Understanding Of Formative Assessment Research Articles

Measuring English Proficiency: Investigating How Teachers Employ Formative Tests

Education holds a crucial role in human life, connecting the roles of teachers and students in teaching and evaluation. Assessment, a big part of education, helps teachers understand how well students are doing as they learn. When assessing students, teachers must consider how each student learns, what they're good at, what they find challenging, and what they need to succeed in school. So, teachers must know how to do assessments well. This study aims to determine the teacher's understanding of formative assessment and how to apply formative assessment to learning English in assessing students' English skills. The method used is a descriptive qualitative method using interviews and observations. 7 English teachers from different schools were interviewed (4 teachers at SMAN 3 Maros, 1 teacher at MA Darussalam Barandasi, and 2 English teachers at SMKN 1 Maros). Meanwhile, observations were carried out once at each school. The findings show that teachers use formative assessment at the beginning, middle, and end of learning sessions to understand students' performance. Teachers see many benefits in using formative assessments, like measuring individual abilities, reaching learning goals, and understanding student needs better. Some teachers face challenges, like figuring out how each student is different, which shows they might need more help and training. Classroom observations also show that some schools do well with formative assessments, while others have problems, such as SMK 1 Maros, which has issues with students not showing up and using home-based assignments. This study suggests giving teachers more support and training to improve assessments and learning for everyone.

Knowledge and attitude toward formative assessment among teaching faculties of medical institutions

Competency-based medical education was introduced in 2019 with major changes in medical education. One of the main focuses was implementing formative assessment (FA) with feedback for better learning outcomes. There is a paucity of data on the understanding of FA among medical faculties. The present study aims to assess the knowledge and attitude toward FA among medical teachers. A cross-sectional study was done among 108 teaching faculties of medical colleges across Tamil Nadu. A structured questionnaire was used with good construct reliability on knowledge and attitude with Cronbach’s alpha of 0.78 and 0.91, respectively. The study reported that 44.5% had adequate knowledge of FA, whereas 55.6% had a positive attitude toward FA. A common misconception on FA is that it is conducted only for theory sessions, its role in determining pass or fail; it benefits only the poor learners and cannot be applied in large group teaching. The majority showed a positive attitude toward FA that it will improve the learning outcomes of students and giving feedback will motivate them to perform better. They were also willing to receive feedback on their teaching skills. The study has identified gaps in knowledge of FA which can be rectified through medical education workshops.

The effectiveness and challenges implementing a formative assessment professional development program

ABSTRACT This study reports on the effectiveness and challenges of a formative assessment professional development program designed to address the challenges Kosovo teachers face in adequately using formative assessment in their classrooms. Selected teachers (n = 19) from Kosovo municipalities participated in the professional development training program. Data were collected from open-ended pre- and post-questionnaires, mentoring, and teacher portfolios. This mixed-methods approach utilized an inductive analysis approach. Positive results included teacher attitude changes toward and a better understanding of formative assessment and lesson planning. The study reveals the complexities of the cultural context in implementing peer and self assessment and the shifting of learning responsibility from teacher to student. Consequently, the study considers the impact of the cultural context on the many challenges teachers face in their practices. Thus, the study promotes further culturally contextual professional development to improve teacher practices, potentially impacting student outcomes and the educational system directly.

Students’ Experiences with Formative Assessment in Institutions of Higher Education: The Case of a University in Uganda

The shift in emphasis from teacher to learner-centred pedagogies worldwide has foregrounded formative assessment as a pedagogical tool that increases student engagement. The purpose of the current study was to explore students’ perceptions and perspectives regarding the way formative assessment is implemented in order to guide teaching and assessment in institutions of higher education. The study was guided by Lev Vygotsky’s theory of social constructivism which regards learning as a social activity. Purposive sampling was used to select 15 second-year pre-service teachers from one public university in Uganda. Focus group discussions were used to collect in-depth data on students’ views and experiences with formative assessment practices. The themes and sub-themes generated in the study indicated that students perceived formative assessment as continuous assessment whose purpose is to test understanding by grading. In addition, their understanding of formative assessment was consistent with the methods of assessment used. The study also revealed that traditional methods of assessment were dominant in higher education, yet most students preferred alternative methods that were more beneficial because they provided immediate feedback and increased their participation compared to tests and written assignments. Many students reported challenges with getting feedback, which was attributed to large class size, emphasis on the grading purpose and university policies. The insights will inform institutions of higher education about the benefits of using learner-oriented assessment strategies that provide opportunities for students’ engagement in learning and assessment. In addition, the study may guide policymakers to institute policies that promote a balanced assessment and revise the assessment guidelines to align them with the principles and practices of formative assessment

FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT IN ENGLISH LEARNING OF JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL

Abstract: Formative assessment (assessment-for-learning) helps teachers to conduct teaching and learning activities that can enhance the students’ learning achievement. This study was aimed to find out the teachers’ understanding about formative assessment, the implementation of a formative assessment for English learning including the use of formative assessment to improve the teachers’ teaching and students’ learning, and the supporting and/or hindering factors in implementing a formative assessment. Qualitative in case study design was used in this study. The data were collected through interview, observations, and documentation to four teachers, the school principal, and some observed students as the participants. The data collected were validated through methodological triangulations and were analyzed qualitatively and reported descriptively. The result discovered that teachers’ understanding of formative assessment was in “good” category. The implementation of formative assessment in English learning given by the teachers followed the steps of input, process, and output. The teachers gave follow – up actions namely remedial and enrichment for students although the actions were not carried out as properly as what it is supposed to due to some hindering factors in giving the formative assessment. In conclusion, teachers’ lack of assessment training affects their understanding in implementing formative assessment. Therefore, the teachers need to participate in such a seminar and they need to be given opportunities to join assessment training so that they can get input on how to give assessment well, and moreover to make the right assessment instruments.

Insights into Grade 2 teachers’ enactment of formative assessment in mathematics in selected priority schools in Gauteng

This article reports on Grade 2 teachers’ perceptions of formative assessment in explaining the phenomenon of the underutilisation of formative assessment practices in mathematics teaching. A qualitative and interpretative case study investigated two Grade 2 teachers’ enactment of formative assessment in priority schools in Gauteng. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews and observations of lessons. The basic principles of qualitative content analysis were applied during data analysis and guided by the formative assessment theoretical framework proposed by Black and Wiliam (2009). The study revealed that teachers’ enactment of formative assessment was limited by their vague understanding of formative assessment and the tensions between formative assessment and curriculum compliance. The study’s central claim is that teachers may know about formative assessment, but if they do not understand how children learn and engage in mathematics learning, then they are unlikely to enact it correctly. While teachers who attended the in-service training programme were able to use some of the strategies as singular tools, they were still unable to implement the combined strategies that constitute the formative assessment pedagogy. Hence, the formative assessment practices of teachers bore limited possible returns on investment to improve learning outcomes in mathematics. The unique contribution of this study is its potential to inform teacher development, policy and practice as it yielded important insights while reinforcing and amplifying existing knowledge.

Development of teachers’ perspective on formative peer assessment

ABSTRACT Teachers’ understanding of formative assessment is quite essential for its implementation in everyday classroom practices [Heritage, M. (2007). Formative assessment: What do teachers need to know and do? Phi Delta Kappan, 89(2), 140–145]. This study investigates the development of teachers’ perspective on formative peer assessment when it is newly introduced into their teaching. A group of 18 science teachers participated in design-based research project in which they developed and enacted inquiry-based teaching units with embedded formative peer assessment instances. Teachers’ perspective on formative peer assessment was captured by means of group discussions and reporting tool at different stages of the project (before teaching the experimental units, after having taught the units and 20 months after that). Data were analysed by thematic analysis. The findings show that immersing teachers into this relatively new method, formative peer assessment, especially when they are co-investigating their own practice (in research project), may have significant impact on their conceptualisation and implementation of formative assessment in general.

Pathways Through Peer Assessment: Implementing Peer Assessment in a Lower Secondary Physics Classroom

Peer assessment has been shown to advance learning, for example, by improving one’s work, but the variance of learning benefits within or between studies has not been explained. The purpose of this case study was to examine what kinds of pathways students have through peer assessment and to study which factors affect them when peer assessment is implemented in the early stage of physics studies in the context of conducting and reporting inquiry. Data sources used include field notes, audio recordings of lessons, student lab reports, written peer feedback, and student interviews. We examined peer assessment from the perspective of individual students and found 3 profiles of peer assessment: (1) students that improved their lab report after peer assessment and expressed other benefits, (2) students that did not improve their lab report but expressed other benefits, and (3) students that did not experience any benefits. Three factors were found to explain these differences in students’ pathways: (1) students’ engagement in conducting and reporting inquiry, (2) the quality of received feedback, and (3) students’ understanding of formative assessment. Most students experienced some benefits of peer assessment, even if they did not put effort into their own work or receive constructive feedback. Nevertheless, in this case study, both improving one’s work and experiencing other benefits of peer assessment required sufficient accomplishment of all 3 factors.

Eliciting teachers’ understanding and their reported practices on school-based formative assessment: Methodological challenges

Ministries of Education in many countries have adopted various forms of school-based assessment (SBA) to replace (for example, New Zealand) or complement (for example, England, Australia and Malaysia) more conventional forms of assessment such as tests and examinations. Central to these alternative approaches to SBA is formative assessment. In recent years, a body of research has been built investigating various aspects of SBA in Malaysia, but there has been a dearth of studies exploring what practising teachers believe and do regarding implementing formative assessment in their own classrooms. The present article reports some of the findings of a case study in which ten Malaysian primary school teachers of English were interviewed to identify the extent of their understanding of formative assessment and their reported practices of providing feedback in an SBA environment. Initially, the teachers revealed a general lack of understanding of the difference between formative and summative assessment. In such a situation, it would seem that the teachers are unready to implement SBA at the present stage, despite it having been mandated in Malaysian schools since 2011-12. However, later in the interview, they reported implementing various forms of feedback, some of which might be regarded as formative. There is a need, therefore, to differentiate between teachers’ explicit knowledge and their implicit understanding of matters such as formative feedback. The inherent limitations of self-report data emerging from interviews will be discussed and how these might be overcome.

Teachers’ Understanding of Formative Assessment

The research explored teachers’ understanding of formative assessment in the secondary school level, particularly in the context of English teaching and examined factors related to the teacher assessment in the literacy level. To achieve the intended purposes, a self-designed instrument named Teacher Formative Assessment Literacy Questionnaire (TFALTQ) was emploted. Cronbach alpha measured the internal consistency of items that measuring the latent constructs were adequately accepted (α= 0,67), and exploratory the factor analysis using rotation matric revealed a robust factor loading of the variance explained with KMO statistic of 0,72. The questionnaire was distributed to all English teachers who taught in the secondary high school in central Lombok. There were 243 teachers from public and private high schools were participated in the study. The participants came from both public school and religious school, regardless of their school types and level. Using the case of 243 English teachers, the analysis reveals that the teachers’ understanding of formative assessment is inadequate and that four dimensions of teachers’ formative assessment literacy and understanding are revealed. These include an assessment to serve the accountability purpose, examination/test driven learning, the procedural approach to learning and assessment, and the receptive role of students. The multiple hierarchical regression analysis is performed to identify athe factors that are influencing the teachers’ formative assessment literacy. The analysis suggests that the teachers have a poor understanding of formative assessment, insufficient training in assessment and gender is a strong predictors of teachers understanding of formative assessment.

‘You know what you've done right and what you've done wrong and what you need to improve on’: New Zealand students' perspectives on feedback

This study was designed to explore children's understanding of formative assessment and its effects on their learning, in order to establish what learners perceive as important to help them improve their learning. The study found that children have a good understanding of the concepts of feedback, and can articulate clearly the elements most useful for helping them to improve their learning. A key finding of the study was that although there is consistency about the factors involved in good assessment, there is variation in the type of feedback seen as effective in demonstrating those factors. Issues relating to possible gender differences in the reception of feedback, and in what is perceived as helpful, emerged during the study. Recommendations for future research include the need to explore these, followed by the identification of implications for classroom use if a gender‐based link relating to formative assessment is found.

Making formative assessment discernable to pre‐service teachers of science

AbstractThe purpose of this pragmatic action research study was to explore our re‐conceptualization efforts in preparing pre‐service teachers to guide the inquiry process with formative assessment and subsequently use the understandings to improve our teacher preparation program. The process was guided by two questions: to what extent did course re‐conceptualization efforts lead to a more informed understanding of formative assessment by pre‐service teachers and did strategies enacted in the re‐conceptualized methods course foster or hinder pre‐service teachers' understanding of formative assessment? Data from this study support the following findings: (1) a substantial pre‐ to post‐methods course difference was realized in the pre‐service teachers' understanding of formative assessment; (2) explicit and contextualized approaches to formative assessment in the methods course led to increased understandings by pre‐service teachers; (3) an implicit approach led to improvements in course structure but did not foster pre‐service teachers' understanding of the reflexive nature of formative assessment; and (4) a field‐based case study on elementary science teaching both hindered and fostered our efforts with formative assessment. This study yields implications for pre‐service teacher education on formative assessment. To foster pre‐service teachers' knowledge and skills, we suggest explicit instruction on formative assessment combined with case studies, field experiences, and ongoing reflection. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 47: 402–421, 2010

EFFECTIVE AND SCALABLE TEACHER PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT: A REPORT OF THE FORMATIVE RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT

ABSTRACTThis study is a qualitative analysis of data collected during a yearlong series of teacher learning community meetings and classroom observations. The participants are middle and high school mathematics teachers from 2 school districts. Teachers were introduced to the research behind formative assessment and how to apply that research to their teaching during a 3‐day summer workshop. Teachers then met monthly in small school‐based groups to deepen their understanding of formative assessment and to talk about their own classroom experiences. The analyses focused on how teachers' understanding changed over time, how the teacher learning communities supported the teachers, how learning translated into classroom practice, and the factors that supported or hindered the development of teachers' understanding and practice. Lessons learned during the study itself and from subsequent analyses of the data had a significant impact on the development of ETS's Keeping Learning on Track® program.

‘Why am I doing these things?’: engaging in classroom‐based inquiry around formative assessment

Sponsored by the New Zealand Ministry of Education, the Teaching and Learning Research Initiative has sought to develop teachers’ research capability and to build knowledge about teaching and learning with the intention of improving outcomes for learners. Fortunate to receive a two‐year grant, our research collaboration investigated secondary school teachers’ and students’ conceptions of assessment and feedback. In addition to the ongoing collection and discussion of student achievement data, during the first year a key task for the teacher‐researchers was to develop and implement a tool that could provide them with greater insight into their students’ conceptions of assessment and feedback. This paper reports on how the teacher‐researchers were supported in a continuing manner to achieve this task, and documents their growing understanding of formative assessment through engagement in teacher research. While there was considerable learning for teachers, it is argued that teacher research, even when supported, is complex and problematic.

Assessment for writing development: trainee english teachers' understanding of formative assessment

This article considers the development in understanding of aspects of formative assessment of students’ writing at Key Stage 3 (11-14 years) by a group of trainee English teachers. An ‘analysis and application’ approach to writing development, which requires students to master categories and processes then apply them, is outlined and illustrated. A proposed sequence for teaching writing which relies on an ‘engagement and reflection’ approach to writing development is used as a context for discussion of trainee English teachers' ability to identify strengths, achievements and areas for development in students' writing, trainees' ability to use assessment criteria productively, and trainees' ability to use assessment information to inform their own planning and teaching.

Assessment for writing development: trainee english teachers' understanding of formative assessment

Abstract This article considers the development in understanding of aspects of formative assessment of students’ writing at Key Stage 3 (11-14 years) by a group of trainee English teachers. An ‘analysis and application’ approach to writing development, which requires students to master categories and processes then apply them, is outlined and illustrated. A proposed sequence for teaching writing which relies on an ‘engagement and reflection’ approach to writing development is used as a context for discussion of trainee English teachers' ability to identify strengths, achievements and areas for development in students' writing, trainees' ability to use assessment criteria productively, and trainees' ability to use assessment information to inform their own planning and teaching.

‘How does your teacher help you to make your work better?’ Children's understanding of formative assessment

ABSTRACTThis paper on children's perceptions of formative assessment summarizes one important part of the research carried out by our project on teacher feedback which was funded by the Economic and Social Research Council1 over the two years 1994‐5. Our major research questions were:• What sort of feedback do teachers give children?• How do children interpret, understand and act on this feedback?The research involved both teachers and children directly in discussion of feedback and assessment through interviews. Observations and recording in classrooms were also carried out. The findings have shown that the role of feedback is central in learning, and that systematic study in this area can make an important contribution to the conceptual framework of the relationship between teaching, assessment and learning. Our discussions with children provided us with a range of insights into how they perceived feedback, what they felt about it and how they used it. The typology itself is presented in full in Tunstall and Gipps (1996). In this paper, we concentrate on what formative assessment means to young children.