The Accuracy of EFL Self-assessments made by Swedish Primary School Students

Abstract: The objective of this study was to examine the accuracy of Swedish primary school students’ EFL self-assessments. Self-assessment is an important component of formative assessment, which is the main tool used by Swedish primary school teachers when evaluating EFL proficiency. In the study, a survey and a vocabulary picture test were conducted. The survey consisted of Likert-scale statements and was used for students’ EFL self-assessments. It was followed by an English vocabulary picture test to evaluate students’ English vocabulary. To investigate whether there was a correlation between the results of students’ self-assessments and their results on the vocabulary picture tests, a Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient was produced. Furthermore, results were also analysed by individual, item, and gender. In conclusion, EFL self-assessments made by the students were found to have a weak correlation of 0.22 to their results on the English vocabulary picture test. Thus, the findings of this study indicate that young Primary School students’ EFL self-assessments should not be used as the sole evaluation of English proficiency.