Evaluating self-assessment as a means enhancing student engagement with TMA feedback in L161

A recurrent comment from tutors is that students who need it most either do not engage with TMA feedback or do not fully understand it. The purpose of this report is to evaluate self-assessment as a means of enhancing student engagement with TMA feedback in L161 Exploring Languages and Cultures, a level 1 core introductory module for Language Studies. A new TMA question was recently introduced, where students are asked to look through all the feedback on previous TMAs and write a short reflective paragraph (= Part 1 of TMA04) identifying the areas for improvement on which they want to focus for their final TMA. The main essay constitutes Part 2 of TMA04. The following questions were investigated: 1. To what extent do the areas for improvement identified by students reflect those identified by their tutors in past TMA feedback? 2. What evidence can be found in the students’ essay (part 2 of TMA 4) of attempts to address the areas that they have identified in their self-assessment paragraph (part 1)? 3. Can any other evidence of active engagement with the assessment and learning process be found in the students’ responses to the question? 4. Does high performance on part 1 of TMA 4 relate to high performance in part 2?