Actual Assessment Practices Research Articles

Whose responsibility? Saudi university EMI content teachers’ language-related assessment practices and beliefs

Compared to the other English medium instruction (EMI) issues, assessment has received very scant research attention. A complex issue in EMI assessment relates to the role of English in measuring learning outcomes, and whether or not language should be assessed along with technical content. Combining questionnaire and semi-structured interviewed data, this study explored the English-related assessment practices and beliefs of native-Arabic and non-native-Arabic faculty members teaching EMI scientific majors at eight Saudi universities. Two hundred and forty-nine faculty members completed the questionnaire, whereas 20 faculty members were interviewed. The results showed that the content teachers do not give much weight to language quality when evaluating students’ written or oral performance. Compared to native-Arabic peers, the non-native-Arabic teachers, who intuitively have little or no translanguaging in their instruction, were found to pay slightly more attention to evaluating students’ English and to considering it in assessing students’ academic performance. Meanwhile, the interviews revealed that the teachers’ negative language-related assessment attitude has been shaped by the view that they are non-responsible for correcting students’ English, and by the too many language errors noted in students’ performance. Finally, the teachers’ highly-rated language assessment self-efficacy beliefs did not match their actual assessment practices.

Formative Assessment: The Malaysian English Language Primary School Teachers’ Pedagogical Beliefs and Values

This study investigated the beliefs and practices of primary school English language teachers in eastern Malaysia with regards to the country’s School-Based Assessment (SBA) reform. The study also investigated the contextual factors affecting the teachers’ beliefs and practices, aiming to understand the effects of these beliefs on their practice of SBA in order to extend our understanding of teachers’ interpretations of SBA, the challenges influencing these interpretations and thus, what affects the implementation process. After preliminary interviews with seven teachers, the study selected three who had an understanding of and knowledge about SBA and examined their claims to be implementing it. The study conducted classroom observations and then, using post-observation interviews, explored the reasons behind the teachers’ practices. The teachers interpreted and implemented SBA using their pedagogical knowledge and beliefs and incorporating existing teaching–learning practices, and they showed awareness of the goals and aims of the SBA initiatives. However, contextual factors affected their implementation process, and thus, their practices deviated from some of the underlying principles and objectives of the SBA policy. The study pointed to a limited uptake of the SBA policy and provided evidence of the importance of studying both the teachers’ prior or existing beliefs about assessment and the contextual factors, to understand the motives behind the teachers’ actual assessment practices and their attitudes towards assessment reforms.

Promises and Contests of Participatory Forest Management (PFM) Scheme within Kafa Biosphere Reserve, Southwest Ethiopia

The PFM scheme; where the community-based natural resource management has been receiving growing scientific attention over the past three decades. Most studies, however, focus on investigating institutional designs and outcomes and pay scant attention to how community-based natural resource management arrangements are carried out in practice. Therefore, this study focused to examine the possible promises with the establishment and actual practices of PFM scheme and visible contests that needs solutions to sustain the scheme in Kafa forest coffee Biosphere Reserve. To realize this thought 16 PFM sites of five districts of Kafa zone were purposively studied by collecting primary data through focused group discussions with forest management committee members and triangulated site based actual assessment practices with members to be evidenced about the promises and available contests of/on PFM scheme. Through an in-depth survey study in all of the participatory forest management (PFM) sites in Kafa zone, southwest Ethiopia, this article demonstrates a significant promises and contests between the PFM forest management plan and actual local forest management practices. The study confirms the usefulness of a practice-based approach to understand and explain how a newly introduced institutional arrangement is acted upon by local actors situated in their social, political and historical context as promises. On the other hand, the lagging commitment from the government agents, illegal users, uncontrolled forest use pressures and unbalanced commitment among the forest user group were proved as greatest upcoming contests on the sustainability of Kafa forest coffee Biosphere reserve in general and PFM of each site in particular. The findings also contribute to empirical knowledge useful to initiate dialog and to critically reflect on whether and what kind of intervention is actually needed to positively influence forest management practices on the ground for its sustainability based on the plan. Keywords: PFM arrangement; promises and Contests of PFM; practice-based approach DOI: 10.7176/JRDM/65-01 Publication date: May 31 st 2020

Case Analysis of the Assessment Practices of Oral Communication Teachers in a Private School in the Philippine Setting

With the recent entry of the Senior High School program in the Philippines, success of it maybe viewed to lie in the teachers‟ ability to manage the whole teaching-learning process, including their means of assessing their students. It is for this reason that a focus on teachers‟ Language Assessment Literacy (LAL) comes essential. Hence, the present study aimed at conducting a case analysis of the assessment practices of three Senior High School teachers in one of the private schools in the Philippines. Recognizing the crucial role classroom assessment has in a language classroom, the case analysis sought to provide focus on the purposes of assessment realized by oral communication teachers, the belief towards assessment that they hold, and their unique assessment practices. The case analysis employed interview and document analysis to gather data. After careful analysis and reflection, it was concluded that, first, despite the individuality observed on the primed purposes of assessment of the teacher-participants, the influence of the institutional character of assessment to the teachers were still observed. Second, the teachers‟ beliefs and attitude towards assessment were noted to follow a personal stance, realizing their personal interpretive framework. Lastly, the two prior conclusions generated provided explanations to the observed cornerstone violations in the practices of teachers. Hence, the paper highlights the need for an understanding of teachers‟ beliefs, attitudes, and perceived purposes of assessment to make sense of the actual assessment practices they employ. In turn, this understanding may be used to effectively design a program for teachers‟ continuous LAL development.

Assessment <i>for</i> Learning: Conceptualisation and Implementation among High School Teachers in Saudi Arabia

The use of assessment for learning as a philosophical framework for assessment reforms in many educational institutions gained significant prominence in the last two decades due to its strong theoretical and empirical support. However, reports showed it has not gained significant traction in terms of influencing and changing teachers’ practices due to many factors. This paper intends to explore the issues associated with its implementation in Saudi context. A survey was implemented with 30 high school teachers and a follow up interview of three teachers was conducted. Results showed that teachers have high understanding of AfL concepts but their assessment knowledge is not translated to their actual assessment practices. Their practices remain to be summative in nature due to some factors that prevent them from applying effective AfL strategies. These results have significant implications for developing professional development programs that will support teachers to operationalise their assessment knowledge into actual practice and for articulating policies that will provide enabling mechanisms for teachers to implement AfL strategies.

Assessment practices in social studies classrooms: results from a longitudinal survey

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to present results from three years of a longitudinal “Assessment Attitudes and Practices” survey collected from a large school district in the Southern USA.Design/methodology/approachThis paper focuses on both formative and summative “assessment practices” results from secondary (middle and high school) social studies teachers.FindingsThere was no statistically significant difference between secondary social studies teachers’ use of assessments and secondary teachers of other disciplines, nor was there a statistically significant difference in assessment use by year. Data results by assessment type were ranked in order of how often teachers claimed to use various assessment practices, and discussed in terms of assessment practices recommended by NCSS. Social studies teachers in this study were often more likely to report use of assessments of knowledge (including selected-response items) than performance-based assessment techniques (such as authentic assessments).Research limitations/implicationsThe lack of statistically significant differences in assessment practices along disciplinary lines indicates homogeneity in the use of assessments that does not do justice to social studies.Practical implicationsUsing Common Core standards or not, having a 1:1 technological environment or not, teacher respondents essentially reported using the same assessments, perhaps because high-stakes assessments did not change.Social implicationsThere is a need for professional development that helps teachers see how performance-based assessments can be used to boost student performance on high-stakes assessments.Originality/valueStudies of actual assessment practices (as opposed to ideas about how teachers should assess) are still quite rare, and provide a helpful window in understanding what is actually happening inside schools.

Assessment Practices of Science Teachers in Middle School Based on Classification of Performance on International Examinations

The study aimed at identifying assessment practices adopted in TIMSS 2011, compare practices across high– performing and low- performing middle schools. Also, to analyze the importance and the actual use of assessment procedures and methods, and to assess the relationships between the actual assessment practices and the perceived value of assessment practices. Saudi results of 8th grade participation in TIMSS 2011 were analyzed, supported by survey data collected from a sample of 350 intermediate science teachers about their practices and perceived value of assessment. The survey had acceptable indicators of validity and reliability. Results showed that assessment practices did not vary between high - performing and low - performing schools based on teachers' survey TIMSS 2011. On the other hand, findings from exploratory factor analysis concluded nine factors that explain assessment practices, namely: self-assessment, higher learning objectives assessment, knowledge and understanding, mechanisms of analyzing assessment results, indirect thinking questions, homework, and peer- evaluation, observation, and using objective questions. Moreover, results showed that there were effects of worthiness of assessment practices on the actual assessment practices of science teachers in middle schools.

Assessment Practices of Science Teachers in Middle School Based on Classification of Performance on International Examinations

The study aimed at identifying assessment practices adopted in TIMSS 2011, compare practices across high– performing and low- performing middle schools. Also, to analyze the importance and the actual use of assessment procedures and methods, and to assess the relationships between the actual assessment practices and the perceived value of assessment practices. Saudi results of 8th grade participation in TIMSS 2011 were analyzed, supported by survey data collected from a sample of 350 intermediate science teachers about their practices and perceived value of assessment. The survey had acceptable indicators of validity and reliability. Results showed that assessment practices did not vary between high - performing and low - performing schools based on teachers' survey TIMSS 2011. On the other hand, findings from exploratory factor analysis concluded nine factors that explain assessment practices, namely: self-assessment, higher learning objectives assessment, knowledge and understanding, mechanisms of analyzing assessment results, indirect thinking questions, homework, and peer- evaluation, observation, and using objective questions. Moreover, results showed that there were effects of worthiness of assessment practices on the actual assessment practices of science teachers in middle schools.

Actual and Ideal Assessment Practices in South African Natural Sciences Classrooms

Assessment practices form an integral part of science teaching and learning. The purpose of this study was to investigate actual assessment practices and compare them to ideal assessment practices according to the National Curriculum Statement (NCS) policy documents. A purposive sample comprising five Grade 9 educators was selected: three from high performing schools and two from low performing schools. Data were collected through lesson observations, reviewing portfolios of the educators and learners, and also through semi-structured interviews. The results show that educators' understanding of the various ideal roles of assessment ranged from 0% to 60% with the majority of items scored at 40%. This suggests a huge difference between actual and ideal assessment practices. These differences were identified from the purpose of assessment, integrating assessment and learning processes, outputs of assessment, the role of assessment, educators' and learners' portfolios, performance- based assessment tasks, the use of rubrics, and from the assessment of learning outcomes. The findings of this study may have far reaching implications in light of compliance to the Curriculum Assessment Policy Statements (CAPS) introduced in the country.

Assessment Alternatives—Compliance versus Custom? A Case Study of Five South African Mathematics Teachers

Conceptualization and the practice of alternative assessments in the context of general assessment practices in mathematics have wide-ranging significance to learning and teaching. Yet little is known about how South African teachers choose assessment tasks and how it links to their teaching. This paper reports on a case study of five grade 10 mathematics teachers, chosen from five different schools. Data were collected through interviews and analysis of samples of assessments. Ernest's categorization of educators’ philosophies and Boesen's classification of competences were used as theoretical frameworks for the analysis of samples of assessments and interviews.The educators’ choice of alternative assessment strategies was found to be more of a gesture of compliance with what has been advocated in the Outcomes-Based Education curriculum, rather than a concerted effort to embrace principles of educational reform. Though the teachers’ discourses were more inclusive of progressive perspectives on the purpose of assessments, their actual assessment practices still remained within the confines of traditional procedural tests.

Mental health intake assessments from a biopsychosocial perspective

Psychotherapists’ approach to intake assessment has a major impact on mental health case conceptualization and treatment. Despite its importance, little is known about therapists’ actual assessment practices. This appears to be the first study to investigate which aspects of biopsychosocial functioning are documented by therapists in their intake assessments, how thoroughly these issues are assessed, and how well the information collected is integrated into the assessment findings. The study found that therapists regularly collect information regarding a wide range of biopsychosocial issues, though not in a detailed or comprehensive manner, nor a manner designed to maximize treatment effectiveness.

ESL/EFL Instructors’ Beliefs about Assessment and Evaluation

The beliefs of 95 ESL/EFL instructors in Canada, 44 in Hong Kong, and 124 in Beijing about assessment and evaluation were examined with 32 questionnaire items. While the results revealed more similarities than the differences, among the instructors in the three contexts, the beliefs expressed by the instructors in the three contexts were somewhat mixed and, at times, contradictory. While the beliefs that assessment and evaluation were important for instruction and help improve student learning and the actual purposes of and uses of assessment and evaluation held by the instructors were positively related. The instructors’ beliefs about how they conducted their assessments and evaluations, the time required for assessments and evaluations, and their understanding of and preparation for assessment and evaluation were only somewhat related to their actual assessment practices. Nous avons examiné les convictions sur les jugements et les évaluations de 95 instructeurs ELS/ELE au Canada, 44 à Hong Kong, et 124 à Pékin avec un questionnaire de 32 points. Alors que les résultats font apparaître plus de similarités que de différences parmi les instructeurs dans les trois milieux, la confiance exprimée par les instructeurs est plus ou moins mélangée et parfois contradictoire dans ces trois milieux. Pour ces instructeurs, il y a une corelation positive entre leur confiance que les évaluations et les jugements sont importants pour l'enseignement et aident les élèves à améliorer leur apprentissage et leur confiance sur le but réel et l'utilisation des jugements et des évaluations. Mais la conviction sur la façon avec laquelle ils conduisent les jugements et les évaluations, le temps nécessaire pour les conduire et leur compréhension comme leur préparation des jugements et évaluations n'ont qu'une relation assez vague avec leurs pratiques des évaluations.

Use of Criteria in Assessing Teaching Portfolios: Judgemental practices in summative evaluation

How is the quality of teaching portfolios being assessed in summative assessment contexts? This question is of special importance in the growing debate on standards and criteria in assessment. In our study we looked for contexts in which portfolios are used for summative assessment purposes and gauge the issues raised by assessors with respect to grading and judging performance. We examine the appraisal of these portfolios by looking at the explicitness of guidelines/instructions/framework used by 35 portfolio assessors in examining their actual evaluations of the teaching portfolios in programs of teacher education for English as a Second Language. The study utilises different tools to gauge the process of raising standards and appraisal of portfolios. Using a questionnaire, conceptions of portfolio standards and criteria use were collected and commented upon by selected interviews to elaborate the understanding of the quantitative data. The findings were mounted up into a possible typology for clarification and improvement of actual assessment practices of portfolios. In this way transparency about how criteria are being deployed was attempted.

Portfolio appraisal: In search of criteria

Two inherently contradictory forces are pushing for reform in portfolio assessment. On the one hand there is a felt need for creating more rigid standards that operate to promote uniformity of ratings in appraisal practice to certify achievement. However, on the other hand, critical questions are being raised about separating acclaimed portfolio goals aimed both at appraising achievement while also improving quality of student learning and development. The position of portfolio assessment, which is widely used nowadays in teaching and teacher education, comes into debate. In our study, we look for actual practices in portfolio appraisal in search of criteria used for rating the quality of portfolio materials. It is our interest to find out how appraisal criteria are selected and used to evaluate achievement or to improve the quality of development and learning. In the context of teacher education, we have examined both the espoused criteria of both assessors and collectors of portfolios as well as the actual appraisal practices by looking at the judgmental orientations and supervision styles used by portfolio assessors. In addition, we offered an authentic portfolio document to be rated by different assessors to gauge and compare their quality of rating and criteria use. The actual processes we detected point to a most common practice of employing judgmental, usually normative evaluations based on assessor dependent, more or less pre-decided criteria which permit a “checkbox” approach to appraisal. The findings are mounted up into possible strands for characterizing actual assessment practices of portfolios. In offering a typology on criteria use, transparency could be reached on how to deploy criteria, which could reconcile the teacher educator's dilemma of being both an assessor and a mentor of learning.

Classroom Assessment: Teachers’ Conceptions and Practices in Mathematics

The purpose of this study was to explore teachers’ conceptions about assessment and their actual assessment practices. The sample for the study consisted of 269 mathematics teachers in Grades 1 through 4 in a southeastern state. The teachers completed a cross‐sectional, Likert‐scale survey. Using chi‐square to examine the relationships between grade level and teachers’ conceptions and between grade level and teachers’ practices, the researchers found several significant differences, transcending an indication of relationship by chance.