25 interview items on the advantages of self-assessment in Winny Agustia Riznanda Self-Assessment in EFL Writing Class: Students’ Practices 260 | V o l . 8 , N o . 2 , 2 0 2 4 ( 2 5 5 - 2 6 8 ) writing proposed by Oscarson cited in Belachew et al. (2015) such as: facilitating learning, increasing awareness, enhancing orientation toward goals, expanding the scope of assessment, and positive outcomes after the course, were applied. Data Analysis For the quantitative data analysis, to examine how much the students employ the self- assessment checklist to revise their essays, the researcher applied the following steps: (1) summarize each of the students’ revisions, (2) identify all revisions or changes students made on their final draft, (3) categorize the patterns of changes students made by using Coding Scheme for Revision proposed by Sze in Purwanti (2015), (4) summarize the changes found the students’ final draft, and (5) analyze the patterns of revisions. For the qualitative data analysis, to find out how the students perceive the implementation of self-assessment, interviews with 9 students on the advantages of the implementation of self-assessment in Essay Writing were analyzed by using thematic analysis. Thematic Analysis is a technique for identifying, analyzing, and interpreting meaning patterns, or themes, in qualitative data (Clarke and Braun, 2017). Furthermore, Kiger and Varpio (2020) proposed six steps in administering Thematic Analysis, such as (1) data familiarization, (2) generating initial codes, (3) searching for themes, (4) reviewing the themes, (5) defining and naming the themes, and (5) producing the report. In addition, to determine the accuracy of the qualitative data, member checking was applied. Member checking requires the researcher to return copies of the interview transcription to the participants to make sure that the participants believe that they are accurate (Creswell & Creswell, 2018). Results and Discussion The result of the Quantitative Data The Cause/Effect and Argumentative essays were analyzed in terms of revisions that the students made. After comparing the first and the second drafts, the revisions were calculated, as distributed in the following table: Table 1. Frequency and Percentage of Revisions on Cause/Effect and Argumentative Essays No. Types of Revision Frequency Percentage 1. Surface changes (Mechanics) 77 21.27% 2. Lexical Changes 55 15.19% 3. Phrasing Changes 159 43.93% 4. Structural Changes 0 0% 5. Content Changes 71 19.61% Total 362 100% Based on the above data, the students made the biggest revisions in phrase level. The following table 2 and 3 provide examples of the revision at the phrase level, in both syntactical and structural change: Table 2. Example of Revision on Phrasing (Syntactical Change) Student 1 (Argumentative Essay) First draft The government needs to take quick action to solve these problems Revision The government needs to take quick action to solve these problems Student 1 performed syntactical revision by adding and removing some words to avoid awkward construction. The revised version showed that the student was able to construct a more effective sentence without changing its meaning. Winny Agustia Riznanda Self-Assessment in EFL Writing Class: Students’ Practices 261 | V o l . 8 , N o . 2 , 2 0 2 4 ( 2 5 5 - 2 6 8 ) Table 3. Example of Revision on Phrasing (Structural Change) Student 7 (Cause/Effect Essay) First draft When the economy slowed down, consumer spending decreased significantly. Revision Consumer spending decreased significantly as the economy slowed down. Student 7 revised the terms of the structure of the sentence to improve the coherence while maintaining the essential meaning of the sentence. In addition, the second most common revision that the students made was the Surface level. The revisions are in terms of pluralization, as presented in the following table 4: Table 4. Example of Revision on Surface Level (pluralization) Student 3 (Argumentative Essay) First draft The company is required to improve its policy on employee benefits Revision The company is required to improve its policy on employee’ benefits Student 3 made a change to correct the pluralization to ensure grammatical accuracy. Furthermore, the students made revision on substitution, as presented in the following table 5: Table 5. Example of Revision on Surface Level (substitution) Student 9 (Cause/Effect Essay) First draft The lack of sleep affects students’ academic performance Revision The lack of sleep impacts students’ academic performance Student 9 substituted the word ‘affects’ with ‘impacts’ to provide a more appropriate term while maintaining its original concepts. Furthermore, the students made revisions to the Content level by adding new material, as distributed in the following Table 6: Table 6. Example of Revision on Content Level (Addition of New Material) Student 11 (Argumentative Essay) First draft The educational system needs to be reformed to tackle the diverse needs of students Revision The educational system needs to be reformed to tackle the diverse needs of students which includes providing more support for special education, enhancing more advanced educational technology in the classroom, and offering a wider range of extracurricular activities to promote more comprehensive development. Student 11 added more information to provide additional context, evidence, or elaboration in order to strengthen the argument. Moreover, the students made lexical change which includes stylistic substitution, as presented in the following table 7: Table 7. Example of Revision on Lexical Level (stylistic substitution) Winny Agustia Riznanda Self-Assessment in EFL Writing Class: Students’ Practices 262 | V o l . 8 , N o . 2 , 2 0 2 4 ( 2 5 5 - 2 6 8 ) Student 6 (Argumentative Essay) First draft The ecosystem is suffering due to pollution. Revision The ecosystem is suffering due to pollution. Student 6 replaced the word ‘clear’ with ‘evident’ to provide a formal style of writing. The students made revision by adding and reducing a single word, as presented in the following table 8: Table 8. Example of Revision on Lexical Level (Adding and Reducing a Single Word) Student 4 (Cause/Effect Essay) First draft The rise in technology use has changed how we communicate. Revision The rapid rise in technology use has changed how we communicate. Student 2 (Cause/Effect Essay) First draft The hurricane had a devastating effect on the local community Revision The hurricane had a devastating effect on the community Student 4 and 2 add and remove a single word to clarify their sentences. And last, in this study, structural-level revision is not found. This indicates that the students felt that did not find any mistakes in their paragraphs' structure or composition. Thus, it can be concluded that the students believed that they had no issues with structuring and composing their paragraphs. The result of the Qualitative Data Based on the results of the interview, there are some advantages of self-assessment perceived by the students in their writing class. The following themes and codes are obtained from the qualitative data analysis by using thematic analysis, as listed in the following table 9: Table 9. The result of the qualitative data Themes Codes 1. Facilitates learning The students expressed that by applying self-assessment, they were able to recognize the strong and weak points of their essays; thus, allowing them to improve their skills in producing essays with better qualities. 2. Promotes reflection The students confirmed that self- assessment enables them to understand their own abilities and shortcomings. 3. Provides immediate feedback The students perceived that self- assessment enabled them to make corrections and improvements promptly since it provides clear instructions of the points or components they need to achieve in their essays. 4. Promotes ownership The students argued that by being more aware of their own strengths and weaknesses, they can take further targets of improvement Winny Agustia Riznanda Self-Assessment in EFL Writing Class: Students’ Practices 263 | V o l . 8 , N o . 2 , 2 0 2 4 ( 2 5 5 - 2 6 8 ) 5. Sharpen critical thinking skills The students believed that they learn to analyze and evaluate critically of their essays 6. Enhances self-regulation The students said that self-assessment help them develops skills necessary in goal setting, progress monitoring, and action taking. Based on the interviews, it is assumed that self-assessment facilitates the students’ learning. Self-assessment allowed the students to identify areas for improvement, and then decide on further steps to enhance their learning outcomes, as stated by student ADP; “By using the self-assessment checklist, I was able to found out the plusses and minuses of my own essays. The checklist allows me to find out which part that I should consider fixing. I was able to criticize my essays since the checklist clearly shows what components I need to provide in my essays. then, I can decide what to do to fix the minuses of my essays. Well, I can say that my essay-writing skills improved a lot. And, most importantly, I believe that I learn a lot of things about essays, some detailed information on the elements that I need to provide in my essays. ” Secondly, self-assessment is assumed to promote reflection in essay writing. This is due to the critical and thoughtful review conducted by the students on their essays, as stated by student S: “I have to consider a lot of aspects in my essays when I revise it with the checklist. I have to be very critical of the essay that I compose. Then, I eventually decide whether my essay meets the criteria as shown in the checklist.” Similarly, allowing students to find out their strengths and weaknesses enables them to gain insights on how to improve their essays, as stated by student URD: “The checklist helps me with the information on the plusses and minuses of my essays. After knowing my minuses, I try to find a way to improve it, by consulting my lecturer and classmates.” Thirdly, the students perceived that self-assessment provides rapid feedback on their essays. This is because the self-assessment checklist allows them to analyze and evaluate their work instantly, as soon as they complete it, as stated by student BN: “As soon as I finished my essay, I was told to check the self-assessment checklist provided. The checklist enabled me to identify and correct mistakes directly after I complete my essay Then, I feel like I can directly work on the problems or issues on the essay that I have just finished.” In addition, the self-assessment checklist provides clear instructions on what the learners need to achieve in their essays, typically the components that they need to fulfill to improve their essays. As stated by student S: “The checklist has the elements that I need to include in my essays. For instance, in an argumentative essay, I need to provide at least 3 rebuttals to refute the opponents’ ideas. Therefore, I always try to fulfill the criteria of the essays based on the instructions on the checklist.” Fourthly, self-assessment promotes ownership of their learning. When the students evaluate their essays, it is assumed that this activity fosters the students’ ownership since it allows them to be responsible and take control over their learning, as stated by student BN: “The checklist instruction is somehow responsibility. I mean, it is a kind of criterion that I have to achieve in my essays. moreover, I have to be responsible for fixing my essays, based on the checklist, nobody else can.” Similarly, student SPL said: “By finding out the minuses in my essays, I have to find my ways to fix those minuses. I have to actively find the best solutions to my problems in the essay.” Furthermore, it is assumed that self-assessment in essay writing class promotes the students’ critical thinking skills. This is due to analyzing and evaluative judgment of the student’s work. As stated by student AEA: “The checklist makes me consider how well my essays meet the criteria provided in the checklist. I have to thoughtfully and critically analyze and evaluate my essay.” Likewise, student AC said: “I have to be very critical of my essay to fulfill the requirements and descriptions provided in the checklist” Winny Agustia Riznanda Self-Assessment in EFL Writing Class: Students’ Practices 264 | V o l . 8 , N o . 2 , 2 0 2 4 ( 2 5 5 - 2 6 8 ) And last, it is believed that self-assessment fosters self-regulation. To embark on, self- assessment helps students determine the goals that they have to achieve, as said by student AM: “The checklist clearly defines the goals of what essay that I have to write well. Then, this helps me focus on the goals and move forward to reach the goals.” Furthermore, the students assumed that self-assessment helps with progress monitoring, as stated by student TMA: “I can do the monitoring by myself since I can regularly evaluate how far I have come and learn what I need to improve.” Moreover, self-assessment authorizes the students to take action that they need to improve their essays, as said by student AEA: “Certainly, after knowing the weakness of my essays, I try to improve it by classifying what I need to improve and find the right strategy for eliminate the weaknesses.” Discussion Based on the analysis of the students’ revisions, a structural level of revision is not found. It is assumed that the students felt that they did not need to provide revision at structural level since the outlines of the students’ essays had been reviewed through class discussion activity before the application of the self-assessment checklist. During the outlining, the students arrange their thoughts into a framework that will be used to compose a written product, which in this case, an essay. In other words, creating an outline can help writers convey their thoughts clearly, provide an overview of the text's overall themes, see and work on the essential components of an essay (Albright and Langan, 2023). During the outlining in the class, the students are allowed to discuss what they think of their essay outlines. Based on the results of the interviews, some advantages were revealed. Firstly, it is perceived that self-assessment facilitates learning. This is due to the assumption that the self- assessment checklist enables the learners to learn further about their work by finding out whether they have fulfilled the components of their essays. In addition, this evaluative skill that the students acquired enabled them to take more actions necessary to fix their weaknesses. Similarly, Ndoye cited in Dorji (2022) argued that self-assessment contributed to learning through effective feedback provided through the utilization of self-assessment checklist. Secondly, it is perceived that self-assessment promotes reflection in essay writing. This is due to the assumption that self-assessment in essay writing necessitates students to conduct a careful and critical analysis of their own work. During the self-assessment implementation, the students are tasked to analyze their own essays by considering multiple aspects of writing and outputs. Thus, the students are urged in considering the decisions they take for their writing, the strategies they employed, and the rationale behind those decisions through this self-evaluation process. According to Krystalli and Arvanitis cited in Gupta and Dzabelova (2021), students have greater autonomy, are forced to consider their own learning, are able to evaluate their own development, and eventually grow into more responsible learners when they are given the chance to reflect on their own performance. Thirdly, it is arguable that self-assessment provides immediate feedback. In self- assessment, the students do not need to wait for teacher’s review of their work. Instead, self- assessment facilitates the students to immediately review their own work after they completed their essay. Thus, the students can deal with the issues with their essays while the essays are very recent in their minds. Krystalli and Arvanitis cited in Supian et al. (2024) suggested self- assessment checklist allows instant response system since learners can immediately judge their compositions if the checklist is clear and well-constructed. Fourthly, self-assessment promotes students’ ownership of their own learning. This is due to the assumption that by evaluating their own works, students take ownership of their own learning. The students who are asked to evaluate themselves tend to be actively participating in the evaluation process. Students who actively participate in the evaluation process feel more invested and have a stronger sense of ownership over their writing. In addition, students who are aware of points at which they need to enhance and increase their writing are more likely to take action for advancements, which can result in a better sense of responsibility for their learning. Lakin cited in Marhaeni et al. (2019) argued that ownership of Winny Agustia Riznanda Self-Assessment in EFL Writing Class: Students’ Practices 265 | V o l . 8 , N o . 2 , 2 0 2 4 ( 2 5 5 - 2 6 8 ) learning is a crucial component in education since it fosters students’ independence, thus enabling them to reflect on what they have learned. Therefore, students who take ownership of their learning can recognize what they need to learn. Knowing what they need to learn will enable them to identify the most effective way to meet their requirements and accomplish their learning objectives. Fifthly, self-assessment in essay writing is assumed to improve the student’s critical thinking skills. When students study and evaluate their writing objectively and thoughtfully, self-assessment in essay writing fosters critical thinking abilities. Students are asked to evaluate their writings based on several criteria, including the coherence and clarity of their ideas, the use of examples and evidence, and the overall organization and structure of their essays. By asking the students to evaluate the positive and negative aspects of their writings, the effectiveness of their illustrations and supporting evidence, and the consistency and clarity of their ideas, this self-assessment procedure helps learners to think critically regarding their writing. Additionally, it encourages students to reflect critically on their writing considering these standards by getting them to evaluate how well their essays fulfill the requirements and goals specified for the assignment. Research conducted by Jamrus and Razali (2019) revealed that self-assessment sharpens the student’s critical thinking skills since the students evaluate their work and take responsibility for making the necessary corrections, which will hone their critical thinking abilities to spot mistakes and offer constructive criticism. Furthermore, a study conducted by Bucher (2019) suggested self-assessment as one of the class assignments to improve critical thinking skills. And last, it is assumed that self-assessment fosters self-regulation. Students who self- assess their writing are encouraged to create goals for themselves, such as organizing their writing more effectively or making their arguments clearer. Students can have the opportunity to focus their efforts and track their development over time by creating clear, attainable goals. Furthermore, students who engage in self-assessment must keep track of their goals by periodically reviewing their writing and noting any areas that require development. This continuous monitoring aids students in staying on the right track and modifying their writing techniques as necessary. Eventually, through the identification of particular areas for improvement and the implementation of techniques to address those areas, self-assessment encourages students to take the initiative toward improving their writing. Students who actively participate in the process of improvement feel more in charge of their writing and have a stronger sense of agency. Similarly, a study conducted by Fathi et al. (2019) proved that self- assessment contributes to enhancing self-regulation in the writing of EFL learners in Iran since they have the knowledge and control to evaluate their work. Conclusion This study revealed some conclusions. The quantitative analysis revealed a total of 362 revisions made by the students, namely: 43.93 % (159) phrase-level revision, 21.27 % (77) surface-level revision, 19.61 % (71) content-level revision, 15.19 % (55) lexical-level revision, and no revision in terms of structural-level was found. In addition, based on the qualitative data analysis, it was found that self-assessment in writing provides the following advantages, as perceived by the students, namely: identification of learners’ capabilities, promoting reflection, providing immediate feedback, promoting ownership, sharpening critical thinking skills, and enhancing self-regulation. However, this study is limited due to some reasons. Firstly, this study only focuses on tertiary-level students’ Cause/Effect and Argumentative Essay writing revisions and perceptions. Therefore, further research is needed to find out how it is implemented in other types of essays, such as Process Essay, Comparison and Contrast Essay, and others. 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