Teachers' Qualitatively Different Ways of Experiencing Assessment Feedback: Implications for Teacher Assessment Literacy

Abstract

Assessment feedback is an important aspect of teacher assessment literacy which can be understood along three interrelated dimensions: conceptual in terms of conceptions teachers have of feedback, praxeological regarding feedback practice, and socio-emotional which relates to how teachers attend to the emotional dynamics of assessment from the students' perspective (Pastore & Andrade, 2019). This paper presents the findings of a phenomenographic study involving 15 teachers in Singapore schools that explored their qualitatively different ways of experiencing assessment feedback. Drawing on the variation theory perspective, the analysis of interview data resulted in five teachers' conceptions of assessment feedback that shed light on the non-static nature of feedback engagement. These conceptions represent the variation in teachers' qualitatively different ways of experiencing assessment feedback, and ranged from feedback as inspection of students (emphasizing mistakes) to feedback as introspection for students (emphasizing reflection on feedback). The findings show the potential that teachers can aspire to move from level to level, depending on contexts and students. Insights on the continuum of teacher assessment feedback literacy are drawn. Implications for developing teacher assessment literacy are discussed to assist teachers in reviewing their conceptions of assessment feedback beliefs and enhancing assessment feedback practices beyond improving academic learning.