Accomplishing feedback through inscription during reading assessment interaction

Abstract

This paper examines the role of writing in sequences of oral feedback during formal formative reading assessment in an elementary school classroom. Previous research indicates that writing-in-interaction is central to the interactional accomplishment of feedback. The limitations of writing-in-interaction research on feedback for the study of formal formative reading assessment lies in its preoccupation with the planned-use of written inscriptions. Without presuming that inscriptions are planned as resources for feedback, the study asks ‘what role does inscription play in the accomplishment of feedback during formal formative reading assessment interaction?’ Analyzing a single case using ethnomethodologically-inspired conversation analysis, the current study demonstrates how writing done initially to record a student's reading performance emerges later, unplanned, as resource for sequences of diagnostic and instructional interaction. The paper contributes to an understanding of inscription as a practical technology for formative assessment, and demonstrates how the formal assessment of reading performance is interactionally accomplished.