ABSTRACT This research project had three aims. The first was to investigate the culture of literacy assessment in English classrooms during the first year of high school. The second aim was to examine the interplay of elements of classroom-based literacy assessment including: the use of alternative assessment methods, tasks, and practices; the influence of principles of literacy assessment, discourses related to literacy assessment, and teacher-student interactions in classrooms. A third aim was to develop an understanding of the perceptions of the participants related to literacy assessment during one school year. Two studies were undertaken to achieve these aims. The preliminary study surveyed Year 8 English teachers in Queensland, Australia about their perceptions and practices of literacy assessment. The survey composed of open and closed questions was sent to 100 state high schools. Data from the 120 returned surveys were analysed using quantitative and qualitative techniques. The main findings from the survey were that Year 8 teachers knew little about their students' previous experiences of literacy assessment. Teachers perceived that students needed to understand the assessment program in high school. However, teachers recognised that students faced difficulties in dealing with new regimes of assessment. While teachers were positive about their assessment programs, they were also concerned about their lack of expertise in assessment and their recording procedures. Tensions between teachers' expectations of their students and their values and practices suggested that a further exploration of literacy assessment was required in classroom settings. This exploration was undertaken in the main study. The main study comprised a detailed investigation of literacy assessment in two Year 8 English classrooms using a longitudinal, qualitative research design. Data were collected systematically from multiple sources, numerous times throughout one school year. Data gathering methods included observations, interviews, document collection, videotaping, ranking activities, and collecting participants' accounts of literacy assessment events. A range of qualitative analysis techniques was applied to each form of data. The main study found that while teachers had some autonomy in assessment, they were also constrained by the requirements of assessment programs outlined in syllabus documents. In these programs, teachers are responsible for the development, implementation and marking of up to ten assessment tasks during the year. An analysis of teachers' programs and practices identified task sheets as key assessment texts. They were used in multiple ways by the teachers and their students. Students' understandings about task sheets varied, their comprehension of task sheets was limited, and they understood less than their teachers expected. The pedagogy of literacy assessment was dominated by implicit teaching and centred on completing assessment tasks. The teachers adopted authoritative positions in assessment talk and there were limited opportunities for students to participate in the assessment process. In talk around assessment, students were introduced to institutionalised ways of valuing and doing assessment. Teachers' detailed explanations of tasks had limited effects on students' learning, and during the year there was increasing student resistance to these explanations. The teachers' and their students' understandings of tasks and assessment were incongruent. However, the teachers and students did share a focus on assessment as a goal in itself. Purposes for completing tasks such as developing new literacy skills were not evident in participants' accounts. Although the first aim of the study was to investigate the culture of assessment, multiple cultures of assessment were identified. The study also concluded that in these classrooms there were multiple discourses related to assessment which were co-constructed by teachers and students during assessment related activities. These discourses were not always shared and were understood in different ways by the teachers and students. Implications were drawn from these findings about directions for future research including: broadening the research to other contexts, continuing investigations of classroom-based assessment theory and practice, and further longitudinal studies of students' perceptions. Implications for practice focused on re-examining the purposes and focus of assessment in the first year of high school, increasing teachers' and students' awareness of the complexity of the assessment process, and improving the development and construction of task sheets. The study is an example of how a longitudinal approach using a range of research strategies, drawn from both quantitative and qualitative paradigms, can be effectively applied to investigate classroom-based literacy assessment. The study also provided a framework for the investigation of classroom-based literacy assessment practices which might be applied to other research contexts. The findings reveal that the implementation and use of alternative approaches to assessing literacy in the high school context provided no easy answers to issues related to principles, practices and student participation in assessment. Finally, the findings from the study have revealed the importance of developing an understanding of the perspectives of all classroom participants if the effectiveness of assessment as a teaching and learning tool is to be optimised for all learners.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/253753 |
| Creators | Moni, Karen Bradshaw |
| Source Sets | Australiasian Digital Theses Program |
| Detected Language | English |
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