‘Complex teaching realities’ and ‘deep rooted cultural traditions’: Barriers to the implementation and internalisation of formative assessment in China

This article forms the first part of an Action Research project designed to incorporate formative assessment into the culture of learning of a bilingual school in Shanghai, China. It synthesises the empirical literature on formative assessment in China to establish some of the di culties that teache...

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Main Author: Poole, Adam
Format: Article
Published: Cogent OA 2016
Subjects:
Online Access:https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/48741/
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author Poole, Adam
author_facet Poole, Adam
author_sort Poole, Adam
building Nottingham Research Data Repository
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description This article forms the first part of an Action Research project designed to incorporate formative assessment into the culture of learning of a bilingual school in Shanghai, China. It synthesises the empirical literature on formative assessment in China to establish some of the di culties that teachers have faced in trying to incorporate this approach into their teaching. Some of the barriers include student and teacher resistance and notions of face (mianzi) which are also related to deeply held cultural scripts for teaching and learning that emphasise knowledge transmission and respect for the teacher. The article then explores some of the bottom-up solutions that have been suggested by researchers, such as collaborative dialogue, professional development and international perspectives. These suggestions pro- vide a jumping-o point for o ering intercultural communicative competence as a concept and a method that could be e ective in ameliorating cultural discontinuities. Throughout, I show how the difficulties and solutions highlighted by empirical research relate to my own teaching context. Although intercultural communicative competence is not new to China, its application to the internalisation of borrowed policies that include formative assessment has yet to be explored.
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spelling nottingham-487412021-04-02T08:01:37Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/48741/ ‘Complex teaching realities’ and ‘deep rooted cultural traditions’: Barriers to the implementation and internalisation of formative assessment in China Poole, Adam This article forms the first part of an Action Research project designed to incorporate formative assessment into the culture of learning of a bilingual school in Shanghai, China. It synthesises the empirical literature on formative assessment in China to establish some of the di culties that teachers have faced in trying to incorporate this approach into their teaching. Some of the barriers include student and teacher resistance and notions of face (mianzi) which are also related to deeply held cultural scripts for teaching and learning that emphasise knowledge transmission and respect for the teacher. The article then explores some of the bottom-up solutions that have been suggested by researchers, such as collaborative dialogue, professional development and international perspectives. These suggestions pro- vide a jumping-o point for o ering intercultural communicative competence as a concept and a method that could be e ective in ameliorating cultural discontinuities. Throughout, I show how the difficulties and solutions highlighted by empirical research relate to my own teaching context. Although intercultural communicative competence is not new to China, its application to the internalisation of borrowed policies that include formative assessment has yet to be explored. Cogent OA 2016-03-16 Article PeerReviewed Poole, Adam (2016) ‘Complex teaching realities’ and ‘deep rooted cultural traditions’: Barriers to the implementation and internalisation of formative assessment in China. Cogent Education, 3 . 1156242/1-1156242/14. ISSN 2331-186X formative assessment; cultural scripts; cultures of learning; China; intercultural communicative competence https://www.cogentoa.com/article/10.1080/2331186X.2016.1156242 doi:10.1080/2331186X.2016.1156242 doi:10.1080/2331186X.2016.1156242
spellingShingle formative assessment; cultural scripts; cultures of learning; China; intercultural communicative competence
Poole, Adam
‘Complex teaching realities’ and ‘deep rooted cultural traditions’: Barriers to the implementation and internalisation of formative assessment in China
title ‘Complex teaching realities’ and ‘deep rooted cultural traditions’: Barriers to the implementation and internalisation of formative assessment in China
title_full ‘Complex teaching realities’ and ‘deep rooted cultural traditions’: Barriers to the implementation and internalisation of formative assessment in China
title_fullStr ‘Complex teaching realities’ and ‘deep rooted cultural traditions’: Barriers to the implementation and internalisation of formative assessment in China
title_full_unstemmed ‘Complex teaching realities’ and ‘deep rooted cultural traditions’: Barriers to the implementation and internalisation of formative assessment in China
title_short ‘Complex teaching realities’ and ‘deep rooted cultural traditions’: Barriers to the implementation and internalisation of formative assessment in China
title_sort ‘complex teaching realities’ and ‘deep rooted cultural traditions’: barriers to the implementation and internalisation of formative assessment in china
topic formative assessment; cultural scripts; cultures of learning; China; intercultural communicative competence
url https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/48741/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/48741/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/48741/