Assessment in Education and Learning: Theories, Tensions and Issues
by Tng Ya Wen Valerie
Typically, when the word assessment is mentioned, the first thing that comes to mind is academic assessment. This is especially evident in Singapore schools where the assessment focus tends to be on the academic grades of the students and their learning gaps. However, besides academic assessment, another piece of assessment work that takes place in schools, which is no less important, is the assessment of student conduct. Though it is not in the spotlight as much as academic assessment, the assessment of student conduct should not be taken lightly. This is because the behavioural expectations embedded in the assessment of student conduct sets the foundation for the students to develop habits that are likely to persist when the students leave school and enter the workforce. This paper explores some of the issues in the way assessment of student conduct is typically done in schools and suggest possible approaches to refine it.
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Harnessing the potential of dialogic feedback to enhance learning for students with dyslexia
by Siti Asjamiah Binte Asmuri
Research on the efficacy of dialogic feedback practices on students’ learning has largely focused on higher education. Its effectiveness on struggling learners and those diagnosed with dyslexia accessing mainstream education has not been sufficiently explored. As these students also continue to pursue higher education and become part of the tertiary student population, it is imperative that their perspectives and experiences with feedback practices and processes are also looked into.
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Responding to scholarly views on formative assessment
by Eugene Lee Fook Loong
Formative assessment was initially conceived as a contrast to the traditional role of summative assessment, a process of judging and evaluating students’ learning. The term formative was first used by Scriven (1967) to clarify the different purposes of curriculum evaluation. Benjamin Bloom subsequently extended this notion to formative assessment to reflect processes that seek to provide students “feedback and correctives” at each stage of the learning process and used “primarily as an aid for teaching” (Bloom, 1969, p. 48). In their response to the over-emphasis of summative testing in UK schools, Black and Wiliam (1998a, 1998b) conducted an extensive literature review on formative assessment and provided evidence on its effectiveness in increasing student achievement in schools. Black (2001) rationalises why schools need to focus on formative assessment to improve intended curriculum outcomes: “… formative assessment has a powerful effect on the gap between the intended and the achieved, and [there is] evidence that current practice is weak so that the gap is wider than it should be” (p. 8).
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