Formative assessment for self-regulated learning: Evidence from a teacher continuing professional development programme

Abstract

It has been argued that formative assessment (FA) improves student learning. Recent research has focused on helping teachers enhance their assessment literacy in FA in order to see the impact on learning results. Researchers are also beginning to contend that FA not only leads to improved content learning, but also helps improve students’ ability in self- and co-regulated learning. In this study, a 12-week teacher continuing professional development (CPD) programme was designed and implemented for a group of five secondary school EFL teachers in China aiming at developing their formative assessment literacy. This paper zooms in on students’ perceptions of and reactions to the CPD programme, offering insights into the impact of FA on the development of students’ self-regulated learning (SRL). Pre- and post-CPD interviews with ten students of the five teachers were coded and analysed using Zimmerman’s three-phase model of SRL. Higher frequency of mentions after the CPD and more students mentioning a code were taken as indicators of improvement over the 12-week intervention. The results show that all three phases of SRL were fostered by the CPD programme aimed at the implementation of FA. The study has implications for both formative assessment and self-regulated learning.