Abstract:
Within models and theories of formative assessment practice, New Zealand educators seek to activate students as self-regulating owners of their learning. e-asTTle, an online formative eassessment tool developed in New Zealand, provides teachers and students with results and feedback in the form of a Student Speak Individual Pathways report. How these reports were received and processed by students became an area of interest at the subject school, as questions arose around students’ emotional reactions, ability and desire to engage with the document, their perception of its usefulness for learning, and particular mediating factors. A mixed methods study, in which data were sequentially collected from questionnaires and subsequent interviews, was designed to address an identified gap in e-assessment research pertaining to young students. The study asked the question, “How do interpersonal feelings, reading ability and reading selfefficacy relate to the way Year 5 students react, respond to and use e-asTTle results as presented in the Student Speak Individual Learning Pathways (SSILP) report? Analysis established a positive correlation between students’ interpersonal feelings and their overall emotional reactions, between their emotional reactions and perception of the report’s usefulness and between their response to the report (in terms of their ability and desire to engage with it) and their perception of its usefulness. It revealed that, during the period of the study (two school terms), a growing number of students saw performance-related feedback as more important than learning-related feedback and also revealed an emerging use of vocabulary and terminology related to the New Zealand National Standards within students’ written and verbal comments even though these standards are not represented anywhere on the SSILP report. These findings highlight the need for students to be well prepared and equipped in order for them to engage purposefully with their SSILP reports, collaborate effectively with teachers and peers to form shared understandings and perceive their reports as being valid and useful for their learning.