scholarly journals Formative assessment and feedback in the primary classroom: An interplay between teachers' beliefs and practices

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Prema Shoba Perumanathan

<p>This study explores the interplay between teachers’ beliefs and practices in understanding and implementing formative assessment and feedback to enhance student learning. Particularly, it explores teachers’ conceptions of effective formative feedback strategies, and the role they should play in their classroom practice. The context for this investigation was writing lessons in three primary classrooms, and included examination of three cases of primary teachers in the greater Wellington Region, New Zealand. Sadler’s (1989) theory of effective formative assessment and feedback provided the theoretical framework informing both data collection method and the analysis of data. Analysis of classroom observations, teaching documents and field notes revealed that teachers have adopted many strategies associated with good feedback practice. It was revealed, however, that the influence of teachers’ beliefs in the implementation and enactment of formative feedback and the interplay of their beliefs and practices affected their practices. These teachers’ conception and beliefs on how formative feedback should be practiced varied, as did their assumptions about their students’ abilities. These inconsistencies were further influenced by a range of contextual factors, including the diversity of students’ needs, differing collegial support, the structure of school writing programmes, teachers’ limited professional development and/or learning about formative assessment and feedback, and teachers’ learning having been undertaken in an era that favoured behaviourist practices. This research revealed the need for the provision of ongoing professional learning and development in writing instructions and formative assessment and feedback strategies. This would address the apparent inconsistencies between teachers’ conceptions and beliefs regarding effective formative assessment and feedback and their practices. As a result, this would help to promote Sadler’s (1989) formative assessment and feedback strategies to achieve more effective classroom teaching and learning practice. Implications for teachers, schools and professional learning and development are outlined and suggestions for further research included.</p>

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Prema Shoba Perumanathan

<p>This study explores the interplay between teachers’ beliefs and practices in understanding and implementing formative assessment and feedback to enhance student learning. Particularly, it explores teachers’ conceptions of effective formative feedback strategies, and the role they should play in their classroom practice. The context for this investigation was writing lessons in three primary classrooms, and included examination of three cases of primary teachers in the greater Wellington Region, New Zealand. Sadler’s (1989) theory of effective formative assessment and feedback provided the theoretical framework informing both data collection method and the analysis of data. Analysis of classroom observations, teaching documents and field notes revealed that teachers have adopted many strategies associated with good feedback practice. It was revealed, however, that the influence of teachers’ beliefs in the implementation and enactment of formative feedback and the interplay of their beliefs and practices affected their practices. These teachers’ conception and beliefs on how formative feedback should be practiced varied, as did their assumptions about their students’ abilities. These inconsistencies were further influenced by a range of contextual factors, including the diversity of students’ needs, differing collegial support, the structure of school writing programmes, teachers’ limited professional development and/or learning about formative assessment and feedback, and teachers’ learning having been undertaken in an era that favoured behaviourist practices. This research revealed the need for the provision of ongoing professional learning and development in writing instructions and formative assessment and feedback strategies. This would address the apparent inconsistencies between teachers’ conceptions and beliefs regarding effective formative assessment and feedback and their practices. As a result, this would help to promote Sadler’s (1989) formative assessment and feedback strategies to achieve more effective classroom teaching and learning practice. Implications for teachers, schools and professional learning and development are outlined and suggestions for further research included.</p>


Author(s):  
Juliana Othman

Research has demonstrated that teachers’ beliefs on teaching and learning plays a part on the way they teach and assess learning. A new assessment system for schools was implemented in 2011 to set the stage for change of the Malaysian education system from centralised examination to a combination of centralised examination and school-based assessment. There is a growing concern with implementation issues pertaining to how teachers will transform their assessment practices in their school contexts. Thus, this study sought to gain insights into teachers’ beliefs about school based assessment, and examine the relationship between their beliefs and classroom practice. A survey measuring teachers’ beliefs and practices of school based assessment was administered to 174 teachers who are currently educating in Malaysian government funded schools. Findings from this study demonstrated that teachers appear to have good knowledge of assessment principles about School Based Assessment (SBA). They conducted their assessment using appropriate procedures by considering the context of teaching and assessment in which they operate. The result of Pearson correlation analysis revealed a positive relationship between teachers’ beliefs about SBA and their classroom practices.


2021 ◽  
pp. 136216882110576
Author(s):  
Xiaolong Cheng ◽  
Lawrence Jun Zhang ◽  
Qiaozhen Yan

As an important instructional affordance, teacher written feedback is widely used in second language (L2) writing contexts. While copious evidence has shown that such a pedagogical practice can facilitate L2 learners’ writing performance, especially their writing accuracy, little is known about how novice writing teachers conceptualize and enact written feedback in contexts of English as a foreign language (EFL). To fill this gap, we examined four novice writing teachers’ espoused written feedback beliefs and their actual practices in Chinese tertiary EFL writing classrooms. Based on data from semi-structured interviews and students’ writing samples, we found that they adopted a comprehensive approach to feedback provision, and were most concerned with errors in language, particularly grammar when providing feedback. These teachers almost reached a consensus in their beliefs about feedback scope and feedback focus, but they held varying beliefs about feedback strategies. Additionally, this study revealed the complexity of belief-practice relationships, in terms of the coexistence of consistencies and inconsistencies. Specifically, these teachers’ beliefs paralleled their practices in feedback scope, but their beliefs and practices mismatched with regard to feedback focus and feedback strategies. This article concludes with a discussion of the important pedagogical implications.


Author(s):  
Karen E. Irving

Reliable just-in-time assessments are the foundation of informed teaching and learning. Modern electronic technologies assist in the formative assessment process by supporting classroom environments that allow students and teachers to assess learning and providing mechanisms to present information about student learning during instructional sequences. To implement formative assessment practices, students and teachers benefit from rich educational tasks that invite students to share information about their understanding of the lesson while the lesson is occurring in order to nurture productive learning by both teacher and student. Formative feedback is facilitated by technologies such as connected classrooms, videography, online formative quizzes, and manuscript multi-draft editing. Technology-assisted formative assessment represents a powerful option to promote improved classroom communications that support formative assessment practices for teachers in twenty-first century classrooms.


2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 35-55 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lorelli Nowell ◽  
Glory Ovie ◽  
Natasha Kenny ◽  
K. Alix Hayden ◽  
Michele Jacobsen

Purpose Postdoctoral scholars are increasingly pursuing diverse career paths requiring broad skill sets. This study aims to create a more comprehensive understanding of current approaches and strategies for postdoctoral scholars professional learning and development. Design/methodology/approach This literature review is a systematic examination and synthesis of the current literature describing professional learning and development pertaining to postdoctoral scholars. The objectives and components of initiatives were extracted and narratively synthesized to identity important patterns and themes across the literature. Findings Commonalities amongst professional learning and development initiatives for postdoctoral scholars included skills development in the following areas: teaching and learning, mentorship, academic careers, academic writing, industry careers, networking, career planning, project management, time management, communication, leadership and balancing work-life demands. Originality/value In synthesizing the literature that describes professional learning and development opportunities for postdoctoral scholars, it is apparent that opportunities look different in every setting with no empirical evidence that one strategy is more effective than another. Given the significant resources often required to support professional learning and development initiatives, a deeper understanding of the benefits and deficiencies of various components is needed to ensure scarce resources are invested in the most effective strategies.


The purpose of this study was to determine how South African learners compared with their selected international counterparts according to their teachers’ views. The analysis was based on predictor variables that are related to the use of computer activities in teaching and learning. These variables were extracted from the 2011 Trends in Mathematics and Science Study teachers’ datasets and linked to the learners’ data. The results revealed that regardless of the socio-economic status between South Africa and each of the countries, it could be claimed that some similarities can be fostered. Similarity does not imply being totally identical, but rather demonstrates which teachers responses between South Africa and each of the countries might have the same structure after the statistical analysis. The differences in teachers’ beliefs between South Africa and all the countries provided vital information about the scope of possible classroom practice and teachers’ inclination to different teaching approaches.


2020 ◽  
pp. 147572572097188
Author(s):  
Susanne Narciss ◽  
Elsa Hammer ◽  
Gregor Damnik ◽  
Kerstin Kisielski ◽  
Hermann Körndle

Formative assessment and feedback strategies play a core role in effective learning and instruction. Thus, teachers should be able to effectively apply the theoretical and empirical insights on formative assessment and feedback strategies in their classrooms. However, designing and implementing formative feedback strategies are complex tasks. Based on the Interactive Tutoring Feedback Model we developed a seminar concept combining case-based reflections of empirically based principles for the design of formative feedback strategies; planning and designing formative feedback strategies for a typical oral or written student assignment; and implementing, evaluating, and iteratively adapting this feedback strategy using on-campus micro-teaching sessions. The benefits and constraints of this seminar concept were explored in an evaluation study with teacher students ( N = 87). Students participating in the treatment seminars had higher gains in knowledge and competencies compared to students of control groups that had either a short theoretical input or no input on feedback. Furthermore, they appreciated the mix of instructional and micro-teaching components, and rated the transferability of the knowledge and competencies they had acquired as high.


Author(s):  
Karen E. Irving

Reliable just-in-time assessments are the foundation of informed teaching and learning. Modern electronic technologies assist in the formative assessment process by supporting classroom environments that allow students and teachers to assess learning and providing mechanisms to present information about student learning during instructional sequences. To implement formative assessment practices, students and teachers benefit from rich educational tasks that invite students to share information about their understanding of the lesson while the lesson is occurring in order to nurture productive learning by both teacher and student. Formative feedback is facilitated by technologies such as connected classrooms, videography, online formative quizzes, and manuscript multi-draft editing. Technology-assisted formative assessment represents a powerful option to promote improved classroom communications that support formative assessment practices for teachers in twenty-first century classrooms.


2017 ◽  
Vol 22 (6) ◽  
pp. 368-372
Author(s):  
Caroline B. Ebby ◽  
Marjorie Petit

Numerous research studies have shown that formative assessment is a classroom practice that when carried out effectively can improve student learning (Black and Wiliam 1998). Formative assessment is not just giving tests and quizzes more frequently. When assessment is truly formative, the evidence that is generated is interpreted by the teacher and the student and then used to make adjustments in the teaching and learning process. In other words, the formative assessment generates feedback, and that feedback is used to enhance student learning. Formative assessment is therefore fundamentally an interpretive process: It is less about the structure, format, or timing of the assessment and more about the function and use by both the teacher and student (Wiliam 2011). For teachers of mathematics, the heart of this process is making sense of and understanding student thinking in relation to content goals.


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