ASSESSMENT RUBRIC CLARITY IN ENGLISH PUBLIC SPEAKING COURSE BASED ON STUDENTS’ PERSPECTIVES (A QUANTITATIVE CASE STUDY OF GEORGIAN HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTION)

Abstract

While rubric-based assessment is widely recognized as essential at the tertiary level, students' perspectives on its value and utility remain underexplored. Previous studies (Chan & Ho, 2019; Taylor et al., 2024) indicate that students do not pay close attention to  rubrics. Mostly they claim that there is no point in using one, since professors evaluate students subjectively; or rubrics in general do not explain the criteria or components in a clear or fair way. To address these concerns,  a public speaking  rubric (PSCR) was given to students to determine and evaluate rubric clarity, usefulness, and fairness in a public speaking course based on their perceptions.

The aim of this study was to measure how the rubric helped them throughout the course. In order to find out what challenges the students  faced when utilizing the rubric and what kind of changes they were willing to see in the rubric, specifically for the public speaking course,  a 5-point Likert-scale questionnaire was designed and a semi-structured interview was conducted among 25 students who completed the course. Pre-test survey results outlined specific problems, such as clarity,  excessive number of components, and language used in criteria description. Therefore, the researcher modified the rubric based on the most problematic issues identified by the students. The same 25 students were asked to fill out the post-test survey after the rubric modification in the middle of the studying semester. Follow-up survey findings revealed that students’ perceptions of the rubric have changed, as it was rated much higher  in comprehension, clarity and usefulness.

Keywords: Assessment rubrics, student perceptions, public speaking, rubric clarity, higher  education