This literature review examines two major areas: firstly, the impact of teachers’ knowledge about formative assessment on teachers' practices in the classroom; secondly, the role of formative assessment in raising students’ metacognition and how formative activities lead to raising students’ self-awareness and self-regulation. This paper also aims to shed light on the interdependence relation between formative assessment and teaching in general. Ten different primary studies relevant to formative assessment and its effects on teaching/learning have been chosen to investigate the formative assessment in relation with the school subjects and particularly with English as a Foreign Language. The data was collected by exploring different electronic websites. The results of this literature review show that teachers' knowledge of the formative assessment has significant influencing factors on their practices and on supporting students’ metacognition; however, the implementation of formative assessment continues to be hazy.

Matematik är ett av kärnämnena i grundskolan och att behärska matematik är av stor betydelse för varje elev och för samhället i stort. I internationella matematikprov så har svenska elever presterat sämre på senare år jämfört med tidigt 2000-tal, även med hänsyn tagen till en uppåtgående trend de senaste tio åren. Genom åren har det varit allt fler elever som fått ett underkänt betyg i matematik i grundskolan. I denna studie undersöktes orsakerna bakom fenomenet ändrade elevprestationer i matematik ur ett lärarperspektiv. För detta ändamål så gjordes intervjuer med sex grundskole- och gymnasielärare. Intervjuerna analyserades genom en fenomenografisk analysmetod vars syfte är att finna olika perspektiv på fenomenet förändrade prestationer i matematik utifrån lärarnas upplevda erfarenhet av fenomenet och dess underliggande orsaker. Studien finner tre teman av upplevda beskrivningar av fenomenet: läraryrket, omvärlden, och elever. Underteman presenteras där respondenterna beskriver sina föreställningar om orsaker till elevers förändrade prestationer i matematik. Lärarnas uppfattning om elevers prestationer i matematik överensstämmer med empiriska data på en nedgång i elevers prestationer på internationella matematikprov och elevers sjunkande betyg i matematik. De beskrivna uppfattningarna av orsakerna bakom detta är förändringar i lärarnas status och auktoritet, förändringar i lärarnas kompetens i matematik och lärarutbildningen, samt hemmets och samhällets minskade roll i att erbjuda praktiskt lärande i vardagen. / Mathematics is a core subject in elementary school whose mastery is of great importance for the individual student and society as a whole. Swedish students have performed poorly in standardized international mathematics tests in later years compared to the early 2000s—even accounting for a positive trend for the past ten years. There is a growing share of students that do not receive a passing grade in mathematics in elementary school. The purpose of this study is to explore the reasons behind the phenomenon changes in students’ performance in mathematics from a teacher-perspective. Six elementary and high school teachers were interviewed. The data was analyzed through a phenomenographic lens whose purpose is to find different perspectives of the phenomenon, through the teachers’ lived experiences of the phenomenon and its underlying causes. This study finds three themes common to the teachers’ experiences: the teaching profession, external factors, and the students. The teachers’ description of the phenomenon is in accordance with empirical data showing lower results in international mathematics tests and an increase in the share of students that do not pass mathematics. This phenomenon is described as being a result of changes in the status of the teaching profession, diminishing teacher authority, changes in teachers’ competencies and the teacher training programs, as well as changes in the roll of households and society in offering daily practical learning opportunities.