Perception of students about Continuous Assessment Methods and its relation to Students’ Achievement and Motivation

Abstract

Background Assessment is one of the most important aspects of university education since it has such a big influence on students' learning processes and results. Continuous assessment (CA) is a technique for improving the quality of students' learning throughout time. It offers a lot of benefits and a few drawbacks. The purpose of this research is to examine students' perceptions of CA and correlate it with their academic results and intrinsic motivation. Methods The study employed a mixed study design, using both qualitative and quantitative data. Quantitative data has been collected using an online-based questionnaire using the Google form platform and the students' grades, while qualitative data was collected through focus group discussions. Factor analysis using varimax rotation was used to analyse the perception of students about CA and presented using descriptive statistics alongside correlation tests to correlate students’ perception with achievement and intrinsic motivation while the qualitative data was thematically analyzed. Results The factor analysis of the students' perception of CA revealed three factors: the usefulness of CA, beneficial effects of CA, and adverse effects of CA. CA's perceived usefulness was high (Mean: 4; SD:.53) on a 5-point Likert scale, and almost all students saw CA as a motivator to study on a regular basis. The perceived beneficial effects were very high (Mean: 4.33; SD:.59), whereas the perceived adverse unwanted effects were very low (Mean: 1.67; SD:.55). The students’ achievement (grade) was positively correlated with the usefulness and beneficial effects of CA, while it was negatively correlated with the adverse effects of CA, which was statistically significant. Qualitative data also revealed three major themes, namely "advantages of CA", "disadvantages of CA", and "intrinsic vs. extrinsic motivation". The study also found that CA has improved extrinsic motivation rather than intrinsic motivation. Conclusion Even though the present study found that CA is useful for students' regular study and improved students' achievement both in CA and the final grades, on the other hand, the study also revealed that CA had increased students' extrinsic motivation rather than the intrinsic one. Therefore, for better application and use of CA, the structure of the course and student characteristics should be taken into account. Discussing with students about the goal and advantages of continuous assessment may be the key to mitigating the potential adverse effects of continuous graded assessments while also raising students' engagement in non-graded regular assessment