How does formative assessment support student performance?

Formative Assessment is a kind of assessment which is the most informative to the

educators. It will be carried out from time to time with different methods and tools and at
different time period not towards the end of the teaching. It could be a long cycle assessment,
medium cycle assessment or a short cycle assessment. Formative Assessment is characterized
to support student learning while summative assessment is more to accountability and interim
assessment will be monitoring proficiency of the students. It is as simple as with the students
putting up their hand to answer a question from the teacher could be defined as a way of
formative assessment or could be as complex as a problem solving case.
Formative Assessment helps student learning. Through this assessment the students
are more motivated to learn. This is because they are more confident in learning as their
errors could be justified almost immediately and be corrected by the teachers on the spot.
This will make the students more motivated as the learning is a continuous process and are
comfortable with the least of uncertainties. They will be taking more initiative to involve
actively with the learning process to gain new knowledge as they are always clear and
comprehend to the teachers expectation for every lesson conducted. Good communication
during the assessment will promote buddy relationship between the students and their
teachers where the barrier and shyness among the students will disappearing.
With this assessing method the students take more responsibility for their own
learning. This is because they have awareness that every individual will have their unique
problems and questions during the process of learning. The students in this case will have to
responsible to seek for the clarification themselves and not relying on their peers. The
formative assessment will shape the learning behaviour of the students and be optimistic in
searching for new knowledge. The students will know that through this assessment they are
self-responsible for their improvement. The students can become the users of assessment
alongside the educators. Not like other summative assessments which will only grade them at
the end of the learning, this method will become an on-going assessment for the teachers and
the students too. They will be able to monitor their progress from time to time in order to
strive forward. The students will be more alert on their mistakes almost at the moment they
have just made them.
The students will take up the lifelong skills for future use such as self-evaluation, selfassessment and goal setting. These are very crucial for them to improve from time to time and

becoming an autonomous learner. They will gain these skills to further upgrade and less
dependent on other party to inform them at the end of the course on their progression. This
will save up their time and to fasten the learning process again. Efficiency become higher will
more self-assessment and self-correction being conducted. The students will have better
learning management skill where they can spend the time more wisely and effectively. This is
the verdict of implementing formative assessment during their learning. The students
metacognitive skill will be higher as they are able to manage their time easier now.
Assessment through questioning and answering in the classroom also will make the
students more focused and less isolation especially in a large class. This assessment can be
carried out individually or in groups. Every student will have equal chance and time to
express their answers to the teacher and to look for the best solutions. A healthy competition
among the students could be seen non-threatening to them. This will again motivate the
students to be more aggressive in learning as they dont want to be left behind and they
competent in the subject develop the ability to communicate for what they want. The students
also will be more engage to the learning objectives and criteria in the context of the peers
work make them generate great critical thinking skill in all situation. They will have more
exposure to others mistake and learn from others mistake without going through all these
themselves.
In this assessment, the students are always placed in the centre where the teachers will
setup a good stage for them to focusing on their goals and learning outcomes. A collaborative
and constructive classroom environment will make the students more comfortable in seeking
for knowledge and this will improve their performance for sure. This again will enhance
autonomy for the teachers and also the teachers as reflections are inspired from time to time.
Formative Assessment is like a double reflector where the students will be able to monitor
their learning progression from time to time and the teachers will be able to gain useful
feedbacks from the students to do minor or even major adjustment to their teaching strategies
and pedagogies. All these will support a better performance from the students in pursuing for
their new knowledge.

Comparison between three assessment types used in formative assessment.

On-The-Fly
Formative Assessment

Planned-For-Interaction
Formative Assessment

Curriculum-Embedded
Formative Assessment

~ Teachers can know the standard of the students to what degree they have learnt.
~ Teachers can make minor modification in instruction before the next lesson.
~ Focus on the need of every student, their progress and growth individually or group.
~ Instant feedback to the educator not till the end of a course.
~ Occur in the classroom life context.
~ Correction can be done on the spot.
~ Letting the students to be more self-responsible for their own learning.
~ Provide various information and reflections for the teachers.
~ The students gained self-evaluation skill.
Unplanned test
Very short period of time
Informal assessment

Planned ahead test

Intermediate period of time
Formal assessment with

Planned ahead test

Longer period of time
Formal Assessment with

Feedback could be used

high validity
Feedback need to be

high validity
Feedbacks need to be

immediately

analysed

analysed more from many

Assessment not documented

Assessment is documented

data collected
Assessment is documented

Teachers pose the question

Teachers set the questions

systematically
Teachers set the questions to

to the students in an

before hand and mark the

be distributed in many

impromptu way and judge

answers based on a marking

phases and mark the answers

their answer on the spot

scheme

based on a marking scheme