Student Conceptions of Assessment: Regulatory Responses to Our Practices

Abstract

Purpose: Universities assess and evaluate students concerning competence in essential disciplinary knowledge and skills. Those assessments impact learners’ attitudes, beliefs, and emotions. Negative impacts may be overcome if students regulate their responses to assessment and feedback. Design/Approach/Methods: This article systematically locates research studies that cite three key early papers around student conceptions of assessment (SCoA). A narrative synthesis is based on 22 papers. Findings: In addition to the SCoA, 11 different research inventories reveal a variety of regulatory responses that are enhanced when assessments are deliberately formative, fair, and trustworthy. There is broad interest in this phenomenon but little consistency in methods and even the SCoA has little consistency in factor structure across jurisdictions. Only one study provided an objective behavioral measure to validate self-reports, which are the dominant form of research. Originality/Value: This review gives readers insights into how assessment influences student thinking and how student cognition can regulate success.

¿Qué piensan los niños sobre la evaluación? Ciudad Barranquilla, Colombia

“…Algunos estudios han investigado las concepciones de estudiantes acerca de la evaluación en contextos universitarios (Brown, 2022;Flórez et al, 2019) y de secundaria (Wormeli, 2023;Noonan y Duncan, 2019;Solomonidou y Michaelides, 2017), pero muy pocos han sido llevados a cabo con estudiantes de infantil o primaria (Murphy et al, 2010). Asimismo, los estudios de Brown y colaboradores con estudiantes de secundaria neozelandesesa han encontrado que, aquellos que conciben la evaluación como parte de su proceso formativo, permitiéndoles hacerse responsable de su propio proceso de formación, obtienen mejores resultados de aprendizaje; mientras que aquellos que conciben la evaluación como algo divertido y que debe ser ignorado obtenían bajos resultados (Noonan y Duncan, 2019).…”

Self-regulation, self-confidence, and academic achievement on assessment conceptions: an investigation study of pre-service teachers

“…The conceptions of assessment have been defined as an individual or subjective understanding of assessment, including information, beliefs, feelings, and what assessment means to teachers and students (Brown, 2022). Many researchers examined the conceptions of assessment among teachers, trainee teachers, and students in different educational settings, including schools, colleges, and higher learning institutions.…”

Responding to Assessment for Learning

“…• student self-serving inaccuracy within self-assessment (Brown & Harris, 2014) • the inter-personal relationships that distort peer assessments and feedback • the difficulties in getting students to do the formative work we set (Harris, Brown, & Dargusch, 2018) • the reluctance of students to use the feedback we provide (Harper & Brown, 2017) • the reluctance of students to classify AfL practices as assessments that link to their performance , and • the tendency of students to pay attention only to assessment practices that have consequences for their own future (Brown, 2021) Thus, I consider these AfL teaching practices are not assessments, partly because they happen too quickly to be properly documented for public inspection and subsequent verification of the validity of the interpretations being made by instructors. Students are sensitive to teacher assessment practices (Peterson & Irving, 2008;Remesal, 2009), but independent of systematic student evaluations of teaching, their perspectives are not normally available to correct inappropriate practices.…”