Afghan EFL Lecturers’ Assessment Practices in the Classroom

The current study is conducted with the aim to explore the practices and perceptions of Afghan EFL lecturers toward assessment. A second aim of the study is to explore the challenges the lecturers encounter in the implementation of formative assessments in their classes. To serve these basic objectives, a qualitative case study method design was employed with three English language lectures as the participants. Semi-structured interviews were used as the main instrument to collect data. The findings of the study indicated that all three lecturers maintained positive perceptions toward formative assessment and favored it over summative assessment. However, the study also discovered that the lecturers practice summative assessments more than formative assessments in their classrooms. This, as indicated by the lecturers, was due to the fact that their choices of employing certain assessment practices were dictated in terms of certain challenges such as university rules and policies, large classes, and time constraints. Lastly, some suggestions are made that may prove useful to effectively apply formative assessment in Afghan EFL context

From research to program design

"This paper summarizes findings from a formative research study conducted in Haiti to develop a behavior change communication (BCC) strategy to improve infant and child feeding practices and to reduce childhood malnutrition. It describes the methodology used and the tools developed to facilitate decisionmaking and effective use of formative research for program planning... The study used formative research methods that included individual and group interviews, food-rating exercises, and participatory recipe trials. The aims of the study were to (1) study current infant and young child feeding practices in the Central Plateau of Haiti, (2) identify individual, household, and community factors that may facilitate or constrain adoption of recommended behaviors, and (3) use the information from the formative research to prioritize behaviors and design an effective BCC strategy." from Authors' Abstract

Embedded formative assessment and classroom process quality. How do they interact in promoting students\u27 science understanding

In this study we examine the interplay between curriculum-embedded formative assessment-a well-known teaching practice-and general features of classroom process quality (i.e., cognitive activation, supportive climate, classroom management) and their combined effect on elementary school students\u27 understanding of the scientific concepts of floating and sinking. We used data from a cluster-randomized controlled trial and compared curriculum-embedded formative assessment (17 classes) with a control group (11 classes). Curriculum-embedded formative assessment and classroom process quality promoted students\u27 learning. Moreover, classroom process quality and embedded formative assessment interacted in promoting student learning. To ensure effective instruction and consequently satisfactory learning outcomes, teachers need to combine specific teaching practices with high classroom process quality. (DIPF/Orig.

From research to program design

"This paper summarizes findings from a formative research study conducted in Haiti to develop a behavior change communication (BCC) strategy to improve infant and child feeding practices and to reduce childhood malnutrition. It describes the methodology used and the tools developed to facilitate decisionmaking and effective use of formative research for program planning... The study used formative research methods that included individual and group interviews, food-rating exercises, and participatory recipe trials. The aims of the study were to (1) study current infant and young child feeding practices in the Central Plateau of Haiti, (2) identify individual, household, and community factors that may facilitate or constrain adoption of recommended behaviors, and (3) use the information from the formative research to prioritize behaviors and design an effective BCC strategy." from Authors' Abstract

Analysing assessment practice in higher education: how useful is the summative/formative divide as a tool?

A view of assessment as 'naturally' divided into the categories of formative and summative has become a taken-for-granted way of thinking about, talking about and organising assessment in universities, at least in the UK where the division is inscribed in national, institutional and departmental policy and guidance (eg. Quality Assurance Agency, http://www.qaa.ac.uk). In these documents summative and formative assessment tend to be understood as serving separate purposes with summative assessment understood as summing up the level of performance and formative assessment as feeding into future learning. We question the utility of the division in terms of better understanding assessment practices on the basis of an empirical study undertaken in a higher education institution in the UK. The aim of the Assessment Environments & Cultures project is to gain a better understanding of how academics assess and why they assess in the ways that they do. Interview and observational data have been collected from academics working in three subject areas: Design, Business and Applied Sciences. Initial analysis has focussed on the discourses in use and the subject positions taken up by academics when they talk about and undertake assessment. Analysis of our data suggests that, whilst academics used the categories of formative and summative to talk about their assessment practices, the distinction between assessment purposes may be 'messier' than the separate categories imply. Various examples from the project will be introduced to illustrate this point. This raises a number of questions in terms of researching assessment practices that will be raised for discussion at the roundtable. For example:Might it be useful to understand formative and summative assessment as occupying a shared and contested space rather than as distinct categories

Teacher development for formative assessment.

This article reports on the teacher development that occurred during a two-year research project on the formative assessment practices of primary and secondary school teachers of science. The teacher development involved the teachers' professional, personal and social development. The project focused on clarifying what it was that served as formative assessment in the classroom. Personal development focused upon appreciating the risks and uncertainties involved in responding to what students are learning and acknowledging the importance of teacher confidence. Social development involved a re-examination of the nature of student-teacher interactions and of the complex and often contradicting roles of the teacher in relation to teaching, learning and assessment

Assessment for learning and for self-regulation

Drawing on a research study of formative assessment practices in Irish schools, this paper traces the design, development and pilot of the Assessment for Learning Audit instrument (AfLAi) - a research tool for measuring teachers’ understanding and deployment of formative teaching, learning and assessment practices. Underpinning the paper is an extensive body of international research connecting assessment for learning pedagogy with student self-regulation, mental health and well-being. Reflecting on the potential of the AfLAi as a research tool, an activity systems framework is advanced as a mechanism to engage researchers and teachers in meaningful site-based continuous professional development that supports teachers’ interrogation of aggregated school data derived from their responses to the AfLAi. It is argued that by de-privatising classroom practice in this way and challenging teachers to examine self-reports of their understanding and use of assessment for learning pedagogy, the extent to which students are afforded opportunities to develop as self-regulating learners is laid bare. In turn, the teaching, learning and assessment conditions that serve to create and sustain selfregulation by students emerge. The paper is premised on a commitment to a biopsychosocial approach to mental health and to an inter-disciplinary, multi-lens, research agenda that will yield comprehensive, dynamic insights and understandings to inform future practice.peer-reviewe

Feeding back to feed forward:formative assessment as a platform for effective learning

Students construct meaning through relevant learning activities (Biggs, 2003) which are largely determined by the type, amount, and timing of feedback (Carless, 2006). The aim of the present study was to develop a greater awareness and understanding of formative assessment and feedback practices and their relationship with learning. During 2011 five focus group discussions were undertaken with students and academic staff involved with a range of modules and degree pathways at a UK University. Three of the focus groups were with undergraduate students (one at each level of study), and one was with taught postgraduate students. Discussions focussed on integration of formative assessment and feedback into modules, as well as an exploration of the effectiveness of feedback on future learning. The findings revealed that in order to emphasise continuous learning – feeding back to feed forward (Rushton, 2005) – and to encourage self-regulated learning (Nicol & Macfarlane-Dick, 2006), students need to have opportunities to make mistakes and to learn from them prior to summative assessment (through formative assessment and feedback). There was also firm evidence of different approaches to learning, emphasising in particular the transitional importance of the first year of study as the foundation upon which future achievement is built

Classroom assessment and education: challenging the assumptions of socialisation and instrumentality

The opportunity offered by the Umea Symposium to probe the intersection of quality and assessment immediately brings into focus a wider issue – that of the quality of education which assessment aspires to support. Prompted by recent research into formative assessment in Scottish primary school contexts, the paper explores how formative assessment has become associated with an overly benign understanding of learning which misrecognises the possibility of undesirable learning and does not seem to address the inherently political nature of education. Having illuminated the potential inequities of formative assessment practices, the paper then asks what role formative assessment might play to support an understanding of education that is not simply about the transmission of traditional social norms, but also aspires to illuminate their social construction and their political nature