How first-year students perceive and experience assessment of academic literacies

Abstract

First-year university students’ underdeveloped academic literacies can lead to dissatisfaction and poor performance. University teachers find it difficult to take action without an understanding of students’ perceptions and needs. This study investigates first-year Chinese students’ perceptions and experiences related to assessment of academic literacies in an English-as-a-foreign-language university context. The datasets include student focus groups at two different time points over their first university year, self-reflective essays written by students at the end of the year, and audio records of nine units of teaching in three teachers’ classes. Findings highlight that fostering students’ academic literacies incorporates both linguistic development and epistemological adaptation. Students held mixed feelings towards alternative assessment other than examinations. Their personal learning goals of using English in everyday scenarios dampened their commitment to teachers’ goals of developing learners’ academic literacies. Findings suggest assessment can be an effective ‘card’ played by teachers to nurture students’ appreciation of new learning goals, communicate areas for improvement in learning strategies, and demonstrate their visible progress.     

A framework for classroom assessment,learning, and self-regulation

ABSTRACT

We present a conceptual framework that leverages synergies between classroom assessment (CA) practices and self-regulated learning (SRL) theory to support academic growth and instruction. We articulate the processes shared by CA and SRL, drawing on a model of SRL with three phases: forethought, performance, and self-reflection. We blend this SRL model with CA to create the CA:SRL framework in four stages: (1) pre-assessment, (2) the cycle of learning, doing, and assessing, (3) formal assessment, and (4) summarizing assessment evidence. We elucidate how SRL processes are involved at each stage and can be drawn on to support learning development and teacher understanding and co-regulation of learning. This framework is important in that it depicts how assessment and learning processes interact dynamically for both teachers and students in classrooms, and demonstrates that such interactions encompass the full breadth of purposes in CA, from planning through summation of evidence.     

Making sense of learning for work. Towards a framework of transitional learning

In this article a framework is presented to understand the changing character of individual learning processes and of educational practices related to work and employment. Based on two research projects - a research on women's biographical learning in relation to work and a European research on the socio-economic integration of young adults - a perspective of transitional learning is developed. It is argued that nowadays individual learning processes can be understood as processes of transitional learning aimed at creating meaningful connections between individual life and society via work and adult education. This interpretation, together with the changing educational landscape, calls for a reconsideration of the interventionist role of the adult educator. In order to stimulate and support these learning processes, guidance, training and counselling are becoming reflexive activities in need of interpretive professionals.     

Towards a better theoretical framework for studying learning from educational television

Drawing in particular on Open University experience, this article attempts to set out a theoretical framework for understanding how people learn through television. The first part of the framework sets out the organisational factors which appear to influence learning from television. The other parts look at the different processes of coding information and meaning which are found in different media, and argue the need to study how learners discriminate between, absorb, and transform these coded meanings.     

Towards a framework for the validation of early childhood assessment systems

American early childhood education is in the midst of drastic change. In recent years, states have begun the process of overhauling early childhood education systems in response to federal grant competitions, bringing an increased focus on assessment and accountability for early learning programs. The assessment of young children is fraught with challenges; psychometricians and educational researchers must work together with the early childhood community to develop these instruments. The purpose of this paper is to present a conceptual framework for the validation of such instrumentation and examine its implications for early childhood educators. We formulate a validity argument for early childhood assessments providing a pivotal link between validity theory and early education practice. Recommendations for the assessment field are also considered.     

Enabling and aligning assessment for learning: some research and policy lessons from Queensland

Drawing on the Queensland School Reform Longitudinal Study (QSRLS), this paper documents the assessment practices of about 250 Queensland primary and secondary classrooms and the extent to which they align with those pedagogical practices described as ‘productive pedagogies’ in the research. In considering the extent of this alignment, the paper outlines in some detail the concept of ‘productive assessment’, which also developed out of the research. The QSRLS demonstrated the necessity of aligning pedagogies and assessment practices with curriculum purposes to enhance student learning and contribute to socially just outcomes. A lack of visible alignment in the assessment practices of teachers in the study is demonstrated and discussed. When considered in conjunction with the low intellectual demands of the pedagogies observed, there are serious social justice implications to be drawn from the research. The paper also shows the significance of systemic assessment policies in relation to teacher assessment practices. The paper conceptualizes ‘productive assessment’ in relation to broader sociological considerations of assessment practices. Some possible explanations for the findings are proffered and some brief recommendations about a way forward in relation to teacher professional development around assessment literacy are suggested.     

Towards leadingful leadership literacies for higher education management

This paper locates ‘leadingful leadership literacies’ as a lens for considering changing contexts for leadership and work in higher education management. It makes a contribution to higher education leadership studies by offering an empirical account of expanded notions of leadership. These extend the field beyond those unwilling to critique managerialist knowledge claims. I will argue that not only managerialist practices per se are of concern as we face discontinuous change in the sector – changes which move well beyond rationalist truth claims – but that these remain largely unchallenged and have moved into spaces that should be (re)claimed by leadership.     

Student voice as a methodological issue in academic literacies research

Academic literacies research has been identified as an emerging but significant field in higher education. This article extends the discussions around methodology in academic literacies research by drawing on the current text and context debates in sociolinguistics and linguistic ethnography. It uses illustrations from a recent academic literacies research project to reflect on methodology and to emphasise the importance of a prolonged engagement with participants’ writing practices and experiences as well as the collection and analysis of a range of types of data to allow the researcher to become more familiar with the context. Methods such as allowing students to interpret their own writing, classroom observation and students’ written literacy histories gave the researcher real insights into the way students made connections to their own familiar contexts in order to learn. The research also highlighted the manner in which communication between students and teaching staff can break down because teachers misinterpret student utterances when they do not understand or know the contexts that the students are drawing on. At the same time, however, the researcher sounds some caution about the use of dialogue in ethnographic methodologies because communication is a two-way process and allocation of linguistic resources has been unequal. Therefore, where students’ resources do not match the context, they may struggle to communicate with the interviewer and to interpret their written texts. In these cases, interviewees who are first language speakers from privileged schooling backgrounds may be able to contextualise and interpret their writing more fully than interviewees who are speakers of English as a second or foreign language and who come from poorer rural schools.     

Towards a contextualized model of team learning processes and outcomes

Existing review studies on team learning present integrated models, suggesting general applicability to any team. However, such models neglect the influence of the team type and its developmental stages. These context-specific characteristics may create variety in team learning processes and outcomes among teams. In this theoretical contribution, we revisit the most recent generic team learning model developed by Decuyper, Dochy, and Van den Bossche (2010). Taking this model as a starting point, we present a context-specific model for ad hoc multidisciplinary emergency management teams. The developed model can fuel future research on team learning in teams with comparable characteristics. It supports the development of tools to evaluate them and offers the rationale for training programs aiming to increase the quality of their interventions.     

Framing the curriculum for participation: a Bernsteinian perspective on academic literacies

Academic writing is challenging, particularly for new undergraduates who can struggle to know what is expected of them. Research into Academic Literacies often presents academic literacy practices as a barrier to the academy, excluding those not familiar with and those not able to participate in those practices and positioning them permanently on the periphery of the academic community. In seeking to explore how curricula should be designed to counter exclusion, this paper brings three theoretical frameworks together: Academic Literacies; Communities of Practice; and Bernstein's conceptualisation of the classification and framing of knowledge. Together, they provide a multi-layered understanding of how students are positioned by academic literacy practices: Academic Literacies illuminates the ‘problem’; Communities of Practice provides an analytical perspective on the process of exclusion; and Bernstein's work offers pedagogical insights into how academic literacy practices can be reimagined as a bridge, rather than as a barrier, to the academic community.     

The scrumpled geography of literacies for learning

This paper draws upon the experience of the Literacies for Learning in Further Education research project in the UK. The project explored the literacy demands of a number of curriculum areas and the literacy practices of students in their everyday lives, in order to identify those ‘border literacies’ which may act as resources for learning and attainment within their college courses. Drawing on Literacy Studies and aspects of actor-network theory, this article outlines the conceptual innovations that we found necessary arising from our data analysis, extending existing work on situating practice and boundary crossing to posit a conceptual landscape that we term the scrumpled geography of literacies for learning. This landscape is one in which purification, naturalization and translation are key concepts, where literacy practices are enacted as network effects of a folding of a range of micro-practices into conglomerations.     

Using assessment criteria as learning criteria: a case study in psychology

In this paper it is argued that the current trend of making assessment criteria more explicit in higher education may have a deleterious effect on students' learning. Helping students to concentrate on assessment criteria paradoxically means that they may take a strategic approach and end up focusing on the superficial aspects of their assessment tasks, rather than engaging in meaningful learning activity. One solution might be to re‐conceptualize assessment criteria as ‘learning criteria’ using Biggs' principle of constructive alignment in curriculum development and delivery. To illustrate how this can work in practice, a case study is presented detailing the development of a counselling psychology module over several years to progressively incorporate a text‐based adaptation of the problem‐based learning approach. Student evaluations of the approach are presented together with some examples of feedback given on students' work to demonstrate the effects on students' understanding and functioning knowledge     

Implications of academic literacies research for knowledge making and curriculum design

This article explores the issue of what academic literacies research can bring to the study of knowledge and curriculum in higher education from a theoretical perspective and by means of illustrations from a work in progress academic literacies research project in the natural sciences. It argues that reading and writing are central to the process of learning in any discipline and that discipline specialists need to take this into consideration when planning their curricula. It also considers what knowledge means in the context of academic literacies research and how this conception of knowledge may differ from the knowledge structures researchers’ concern with knowledge as an object with its own properties. It comes to the conclusion that academic literacies research with its ethnographic-type exploration of social practice and theorisations of knowledge in the knowledge structures research can complement one another because each field of enquiry brings a lens that the other lacks.     

Discipline-specific feedback literacies: A framework for curriculum design

Higher Education - Feedback literacy is an important graduate attribute that supports students’ future work capacities. This study aimed to develop a framework through which...     

Social support,academic adversity and academic buoyancy: a person-centred analysis and implications for academic outcomes

The present study employed person-centred analyses that enabled identification of groups of students separated on the basis of their perceptions of social support (home and community), academic support, academic adversity and academic buoyancy. Among a sample of 249 young people, including many from high-needs communities, cluster analysis revealed three distinct groups of students: the thriver, supported struggler and at-risk struggler. We compared the three groups on their academic motivation. Analyses revealed significant differences between groups in adaptive motivation outcomes, but no differences in impeding or maladaptive motivation outcomes. Combined, the results speak to the importance of support and academic buoyancy for positive student outcomes.     

Supporting academic literacies: university teachers in collaboration for change

This article deals with an action research project, where a group of university teachers from different disciplines reflected on and gradually extended their knowledge about how to support students’ academic literacy development. The project was conducted within a ‘research circle’ [Bergman, L. 2014. “The Research Circle as a Resource in Challenging Academics’ Perceptions of How to Support Students’ Literacy Development in Higher Education.” Canadian Journal of Action Research 15 (2): 3–20], in which the teachers engaged in a continuous dialogue where experience-based and research-based knowledge could meet. The two-year long process was divided into three phases: exchange of experiences and knowledge, small-scale empirical investigations in the participants own teaching, and presentations of the outcome of the research circle work. The main focus in this article is the second phase. The choice of small-scale-investigations, and how they were discussed and developed in the collaborative work, will be foregrounded as well as the changes that occurred in the participants’ teaching practices and how the participants value the outcome of the research circle work.     

Signifying authenticity in academic practice: a framework for better understanding and harnessing portfolio assessment

Portfolios are an assessment tool that help frame expectations of personal professional learning about teaching in higher education, a key dimension of academic practice. In this paper, we review our experiences in both supporting academic colleagues to develop a teaching portfolio, and in their assessment. We argue that the authenticity of the account offered is key: participants should aspire to render an authentic account of themselves, their context, actions and their professional stance. Likewise, assessors need to verify that an account is authentic. We posit five signifiers of authenticity: biographical/professional context; practice development and experience of practice; integration of core concepts and key ideas from the literature, especially evaluation and conceptions of teaching; purpose and values in continuing professional learning (CPL); coherence of writing, vocabulary used, writing style, etc. These are intended to help course leaders and conveners of CPL activities to articulate what it is that is being sought from participants, and hence clarify expectations for both participants doing the learning and for disciplinary colleagues assisting with the assessment.     

The CREDIT project: Towards a generic framework for assessment and accreditation—a prototype for childcare

Many individuals throughout Europe acquire knowledge and skills in an informal manner for which they find no official recognition. Procedures for assessment and accreditation are meant to help individuals in finding recognition of previously gained competencies. The CREDIT (Capabilities, Registration, Evaluation, Diagnosis and advice through Internet Technology) project develops a computer system that supports the assessment and accreditation process and provides advice on further training possibilities tailored to the level of knowledge and skills of individuals.