The learners’ perceptions of peer assessment of English presentation tasks

The objective of this study is to explore the learners’ perceptions regarding the peer assessment of oral presentation tasks in college English classes. Each student was tasked with delivering a presentation, which was subsequently assessed by their peers according to predefined criteria. A questionnaire survey was conducted to investigate learners’ perceptions and the patterns of influence on perceived fairness, reliability, acceptability, willingness to improve tasks, and class attitudes in the context of peer assessment. Data from the final 94 participants were analyzed using PLS-SEM. The analysis revealed that the fairness of learners’ peer assessment positively influenced the acceptability of assessment scores, whereas reliability did not. Learners’ acceptability of peer assessment scores had a positive effect on their willingness to improve their presentation skills but did not affect their class attitude. Finally, their willingness to improve their presentation skills had a positive effect on their class attitude. In the additional descriptive survey questions, the majority of learners had positive opinions about the implementation of peer assessment and including the scores in grades. Based on these results, it is recommended that peer assessment be conducted and partially included in the final assessments of English presentation tasks in college-level classes.