The effects of formative assessment on students' participation in an English language program

Formative assessment has a vital impact on student learning and both the students and teachers systematically gather the evidence of learning with the aim of furthering students' learning. Black and Wiliam (1998a) state that assessment refers to all the activities undertaken both by teachers and students in assessing themselves. The data are used as feedback to make necessary adjustments. Such kind of assessment is formative assessment when the evidence is actually used to adapt the teaching to meet students' needs. Being a part of their learning, students participates in this teaching and learning process. They can keep trace of their progress, close the gap, assess their own learning and understand their needs and skills. Furthermore, this type of assessment helps students participate in their own learning and it increases their participatory involvement in lessons. Thus, this study was conducted to find out the effects of formative assessment on students' participation in an English language program. Semi-structured interview, teacher journal and teacher notes and weekly reflection sheets were used to collect the data. The results of the study showed that formative assessment had positive effects on students' participatory involvement in the lessons. Keywords: Formative Assessment, Fixed Curriculum, Participation