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.