Researching Formative Assessment

Teaching includes a range of skills and draws on the professional knowledge of the teachers. One aspect of teaching is that of formative assessment. Within the research reported here, formative assessment, as classroom-based assessment for better learning, was defined as: …the process used by teachers and students to recognize and respond to student learning in order to enhance that learning, during the learning. (Cowie and Bell, 1996) Formative assessment can be viewed as the process by which teachers gather assessment information about the students’ learning and then respond to promote further learning. It is the component of teaching in which teachers find out about the effectiveness of the learning activities they are providing. Learning activities provide common ground for the teacher-student interactions (Newman, Griffin and Cole, 1989) and through these teacher-student interaction, students receive feedback on what they know, understand and can do and they are able to generate opportunities for furthering their understanding. Feedback or dialogue is an essential component of formative assessment interaction where the intention is to support learning (Clarke, 1995; Sadler, 1989).