How and When Does Self-Assessment Impact Achievement? A Moderated Mediation Model Examining the Role of Effort and Feedback Literacy

• In Event: Illuminating Instruction and Assessment to Support Student Success in Higher Education: International Perspectives

Abstract

This longitudinal study addresses a critical research question in assessment and instruction: how and when do self-assessment practices effectively support student achievement? While self-assessment is recognized as beneficial for learning, intervention effects vary across students and contexts, challenging one-size-fits-all approaches. We examined how different self-assessment components drive achievement through operative effort, and how individual differences in feedback literacy moderate these pathways, enabling teachers to design more effective and inclusive pedagogical and assessment practices.

Empirical work reveals that self-assessment can operate distinctly from one student to another (Authors, Year), while feedback literacy research shows that “self-assessment is about more than self,” requiring integration of external feedback sources (Authors, Year). Drawing on theories on self-regulated learning (see Authors, Year) and feedback literacy (Carless & Boud, 2018), we conceptualize self-assessment and feedback literacy as complementary metacognitive competencies that may function compensatorily within students’ regulatory capacities.

Methods and Results
Our study followed 897 Filipino university students in one semester. Using moderated mediation analyses (Figure 1), we tested indirect pathways (self-assessment → operative effort → GPA) and how feedback sense-making moderates the self-assessment-to-effort relationship, providing evidence-based guidance for differentiated instructional design.

We used a self-assessment practice scale (SaPS; Authors, Year) to measure components of self-assessment practice: monitoring, inquiry, internal feedback, and self-reflection. We assessed feedback sense-making using the feedback literacy scale (Authors, Year), and operative effort through self-reported behaviors such as trying hard, doing one’s best, and meeting deadlines. We assessed academic achievement using students’ final GPA.

We find that self-assessment components influenced GPA primarily through operative effort as mechanism. Effort predicted GPA (β=0.50-0.59, p<0.001), with three self-assessment components showing significant positive indirect effects through this pathway: self-reflection exhibited the strongest pathway (β=0.21, p=0.004), then monitoring (β=0.16, p=0.004) and internal feedback (β=0.10, p=0.022). Direct effects from self-assessment to GPA were non-significant, confirming full mediation through effort.

Feedback sense-making moderated the self-assessment-to-effort pathway in an unexpected pattern. Significant interactions emerged for inquiry (β=-0.14, p=0.048), internal feedback (β=-0.15, p=0.043), and self-reflection (β=-0.14, p=0.048), indicating that self-assessment practices are stronger predictors of effort when students engage less in feedback sense-making behaviors. This reveals compensatory mechanisms whereby students with limited use of feedback sense-making may rely more on self-assessment practices to exert effort toward improving GPA, and vice versa.

Significance
This study offers empirical evidence for designing instructional practices recognizing two key mechanisms: students’ academic effort enables self-assessment to predict academic achievement, and feedback literacy moderates the self-assessment-effort link. Rather than assuming universal benefits, educators can create differentiated environments promoting effort through varied regulatory pathways. Students with strong feedback literacy benefit from instruction emphasizing external feedback and collaboration, while those with weaker feedback processing require enhanced self-assessment opportunities. Effective pedagogy should universally promote students’ effort while individually accommodating different self-regulatory mechanisms, offering guidance for diverse learning environments supporting various pathways to learning and academic success.

Authors

• Norman B. Mendoza, The Education University of Hong Kong

• Zi Yan, The Education University of Hong Kong