Classroom Assessment as a Boundary Activity in Teacher Professional Learning: A Case Study From Singapore

• In Event: Marriott Roundtable Session 24
  In Roundtable Session: Classroom Assessment Across the Content Areas

Abstract

In this qualitative research, I trace teachers’ “practical reasoning ladders” when practicing classroom assessment, which plays important mediating roles between knowledge, beliefs, and contextual demands on teaching. The main argument of this paper is that classroom assessment can contribute to a better understanding of the opportunities for teacher professional learning and of what happens when teachers make decisions about adapting the proposed changes in the exam-oriented educational system. This argument is grounded in the qualitative analysis of classroom teaching of six English language teachers in four primary schools in Singapore. In these cases, I show how teachers’ “practical reasoning ladders” can serve as a frame for a deeper understanding of classroom assessment as a boundary activity for teacher professional learning.

Authors

• Heng Jiang, National Institute of Education - Nanyang Technological University

• Malathy Krishnasamy, Nanyang Technological University

• Terence Song An Titus Chia, National Institute of Education - Nanyang Technological University

• Ria George, National Institute of Education - Nanyang Technological University