Formative Assessment Activities Research Articles

Exploring Chinese university EFL students’ perceptions of formative assessment: A qualitative study

Formative assessment (FA) has gained increasing prominence in the field of L2 education. However, how L2 students actually perceive FA has remained underexplored, and this is a critical gap because students' perceptions of assessment can exert a significant impact on their approaches to learning and learning outcomes. Situated within a college English course at a single Tier One university in southwestern China, this study investigated students' perceptions of the benefits and challenges of FA. Five major FA activities were integrated into the course, including writing learning journals, clarifying assessment criteria, conducting peer assessment of course essays, conducting self-assessment of course essays, and providing teacher feedback on course essays. These activities were designed on the basis of Black and Wiliam's (2009) framework for effective formative assessment. Adopting a qualitative approach, the researchers collected semi-structured written reflections from 47 students at the end of the course. The study provides insights into the potential of FA in improving EFL students' self-regulation and English language proficiency, as well as enabling students to develop new perspectives on language assessment. It also reveals an array of challenges faced by the EFL students, pertaining to their own characteristics, the assessment tasks, and school and systemic issues.

Formative assessment in physical education: teachers’ experiences when designing and implementing formative assessment activities

Formative assessment (FA) is an effective educational approach for optimising student learning and is considered as a promising avenue for assessment within physical education (PE). Nevertheless, implementing FA is a complex and demanding task for in-service PE teachers who often lack formal training on this topic. To better support PE teachers in implementing FA into their practice, we need better insight into teachers’ experiences while designing and implementing formative strategies. However, knowledge on this topic is limited, especially within PE. Therefore, this study examined the experiences of 15 PE teachers who participated in an 18-month professional development programme. Teachers designed and implemented various formative activities within their PE lessons, while experiences were investigated through logbook entries and focus groups. Findings indicated various positive experiences, such as increased transparency in learning outcomes and success criteria for students as well as increased student involvement, but also revealed complexities, such as shifting teacher roles and insufficient feedback literacy among students. Overall, the findings of this study underscore the importance of a sustained, collaborative, and supported approach to implementing FA.

Formative Assessment Activities That Engage Students and Support Success

As we navigate past the pandemic, enhancing student learning through innovative methods is crucial. Literature has shared that focusing on innovative ways to include formative assessment, is one way to address student learning and success (Barkley, 2010). This article explores classroom assessments: summative and formative assessments. Summative assessments are periodically administered throughout a course to gauge students' learning progress within a set timeframe. However, this paper’s primary focus is on formative assessments, which encompass low-stakes assignments that engage students and provide valuable feedback to both instructors and students, identifying comprehensive challenges for adaptive teaching. Research suggests that students can work towards their learning objectives through in-class practice and low-stakes assignments, fostering motivation and enhancing engagement in a stress-free environment (Garrison, 2007). This article delves into formative assessment activities, such as flipped assignments, interactive engagement tasks, test reviews, and student reflections. These activities offer constructive feedback to instructors and students while fostering engagement. The positive feedback received from participating students underscores their effectiveness.

Student Reflections on Learning in a Doctoral-Level Writing Course.

Programs to improve student writing have been deployed widely in nursing graduate education, but few operational indicators exist for measuring their value. The challenge of measuring outcomes reflects the complexity of what transpires when graduate students write. Better understanding is needed of what it means to students to "learn" from writing support. A full-semester writing course was implemented in a nursing science PhD program. In formative course assessment activities, students identified problems in early drafts of their work, which they subsequently learned to detect and resolve. In this article, students report what was learned. Writing skills, like clinical skills, are intertwined with intellectual maturation and sense of professional identity. Writing, like clinical learning, requires an investment of time and labor far beyond what is typical in didactic approaches to classroom-based graduate education. Our experience suggests a need to reconceptualize writing pedagogy in nursing.

Education in the Era of Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI): Understanding the Potential Benefits of ChatGPT in Promoting Teaching and Learning

Since its maiden release into the public domain on November 30, 2022, ChatGPT garnered more than one million subscribers within a week. The generative AI tool ⎼ChatGPT took the world by surprise with it sophisticated capacity to carry out remarkably complex tasks. The extraordinary abilities of ChatGPT to perform complex tasks within the field of education has caused mixed feelings among educators, as this advancement in AI seems to revolutionize existing educational praxis. This is an exploratory study that synthesizes recent extant literature to offer some potential benefits and drawbacks of ChatGPT in promoting teaching and learning. Benefits of ChatGPT include but are not limited to promotion of personalized and interactive learning, generating prompts for formative assessment activities that provide ongoing feedback to inform teaching and learning etc. The paper also highlights some inherent limitations in the ChatGPT such as generating wrong information, biases in data training, which may augment existing biases, privacy issues etc. The study offers recommendations on how ChatGPT could be leveraged to maximize teaching and learning. Policy makers, researchers, educators and technology experts could work together and start conversations on how these evolving generative AI tools could be used safely and constructively to improve education and support students’ learning.

Thinking ‘out of the box’ When Designing Formative Assessment Activities for the E-Portfolio

E-Portfolios of on-line scholars are integral to instructional planning and the design of authentic, engaging, and active tutoring for periodic self/peer-and-instructor formative assessments. In addition, the formative assessment in open distance and e-learning (ODeL) is meant to provide and facilitate contact, support, and structure to the learning experiences of students who are often unfamiliar and alienated by the distance learning experience. Previous research has focused on formative assessment strategies, results, and feedback in distance learning, but little has been studied on how to design suitable formative assessment activities in this format. This article, therefore, presents findings of how lecturers can the design a formative assessment for e-portfolio activities for online learning. Ten lecturer participants were purposively sampled from three colleges within the ODeL university. These semi-structured interviews, together with an e-portfolio checklist formed the basis for the interpretative analysis of how formative assessment activities are designed for the e-portfolios. The lecturers are guided by the student’s learning outcomes and use sequential activities for students to do via the e-portfolio. This, therefore, involves the lecturer’s consideration of graded and non-graded formative assessment activities of individual and group work e-portfolios to provide evidence and make judgments about each student’s progress. This study’s findings emphasize the importance of designing formative assessment activities to help students learn the content and develop their understanding which further deepens their knowledge and acquisition of the module outcomes. The research shows that the benefits of optimal student engagement, performance, and learning are the result of the creative design of formative assessment activities.

Promoting formative assessment practices in senior phase mathematics classrooms using meaning equivalence reusable learning objects

South African mathematics teachers in the Senior Phase (Grades 8 and 9) were introduced to the pedagogical tool, meaning equivalence reusable learning objects (MERLO), as a formative assessment (FA) strategy to promote and support teachers’ professional growth in using FA practices in the classroom. The cultural-historical activity theory (CHAT) and meta-didactical transposition (MDT) were used to frame the evolution process of teachers’ praxeologies. In this study we used qualitative participatory action research that encompassed 3 phases: pre-MERLO phase, MERLO workshop and post-MERLO phase. The study was conducted in the northeast of Pretoria in the Tshwane district in the Gauteng province, South Africa. Twelve Senior Phase mathematics teachers were purposively sampled in 6 public schools before the workshop training. During the workshop training, only 5 teachers participated due to the COVID-19 outbreak. The data collection techniques included pre- and post-interviews, workshop training sessions, classroom observations, field notes, teachers’ reflective journals, teachers’ lesson plans, learners’ workbooks and learners’ worksheets, and data were analysed using thematic analysis. The findings reveal that the teachers acquired adequate knowledge and skills to effectively structure and integrate the lesson plan of teachers’ didactical praxeologies as FA activities into their mathematics classrooms. The findings also reveal that the learners showed more interest and motivation, were actively involved, developed a deeper understanding of mathematics content, and showed increased autonomy in learning. Future research could involve implementing MERLO in all South African provinces and introducing MERLO to other emerging countries. However, the findings of this study are based on a limited sample of teachers and schools, and the recommendation is that, for future studies, more teachers should be involved in the MERLO professional development.

Exploring ways to engage disaffected mathematics students through formative assessment processes with rich tasks

Researchers and educators continue to grapple with how to re-engage mathematics students who evidence disaffection and low achievement in class. In a fine-grained qualitative case study, observations and regular self-reports of six 16-17-year-old early school leavers were analyzed to investigate their responses to cycles of formative assessment activities in the context of rich mathematics tasks. The interplay of extrinsic and intrinsic motivational aspects was found in the students’ situational interest and value appraisal of the activities, dis/engagement related to experiencing activities unfamiliar to them, and the social dimension of engagement in peer-community-building leading to eventual engagement.

The effect of a formative assessment practice on student achievement in mathematics

Research has shown that formative assessment can enhance student learning. However, it is conceptualised and implemented in different ways, and its effects on student achievement vary. A need has been identified for experimental studies to carefully describe both the characteristics of implemented formative assessment practices and their impact on student achievement. We examined the effects on student achievement of changes in formative assessment of a random sample of 14 secondary school mathematics teachers after a professional development programme. This study describes practices implemented and students’ achievement as measured by pre-tests and post-tests. We found no significant differences in achievement on the post-test, after controlling for pre-test scores, between the intervention group and control group, and no significant correlation between the number of formative assessment activities implemented and the post-test scores (controlled for the pre-test scores). We discuss characteristics of formative assessment implementations that may be critical for enhancing student achievement.

Determinants of student performance with mobile‐based assessment systems for English as a foreign language courses

AbstractBackgroundMobile‐based assessment has been an active area of research in the field of mobile learning. Prior research has demonstrated that mobile‐based assessment systems positively affect student performance. However, it is still unclear why and how these systems positively affect student performance.ObjectivesThis study aims to identify the determinants of student performance during students' use of a mobile‐based assessment application in a formative assessment activity as part of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) courses in higher education.MethodsA structural model based on hypotheses was validated using PLS‐SEM with data from the interaction of 127 students of eight EFL courses from the A1 and A2 levels of English that used a mobile‐based assessment system for a period of 4 weeks. Automatic data collection in the application and self‐reported instruments were applied.Results and ConclusionsUse of scaffolding mechanisms, time on‐task and reported effort are strong predictors of students' learning outcomes. The use of scaffolding strategies predicts students' time on‐task. The provision of corrective feedback is not a predictor of students' learning performance but predicts other constructs such as perceived usefulness and the behavioural intention to use.ImplicationsMobile‐based assessment systems should include scaffolding mechanisms and integrate strategies to increase the perceived relevance of the formative assessment activity to increase the student learning performance. Scaffolding mechanisms are also useful to increase the student time on‐task in the formative assessment activity. In mobile‐based formative assessment activities more elaborated forms of feedback other than corrective feedback are needed to increase student performance.

Scaffolding & Fading: Enhancing Literacy Skills across a Curriculum to Achieve Mastery

This paper discusses the use of paragraph frames in a formative assessment activity within an introductory sociology course. The paragraph frame scaffolding allows the student to be a more informed and engaged learner in lower level courses and feel success with their introductory summary writing. This self-confidence allows the student to move forward into no longer being reliant upon paragraph frames or others (peers/instructors). The Sociology in the News activity incorporates scaffolding and fading via the use of a similar activity across the curriculum. The use of the paragraph frames focuses on mastery of information literacy, and accommodates student needs through effective instruction (using paragraph frames). This allows for retention, progression, and matriculation of students. The sociology curriculum is discussed via the use of scaffolding and fading based on Vygotsky’s scaffolding concepts within the student’s zone of proximal development, using paragraph frames across a curriculum, using the concept of IRMA level of ability (Introduce, Reinforce, Mastery, and Assessment) in formative assessments. As universities are focusing general education assessment of students, particularly Post-Covid19, information literacy is a skill that is can be assessed using IRMA level of ability. Literacy skills are particularly important in moving the students toward life-long learning and understanding how information is situated from a social situated perspective as well as the production from a scholarly standpoint. Keywords: IRMA Level of Ability, Paragraph Frames, Literacy, Vygotsky, Scaffolding DOI: 10.7176/JEP/14-3-01 Publication date: January 31 st 2023

The Influence of Error Analysis as a Formative Assessment Activity in the Performance of Junior High School Students in Geometry

The Influence of Error Analysis as a Formative Assessment Activity in the Performance of Junior High School Students in Geometry

Explicit strategy-based instruction in L2 writing contexts: A perspective of self-regulated learning and formative assessment

Recent studies have pinpointed the critical and optimal role of self-regulated learning (SRL) in strategy instruction in second/foreign language (L2) research. To provide empirical grounding for developing self-regulated, strategic learners, this study developed an integrated model of SRL strategy instruction which was integrated with formative assessment and a process-genre approach and then examined its effects on L2 writing quality and motivational beliefs. This was a quasi-experimental research design, in which the experimental group received a 16-week SRL strategy instruction while the comparison group received a regular writing course over the same time period. Pretest, posttest, and delayed posttest of writing performance were conducted to examine students’ changes in writing quality in terms of content, organization, vocabulary, language, and mechanics. A self-report questionnaire was administered to both groups in the pretest and the posttest to investigate the development of motivational beliefs (i.e., task value, intrinsic goal orientation, extrinsic goal orientation, control of learning beliefs, and self-efficacy of learning and performance). Results of mixed factorial ANOVAs revealed the experimental group outperformed the comparison group in the overall writing scores and the subscores (e.g., content, organization, vocabulary, and language) in the posttest and the delayed posttest. In addition, the intervention helped students develop a higher level of task value, extrinsic goal orientation, control of learning beliefs, and self-efficacy of learning and performance. Data collected from reflective journals showed that EFL students reported increased levels of self-regulated, strategic behavior as a results of engaging in classroom formative assessment activities. • Formative assessment promotes effects of self-regulation instruction. • Self-regulation strategy intervention improved L2 writing quality. • The intervention improved students’ task value and extrinsic goal orientation. • The intervention helped students develop active control of their learning beliefs. • The intervention helped students become more self-efficacious in learning to write.

Supporting Teachers in Improving Formative Decision-Making: Design Principles for Formative Assessment Plans

Formative assessment is considered as one of the most effective interventions to support teacher decision-making and improve education and student learning. However, formative assessment does not always meet these expectations. In order to be effective, formative assessment activities should be consciously and coherently planned aligned with other aspects of the curriculum and the decisions teachers wish to make based on these activities. While there is sufficient support for teachers to design formative assessment activities, no guidelines exist to help them tie these different activities together in an effective way. To support teachers in designing formative assessment plans informing formative decision-making, this study focused on the creation of a set of design principles. These design principles for formative assessment plans were formulated based on expert interviews and subsequently evaluated by future users. The result is a set of eight design principles that can be used and validated in educational practice.

Training and Assessment in Urology: Perspective From a Third World Country.

Formative assessments are an essential yet often overlooked aspect of postgraduate surgical training. This report explores the strategies by which formative assessments are integrated into postgraduate surgical training in Pakistan (using urology as an example), by comparing the regional recommendations and infrastructures offered by local governing bodies to that of a more structured system, as offered by the General Medical Council (GMC). The College of Physicians and Surgeons Pakistan (CPSP) serves as the de facto local accrediting body for postgraduate surgical training and makes a conscious effort in maintaining the standard of training throughout the country. However, although formative assessment activities are encouraged in its roster, they are rarely monitored as strictly as summative outcomes. This is a far cry from how the structured format is exemplified by the GMC’s various guidelines and protocols. It must be emphasized that in order to improve the overall quality of training, measures need to be made to improve the ways in which feedback and formative activities are implemented and monitored.

Impact of Instructor Generated Guided Reading Questions for University Textbooks on Learning

ABSTRACT Guided reading questions (GRQs) are a formative assessment activity to facilitate student learning. We conducted four experiments to test if GRQs improved student performance on evaluative assessments. Experiment 1 compared test scores between classes that received GRQs or not. Experiment 2 modeled the impact of multiple formative assessments, including GRQs, on evaluative assessments. Experiment 3 examined how optional GRQs impacted quiz scores. Experiment 4 compared test performance between mandatory or optional GRQs. The overall results found weak evidence for the benefits of GRQs, but significant associations between GRQ and evaluative assessment scores. GRQ scores may better indicate a student’s academic habits than provide a unique intervention. Graded GRQs may provide external motivation for textbook reading and access to weekly continuous assessment activity provides benefits for most students.

Are they taking action? Accounting undergraduates’ engagement with assessment criteria and self-regulation development

ABSTRACT Our study aims to investigate whether engaging students with formative assessment and feedback activities could support students’ self-regulation, improve performance and improve satisfaction with assessment. The intervention designs are implemented using a novel framework, developed for staff reflection, derived from a self-regulation learning model and formative assessment and feedback principles. Zimmerman’s self-regulation model is chosen for a holistic approach, covering all Phases, to investigate the interventions within 3 honours level modules covering 483 students and 9 academic staff. Student views are obtained immediately following interventions from a short questionnaire and statistically analysed; semi-structured staff interviews are analysed thematically from NVivo. Significant improvement in students’ confidence and satisfaction with assessments occurs; evidence for improvement in performance and self-regulation is limited. Staff reflection areas are identified with suggestions for more effective feedforward strategies in support of self-regulation.

Determinants of student performance with mobile‐based assessment systems for English as a foreign language courses

AbstractBackgroundMobile‐based assessment has been an active area of research in the field of mobile learning. Prior research has demonstrated that mobile‐based assessment systems positively affect student performance. However, it is still unclear why and how these systems positively affect student performance.ObjectivesThis study aims to identify the determinants of student performance during students' use of a mobile‐based assessment application in a formative assessment activity as part of English as a Foreign Language courses in higher education.MethodsA structural model based on hypotheses will be validated using partial least squares‐structural equation modelling with data from the interaction of around 100 students of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) courses from the A1 and A2 levels of English that used a mobile‐based assessment system for a period of 4 weeks.Results and ConclusionsThis registered report describes the related work, hypotheses development, methodology, and proposed analysis to validate the structural model based on hypotheses. No results or conclusions have been obtained yet.

Lecture method recoil: Effect of formatıve assessment and simulation activities on the learning outcomes of social studies students

Traditionally, teachers use the face-to-face method, but with the improvement of high technology, such as internet and video technology, there is the need to embrace innovative and student-centred instructional methods. Furthermore, in every formal learning, achieving enduring quality in students’ learning outcomes depends on well-conceived approaches to assessment that have both simulation and formative functions. For active learning to occur in Social Studies, the style of teaching needs to be innovative. The study explored the effect of formative assessment and simulation activities on Social Studies students’ learning outcomes. Quasi-experimental as a qualitative research method was employed for this study. The Social Studies Learning Outcomes Test (SSLOT) with 25 test items was the instrument to gather data with Upper Basic 8 students. The result of the study indicated that formative assessment had a significant effect on students’ learning outcomes in social studies; simulation activities had a significant effect on students’ learning outcomes in social studies. The study concluded that formative assessment and simulation activities if used in social studies classrooms, would improve students’ learning outcomes; formative assessment and simulation activities, if embraced, can be effectively utilised within the regular class period to the improvement of the students.

Impact of Formative E-Assessment on Attendance

E-assessment is an established and growing approach that can offer several advantages compared to traditional pen and paper assessments, such as instant feedback, online/remote interaction, and automated personalization. In this study, we investigate the impact of introducing formative e-assessment in a compulsory science module of an undergraduate degree programme. In particular, we compare two paired cohorts, from consecutive academic years, before and after replacing pen and paper formative assessment activities with digital alternatives based on the Numbas e-assessment platform. We find that introducing e￾assessment correlates with a marked and statistically significant increase in student attendance. Module evaluation comments from students indicate an overall view of e-assessment as beneficial and engaging.