Formative assessment of students from a Confucian heritage culture: Insights from Japan

• Published in: Assessment and evaluation in higher education Vol. 45; no. 2; pp. 180 - 192
• Main Author: Wicking, Paul
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Abingdon Routledge 17.02.2020; Taylor & Francis Ltd
• Subjects: Academic Achievement; Asian Culture; Cognitive Style; College students; Competition; Confucian heritage culture; Confucianism; Cultural Background; Cultural heritage; Data collection; English (Second Language); English as a foreign language; Equal Education; Family Relationship; Foreign Countries; formative assessment; Formative Evaluation; Japan; Learning processes; learning-oriented assessment; Private Colleges; Self evaluation; Student Evaluation; Student Experience; Students; Summative Evaluation; Teacher evaluations; Teacher Role; Undergraduate Students; Japan
• ISSN: 0260-2938; 1469-297X
• DOI: 10.1080/02602938.2019.1616672

Since the turn of the century there has been increasing interest in educational assessment and the ways in which it can encourage or discourage effective learning processes. Much of this interest has centered around formative assessment and those practices which can promote student learning through the act of being assessed. Societies that have a Confucian heritage culture are widely believed to prioritize summative assessment at the expense of formative assessment. This will inevitably impact the ways in which students from these countries approach and engage with assessment tasks. The present study seeks to understand the dispositions of students from one Confucian heritage culture though the analysis of quantitative and qualitative data. The conceptions and experiences of university students in Japan were studied in order to provide direction for the development of formative assessment practice. Two data collection instruments were used: a self-report survey and a narrative frame task. The results indicate that students from Japan approach assessment tasks in a way that is at odds with some popular Confucian categories, such as intense competition, a desire to please the family, and the priority of book knowledge above practical skill. The paper concludes with pedagogical implications for teachers.