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Teachers’ judgements of students’ foreign-language achievement

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Abstract

Numerous studies have been conducted on the accuracy of teacher judgement in different educational areas such as mathematics, language arts and reading. Teacher judgement of students’ foreign-language achievement, however, has been rarely investigated. The study aimed to examine the accuracy of teacher judgement of students’ foreign-language achievement, uncover variables moderating the accuracy in a multilevel analysis and explore motivational and emotional characteristics of misjudged English learning students. Five hundred five Chinese fifth-grade students and their 16 English teachers took part in the investigation. Students completed a standardized English test and a questionnaire about motivation and emotion for English learning. Concurrently, English teachers estimated each of their students’ test performance. Teachers predicted the rank order of students’ achievement very accurately but tended to overestimate students’ level of achievement. Multilevel modelling revealed that neither students’ gender, performance level and perceived teacher treatment nor teachers’ teaching experience and level of education moderated the accuracy of teachers’ judgements. Underestimated students showed the same achievement as overestimated students but had a lower self-concept, higher anxiety and more shame about English learning. Although teachers’ judgements were fairly accurate, teachers’ underestimation of students’ achievement was associated with negative motivational and emotional characteristics of students.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to sincerely thank Jiannong Shi from the Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Chenghong Jing from the Cadres Training Department, Chaoyang Branch, Beijing Institute of Education, for the great help in the course of data collection, Ronald H. Heck from the University of Hawaii at Mānoa for providing valuable statistic advice about multilevel analysis and Christine M. Rubie-Davies from University of Auckland for proofreading the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Psychology of Excellence in Business and Education, University of Munich, Leopoldstrasse 13, Postfach 64, 80802, Munich, Germany

    Mingjing Zhu

  2. Department of Educational Psychology, University of Passau, Innstr. 25, 94032, Passau, Germany

    Detlef Urhahne

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  1. Mingjing Zhu
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Correspondence to Mingjing Zhu.

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Mingjing Zhu. Psychology of Excellence in Business and Education, University of Munich, Leopoldstrasse 13, Postfach 64, D-80802, Munich, Germany. E-mail: mingjing.zhu@psy.lmu.de

Current themes of research:

Full-time doctoral student at the faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, University of Munich, Germany. Teachers’ judgements of students’ academic achievement, motivation and emotion. Domain-specific perspective. Accuracy measurement. Influences of teachers’ judgements on student outcomes.

Most relevant publications in the field of Psychology of Education:

Zhu, M. J., & Urhahne, D. (2013). Assessing teachers’ judgements of students’ academic motivation and emotions across two rating methods. Manuscript submitted for publication.

Urhahne, D., Timm, O., Zhu, M. J., Tang, M. (2013). Sind unterschätzte Schüler weniger leistungsmotiviert als überschätzte Schüler? Zeitschrift für Entwicklungspsychologie und Pädagogische Psychologie, 45, 34–43.

Urhahne, D., Zhou, J., Stobbe, M., Chao, S. H., Zhu, M. J., Shi, J. N. (2010). Motivationale und affektive Merkmale unterschätzter Schüler. Ein Beitrag zur diagnostischen Kompetenz von Lehrkräften. Zeitschrift für Pädagogische Psychologie, 24, 275–288.

Detlef Urhahne. Department of Educational Psychology, University of Passau, Innstr. 25, 94032 Passau, Germany

Current themes of research:

Professor of Psychology with special emphasis on Educational Psychology at the University of Passau, Germany. Teacher education. Motivation and emotion. E-learning. Science learning. High-ability studies.

Most relevant publications in the field of Psychology of Education:

Zhu, M. J., & Urhahne, D. (2013). Assessing teachers’ judgements of students’ academic motivation and emotions across two rating methods. Manuscript submitted for publication.

Zhou, J., & Urhahne, D. (2013). Teacher judgment, student motivation, and the mediating effect of attributions. European Journal of Psychology of Education. doi:10.1007/s10212-012-0114-9.

Urhahne, D., Timm, O., Zhu, M. J., Tang, M. (2013). Sind unterschätzte Schüler weniger leistungsmotiviert als überschätzte Schüler? Zeitschrift für Entwicklungspsychologie und Pädagogische Psychologie, 45, 34–43.

Urhahne, D., Chao, S.-H., Florineth, M. L., Luttenberger, S., Paechter, M. (2011). Academic self-concept, learning motivation, and test anxiety of the underestimated student. British Journal of Educational Psychology. doi:10.1348/000709910 × 504500.

Urhahne, D., Zhou, J., Stobbe, M., Chao, S. H., Zhu, M. J., Shi, J. N. (2010). Motivationale und affektive Merkmale unterschätzter Schüler. Ein Beitrag zur diagnostischen Kompetenz von Lehrkräften. Zeitschrift für Pädagogische Psychologie, 24, 275–288.

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Zhu, M., Urhahne, D. Teachers’ judgements of students’ foreign-language achievement. Eur J Psychol Educ 30, 21–39 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10212-014-0225-6

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