Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Relationship Between Science Teachers’ Conceptions of Assessment of Students’ Academic Performance and Their Instructional Approaches

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Chinese Science Education in the 21st Century: Policy, Practice, and Research

Part of the book series: Contemporary Trends and Issues in Science Education ((CTISE,volume 45))

Abstract

This chapter reports on a mixed-method empirical study of teachers’ conceptions of assessment of students’ academic performance, their instructional approaches, and the relationship between the two variables. Data sources included interviews of 16 teachers and questionnaires completed by 196 teachers in Foshan, Guangdong Province, China. Teachers’ conceptions of assessment of students’ academic performance were investigated through interviews, while the relationship between the teachers’ conceptions and their classroom practices was explored through correlation analysis of teacher questionnaires. It was found that the participating teachers’ conceptions of assessment could be classified into five categories: management-oriented, examination-oriented, instruction-oriented, ability-oriented, and subject-oriented conceptions. Additional characteristics of the teachers’ conceptions included: (a) a teacher may hold multiple conceptions at the same time; (b) the teachers’ conceptions are context dependent, i.e., a teacher may have different conceptions in different contexts; and (c) the teachers’ conceptions are heavily influenced by the National College Entrance Examination. Furthermore, the study found that the relationship between teachers’ conceptions of assessment and their instructional approaches was very weak, which suggests that the teachers’ classroom practices are not determined by what they think but heavily influenced by certain external factors, such as the college entrance exams. The limitations and implications of the research are also discussed.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 129.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 169.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 169.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    The three experts who did validity inspection of the questionnaire were a university professor who specializes in curriculum and instruction, an instructional researcher from a local educational authority, and an experienced high school science teacher. The main feedback from the experts was that using the phrases “college entrance exam” and “high school entrance exam” instead of “official exam” would be better because it was much more specific and readable for the teachers completing the questionnaire . As the result, three items were revised.

  2. 2.

    The mapping plane is used to identify teachers’ conceptions of assessment. Its structure is determined partly by preset dimensions and partly by data collected. For this case, the original four preset dimensions were reduced to three because the data collected did not support one of the four. The five Cs representing the five conceptions were also determined by collected key words and phrases.

  3. 3.

    For more details about Likert scale, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Likert_scale.

References

  • Biggs, J. B. (1987). Student approaches to learning and studying. Melbourne: Australian Council for Educational Research.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brown, G. (2004). Teachers’ conceptions of assessment: Implications for policy and professional development. Assessment in Education, 11(3), 301–318.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gao, L. (2004). A study of Chinese teachers’ conceptions of teaching (English version). Wuhan: Hubei Education Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gao, L., & Watkins, D. (2001). Identifying and assessing the conceptions of teaching of secondary school physics teachers in China. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 71(3), 443–469.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hau, K.-T., Wen, Z., & Cheng, Z. (2004). Structural equation model and its applications (结构方程模型及其应用) (p. 45). Beijing: Educational Science Publishing House (In Chinese).

    Google Scholar 

  • Jin, S. (2003). A study on scientific literacy conceptions of primary school science teachers (小学科学教师科学素养观研究). Unpublished Master’s thesis. South China Normal University. Guangzhou (In Chinese).

    Google Scholar 

  • Johnson, R. B., & Onwuegbuzie, A. J. (2004). Mixed methods research: A research paradigm whose time has come. Educational Researcher, 33(7), 14–26.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Johnson, R. B., Onwuegbuzie, A. J., & Turner, L. A. (2007). Toward a definition of mixed methods research. Journal of Mixed Methods Research, 1(2), 112–133.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Liang, S. (2005). A study on environment education conceptions of primary school teachers (小学教师环境教育观研究). Unpublished Master’s thesis. South China Normal University. Guangzhou (In Chinese).

    Google Scholar 

  • Liang, J. (2006). A study on learning assessment conceptions of middle school english teachers (中学英语教师学习评价观研究). Unpublished Master’s thesis. South China Normal University. Guangzhou (In Chinese).

    Google Scholar 

  • Ministry of Education (MOE). (2001). Outline for basic education curriculum reform (trial version) (基础教育课程改革方案(试行)). Retrieved from http://www.edu.cn/20010926/3002911_2.shtml (In Chinese).

  • Trigwell, K., Prosser, M., & Talor, P. (1994). Qualitative differences in approaches to teaching first year university science. Higher Education, 27, 75–84.

    Google Scholar 

  • Trigwell, K., & Prosser, M. (1999). Relations between teachers’ approaches to teaching and students’ approaches to learning. Higher Education, 37, 57–70.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Trigwell, K., & Prosser, M. (2004). Development and use of the approaches to teaching inventory. Educational Psychology Review, 16(4), 409–424.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Watkins, D., Dahlin, B., & Ekholm, M. (2005). Awareness of the backwash effect of assessment: A phenomenographic study of the views of Hong Kong and Swedish lecturers. Instructional Science, 33, 283–309.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wu, M. (2003). SPSS statistical application in practice (p. 109). Beijing: Science Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhang, C. (2004). A study on information literacy conceptions of information technology teachers (信息技术教师信息素养观研究). A Master thesis of South China Normal University. Guangzhou (In Chinese).

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhang, L. (2005). A study on teaching conceptions of middle school English teachers (中学英语教师教学观研究). Unpublished Master’s thesis. South China Normal University. Guangzhou (In Chinese).

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

I really thank the reviewers and editors who provided insightful comments and valuable suggestions. I would also like to express my appreciation to the local educational authorities and secondary schools that provided crucial support to my investigation and to the teachers who accepted my interviews or/and completed my questionnaires.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Physics and Electronic Science, Hubei University, 368 Youyi Ave., Wuchang, Wuhan, Hubei, 430062, China

    Weining Wu

Authors
  1. Weining Wu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Weining Wu .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. La Salle University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

    Ling L. Liang

  2. Department of Learning & Instruction, Graduation School of Education University at Buffalo, SUNY, Buffalo, New York, USA

    Xiufeng Liu

  3. Department of Teaching and Learning, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa, USA

    Gavin W. Fulmer

Appendices

Appendices

1.1 Appendix I: Interview Protocol

1.1.1 Core Questions

  1. (1)

    About the nature of academic assessment

    1. (A)

      Have you ever heard of the concept of academic assessment? Are you accustomed to using it?

    2. (B)

      How do you understand academic assessment? What do you think of the essence of it?

    3. (C)

      Is academic assessment just testing? If so, why? If not, what is the relationship between them?

  2. (2)

    About the purpose of academic assessment

    1. (A)

      Why do you assess students’ learning? Does it help you realize your expected goal of instruction?

    2. (B)

      Does academic assessment affect your instruction and/or the learning of your students? If so, what are the effects?

  3. (3)

    About the method of academic assessment

    1. (A)

      What methods do you know that can be used to assess students? Among these, what are suitable for assessing students in the physics classroom?

    2. (B)

      What methods have you used to assess students? What are the most frequently used ones?

  4. (4)

    About the standard of academic assessment

    1. (A)

      What standard do you think should be used to assess students’ learning?

    2. (B)

      From an academic view, what kind of student do you like?

  5. (5)

    About the subject of academic assessment

    1. (A)

      Who do you think should implement the academic assessment?

    2. (B)

      In the process of implementation of academic assessment, what roles should be played by teachers, students, parents, and community?

  6. (6)

    About the object of academic assessment

    1. (A)

      In general, what should be the object(s) when assessing students?

    2. (B)

      In physics teaching, what aspect(s) will you pay special attention to when you assess students?

  7. (7)

    About the occasion of academic assessment

    1. (A)

      When do you assess your students? For example: during the process of instruction, when students are doing lab work, after a unit test, and after a term exam.

    2. (B)

      Generally, in what circumstances do you assess (praise) your students? For example: when students get good marks on an exam, when they perform well in class, and when they show originality in the lab.

  8. (8)

    About the interpretation and use of assessment results

    1. (A)

      How do you interpret the result of assessment on your students? For example: explain to the parents about the result of student’s unit test and of united exams conducted by local educational authorities.

    2. (B)

      How do you use the results of academic assessment? For example: take students’ classroom performance as their daily grade, take students’ classroom test results as the basis to diagnose instruction, and take students’ test scores as the basis for classifying students.

1.1.2 Relevant Questions

  1. (1)

    What do you think about the general circumstances of academic assessment at schools in our country? What are the favorable and unfavorable factors?

  2. (2)

    Do you believe that the college entrance exam in our country has an impact on your assessment of students? If so, in what way?

  3. (3)

    Have you ever used portfolio assessment ? If not, why? If so, how do you feel about it?

  4. (4)

    Have you ever assessed students’ lab work ability? If so, what means of assessment have you used? If not, why?

  5. (5)

    Have you ever used open-ended physics problems to assess students? If so, what kinds of problems have you used? What has been the effect of their use? If not, why?

Note. This protocol was used for teacher interviews . It contains two sections. Section 1 contains core questions which must be used for each interview , while Sect. 2 has relevant questions which may not necessarily be used for each interview; instead, it can be used as a complementary pool of questions.

1.2 Appendix II: Science Teachers’ Assessment Conception Questionnaire (STACQ)

A 36-item version of the questionnaire in which instructional and demographic parts are omitted

  1. (1)

    My aim of conducting paper-and-pen test is to prepare students for the college entrance examination (CEE).

  2. (2)

    It’s important to examine how well students have mastered the key points of the knowledge tested by CEE.

  3. (3)

    Classroom questioning can help me to be informed about the extent in which students understand my lesson.

  4. (4)

    I get myself informed of the mastery of students’ understanding of teaching content by classroom questioning.

  5. (5)

    I question students in order to improve their speaking ability.

  6. (6)

    It is important to examine the hands-on ability of the student.

  7. (7)

    It is an effective way of assessing students by doing creative experiment.

  8. (8)

    I make comment on the performance of students in order to maintain discipline in the classroom.

  9. (9)

    It is an important content with which a student should be assessed whether his performance is consistent with the teacher’s criterion.

  10. (10)

    I make comment on students’ homework in order to make them aware of the problem-solving rules requested by the CEE.

  11. (11)

    I use paper-and-pen test to examine students’ experiment ability because they examine the same ability in the same way in CEE.

  12. (12)

    It is an important content with which a student should be assessed to inspect if he/she finishes his/her homework in time.

  13. (13)

    I use classroom test to examine whether students have mastered teaching content.

  14. (14)

    It is important to examine students’ ability of oral expression.

  15. (15)

    Extracurriculum is an effective way to assess students’ comprehensive ability.

  16. (16)

    It is important to assess students according to each one’s ability characteristic.

  17. (17)

    Natural observation is an effective way to assess a student.

  18. (18)

    My aim of questioning students is to stop their unexpected behavior in the classroom.

  19. (19)

    It is important to assess a student by examining the extent in which he/she focuses on the teacher’s lecture.

  20. (20)

    It is an effective way to arouse students’ attention by questioning them.

  21. (21)

    Because the speed of problem-solving is required in CEE, usually I ask my students to fulfill each specific test within the given time.

  22. (22)

    Classroom questioning and quiz can help me know whether students have mastered the key and difficult points of my instruction.

  23. (23)

    It is important to check if a student dare to challenge academic authorities.

  24. (24)

    Exploratory experiment is an effective way to assess student.

  25. (25)

    I question students in order to arouse their thinking.

  26. (26)

    It is important to assess students’ ability of creativity .

  27. (27)

    It is important to assess a student by knowing if he/she make notes seriously in the classroom.

  28. (28)

    It is necessary to check students’ classroom notes.

  29. (29)

    It is necessary to use problems in CEE as everyday test problems.

  30. (30)

    I adopt the method of “learning competition” to guide the students to a state of examination preparation.

  31. (31)

    Because lag-behind students stand for the lowest level of mastering teaching content, I pay special attention to checking their homework.

  32. (32)

    I question students in order to arouse their learning interest.

  33. (33)

    It is important for students to be assessed by the society.

  34. (34)

    Classroom questioning can guide the students to think of problems in a right direction.

  35. (35)

    It is important for the students to be assessed by their parents.

  36. (36)

    It is important to assess the way of thinking of students.

1.2.1 Subscales of STACQ

  • Management-oriented scale: items 8, 9, 18, 19, 20, 27, and 28

  • Examination-oriented scale: items 1, 2, 10, 11, 21, 29, and 30

  • Teaching-oriented scale: items 3, 4, 12, 13, 22, 31, and 34

  • Ability-oriented scale: items 5, 6, 7, 14, 15, 24, and 26

  • Subject-oriented scale: items 16, 17, 23, 25, 32, 33, 35, and 36

  • Items dropped in data analysis: items 4, 9, 12, 16, 17, 19, 21, 30, and 34

1.2.2 Answer Sheet of STACQ

There are five numbers ranging from 1 to 5 beside each item number, and these numbers stand for specific responses:

  • Strongly disagree or is never true (SD)

  • Disagree with reservations (D)

  • Not specified or is true about half the time (NS)

  • Agree with reservations (A)

  • Strongly agree or is always true (SA)

Show your choice by ticking the number which is closest to the way you want to respond.

figure a

1.2.3 Appendix III: Approaches to Teaching Inventory

An 18-item and simplified version of ATI

  1. (1)

    It should be encouraged that a student ask questions to the teacher in the classroom.

  2. (2)

    In the classroom, I encourage my students to discuss the problems they met in their learning process.

  3. (3)

    Showing what are the key points of learning to the students is an important way to make them aware of the core knowledge of the subject.

  4. (4)

    I am used to giving a lecture to the class, from the very beginning to the end.

  5. (5)

    It is necessary for a teacher to be aware of the ideas of his/her students.

  6. (6)

    I try my best to let the students express their ideas in the class.

  7. (7)

    Problem-solving ability is a key indicator when assessing a teacher.

  8. (8)

    When preparing a lesson, what I pay special attention to is how to ensure that students attend the class in a way I wanted.

  9. (9)

    It is an essential requirement that the teacher be aware of the students’ attitude to learning.

  10. (10)

    In the class, I never miss any chance to encourage my students to work harder.

  11. (11)

    To give a good lesson, the key point is to provide students with a great deal and sufficient materials.

  12. (12)

    My main task is to be aware of the teaching content when I prepare a lesson.

  13. (13)

    Assessing a student is for the student to understand his/her own learning state.

  14. (14)

    I usually encourage my students to sum up the knowledge they learned.

  15. (15)

    It is appropriate to see a teacher as a treasury of knowledge.

  16. (16)

    In the classroom, student’s activities should be reduced to the least in order to make sure that the teachers have enough time to lecture deeply.

  17. (17)

    When teaching the class, I pay special attention to training the students according to my preset target.

  18. (18)

    I lay emphasis on lecturing content that is relevant to CEE in my class.

1.2.4 Subscales of ATI

  • Student-centered intention: items 1, 5, 9, and 13

  • Student-centered strategy: items 2, 6, 10, and 14

  • Teacher-centered intention: items 3, 7, 11, 15, and 16

  • Teacher-centered strategy: items 4, 8, 12, 17, and 18

Answer sheet of ATI is omitted here because it is very similar to that of STACQ.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2017 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Wu, W. (2017). Relationship Between Science Teachers’ Conceptions of Assessment of Students’ Academic Performance and Their Instructional Approaches. In: Liang, L., Liu, X., Fulmer, G. (eds) Chinese Science Education in the 21st Century: Policy, Practice, and Research. Contemporary Trends and Issues in Science Education, vol 45. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-9864-8_11

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-9864-8_11

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-94-017-9863-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-94-017-9864-8

  • eBook Packages: EducationEducation (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation