The Effectiveness of the Language Evaluation Strategy on Developing Writing Skills and Reflective Thinking of the Upper Stage Students in Jordan.

Prepared By

Akram Saleh. M. Khawaldeh

This study aimed at investigating the effectiveness of the language evaluation strategy (portfolio, peer evaluation and the conventional evaluation method) in developing writing skills and reflective thinking for the upper basic stage students in Jordan. To achieve the aim of the study, the researcher constructed a writing skills criteria list, writing skills test, reflective thinking scale, and the teacher's guide including the instructional content for writing evaluation in accordance with the  portfolio and peer evaluation strategies steps.

The subjects of the study consisted of (112) 10^th basic grade male and female students from two purposefully selected public schools affiliated to Jerash Directorate of Education during the scholastic year 2008/2009. The subjects were randomly distributed to six groups, (36) students in two experimental groups evaluated by portfolio evaluation strategy, (38) in  another two experimental groups evaluated by peer evaluation strategy, and (38) students in two control groups evaluated by the conventional strategy.

The results of the study indicated that there were statistically significant differences at the level (α = 0.05) in developing writing skills due to the language evaluation strategy in favor of the experimental groups evaluated by the portfolio and peer evaluation strategy, and  there were no statistically significant differences at the level ( α= 0.05) in developing writing skills due to the interaction between sex and the  portfolio and peer evaluation strategy. The results also indicated that there were statistically significant differences at the level ( α= 0.05) in developing reflective thinking skills due to the  language evaluation strategy in favor of the experimental groups evaluated by the portfolio and peer evaluation strategies, and there were no statistically significant differences at the level ( α= 0.05) in developing reflective thinking skills due to the interaction between sex and the portfolio and peer evaluation strategies.

 In the light of these results, the researcher recommends using the portfolio and peer evaluation strategies in developing writing and reflective thinking skills in the upper basic stage, and training Arabic language teachers on the nature of the evaluation by using these two strategies.