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Teachers’ Qualitatively Different Ways of Experiencing Assessment Feedback: Implications for Teacher Assessment Literacy

  • Rachel Goh

    Rachel GOH (the corresponding author) is Senior Specialist at the English Language Institute of Singapore. As a senior teacher of English language for several years, she has championed action research, led professional learning teams and mentored beginning teachers, out of which, grew her interest in teacher learning, lesson study and assessment for learning.

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    and Kelvin Heng Kiat Tan

    Kelvin TAN is Associate Professor in the Learning Sciences and Assessment Academic Group, National Institute of Education, Singapore. His areas of teaching and advisement revolve around curriculum, assessment, reflection and learning, and his current research focuses on devising ways to help learners make sense, and make use, of instructional feedback.

Published/Copyright: June 8, 2023
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Abstract

Assessment feedback is an important aspect of teacher assessment literacy which can be understood along three interrelated dimensions:  conceptual in terms of conceptions teachers have of feedback, praxeological regarding feedback practice, and socio-emotional which relates to how teachers attend to the emotional dynamics of assessment from the students’ perspective (Pastore & Andrade, 2019). This paper presents the findings of a phenomenographic study involving 15 teachers in Singapore schools that explored their qualitatively different ways of experiencing assessment feedback. Drawing on the variation theory perspective, the analysis of interview data resulted in five teachers’ conceptions of assessment feedback that shed light on the non-static nature of feedback engagement. These conceptions represent the variation in teachers’ qualitatively different ways of experiencing assessment feedback, and ranged from feedback as inspection of students (emphasizing mistakes) to feedback as introspection for students (emphasizing reflection on feedback). The findings show the potential that teachers can aspire to move from level to level, depending on contexts and students. Insights on the continuum of teacher assessment feedback literacy are drawn. Implications for developing teacher assessment literacy are discussed to assist teachers in reviewing their conceptions of assessment feedback beliefs and enhancing assessment feedback practices beyond improving academic learning.

About the authors

Rachel Goh

Rachel GOH (the corresponding author) is Senior Specialist at the English Language Institute of Singapore. As a senior teacher of English language for several years, she has championed action research, led professional learning teams and mentored beginning teachers, out of which, grew her interest in teacher learning, lesson study and assessment for learning.

Kelvin Heng Kiat Tan

Kelvin TAN is Associate Professor in the Learning Sciences and Assessment Academic Group, National Institute of Education, Singapore. His areas of teaching and advisement revolve around curriculum, assessment, reflection and learning, and his current research focuses on devising ways to help learners make sense, and make use, of instructional feedback.

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Acknowledgments

This study was funded by Singapore Ministry of Education (MOE) under the Education Research Funding Programme (OER 02/19 KTHK) and administered by National Institute of Education (NIE), Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Singapore MOE and NIE.

Published Online: 2023-06-08
Published in Print: 2023-06-27

© 2023 FLTRP, Walter de Gruyter, Cultural and Education Section British Embassy

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