Using Assessment for Learning: Multi-Case Studies of Three Chinese University English as a Foreign Language (EFL) Teachers Engaging Students in Learning and Assessment

Abstract

Student engagement is an important issue in learning and teaching given its positive effects on students' learning outcomes. Assessment for Learning (AfL), an assessment and pedagogic innovation, if done well, can fully engage students in the learning and assessment process. Adopting a multi-case design, the present study explored how Chinese university English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers used AfL to facilitate student engagement in their classrooms and what factors influenced their AfL practices. Three EFL teachers were recruited on a voluntary basis from two universities in Northwest China. Data collected from semi-structed interviews, stimulated recall interviews, and classroom observations suggested that teacher participants demonstrated differed assessment practices, representing Assessment of Learning (AoL), convergent, and divergent AfL, respectively. Three factors: teacher assessment literacy, teachers' beliefs about the relationship between goal orientation and motivation, as well as a trusting relationship between teachers and students, were identified as contributing to teachers' different assessment practices. Our study calls for teacher educators' efforts to equip teachers with necessary assessment-related knowledge and skills, encourage teachers to negotiate learning goals with students, and help teachers establish a trusting environment in their classrooms, if AfL is to be fully embedded in classroom instruction.

Exploring teachers’ attitudes and self-efficacy beliefs for implementing student self-assessment of English as a foreign language writing

“…With respect to the limited number of studies that have focused on university level students (e.g., Liu, 2002 ; Zheng et al, 2007 ; Wang, 2016 ; Wu et al, 2021c ), Liu’s (2002) study appears to be the first one using self-assessment in the English writing classes. Findings of Liu’s study suggested that Chinese university students’ self-assessment reliability appeared to be affected by students’ English proficiency.…”

“…Teachers’ perceptions of assessment practices are deemed as significant indicators of their assessment literacy and assessment approaches ( Looney et al, 2018 ; Wu et al, 2021c ). Further, teachers’ initiatives and attitudes toward self-assessment are closely associated with the growth of student self-assessment capabilities ( Tan, 2007 ; Bourke, 2014 ).…”

“…Student-centered assessment approaches, such as self-assessment, afford students more opportunities to engage actively in their learning and assessment process. However, “a fine-tuned self-assessment ability does not come automatically to all students” ( LeBlanc and Painchaud, 1985 , p. 675; see also Gan, 2012 ; Reynolds et al, 2021 ; Wu et al, 2021c ; Gan et al, 2022 ). That can only be developed with teachers’ support and empowerment throughout the learning journey ( Sadler, 1989 ; Panadero et al, 2016a ): first to raise awareness among learners of the benefits of self-assessment; second to provide guidance on, and materials for, conducting self-assessment; and third to help learners understand the significance of the results ( Gardner, 2000 ).…”

Enhancing Students’ Self-Efficacy in Creativity and Learning Performance in the Context of English Learning: The Use of Self-Assessment Mind Maps

“…Self-assessment refers to “a process during which students collect information about their own performance, evaluate and reflect on the quality of their learning process and outcomes according to selected criteria to identify their own strengths and weaknesses” ( Yan and Brown, 2017 , p. 1248). In the self-assessment process, students are encouraged to take responsibility for their learning by acting as not only recipients of assessment but also designers and users of assessment ( Wu et al, 2021b ). Therefore, self-assessment is a learning process, rather than an assessment method, that provides students with ample learning opportunities ( Yan and Carless, 2021 ).…”

Authoring Selves in Language Teaching: A Dialogic Approach to Language Teacher Psychology

“…In China, with the accelerated pace of economic development and opening-up, the Chinese Ministry of Education (MoE) launched a new round of curriculum reform nationwide to meet the challenges of globalization. The Outline of the National Medium and Long-Term Education Reform and Development Plan (2010–2020) made it clear that the country has an increasing demand for employees with high levels of foreign language competence ( Chen et al, 2021 ; Liu et al, 2021 ; Wu et al, 2021 ), in particular, English language proficiency, considering English as a lingua franca ( Kecskes, 2019 ). Thus, a higher bar has been set for foreign language education and a distinct orientation toward developing students’ communicative competence and intercultural literacy can be found in MoE’s goal statements.…”