Towards Accountability in Formative Assessment of Students’ Writing: Teachers of English Practices in Selected Secondary Schools in Kenya

Abstract

Formative assessment is a powerful strategy for improving students’ writing; however, the way such assessments are conducted can compromise their effectiveness. The Kenya National Examinations Council yearly feedback reports reveal perpetual learner underachievement in English writing skills in the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE). This points to challenges in learning of writing skills. Focused on this, the researcher sought to find the extent to which formative assessment of writing skills was conducted in a manner that promotes accountability for improving learning. This paper presents the partial findings of a much larger study that focused on teachers of English pedagogical practices in formative assessment of the writing skill. The study informed by Vygotsky’s Social Cultural Theory, adopted a concurrent mixed methods approach embedded within the mixed research design. The study involved 22 Form Four teachers and their 198 Form Four learners in Nairobi County who were selected using purposive, stratified, and simple random sampling procedures. Data was collected using a teacher questionnaire, students’ marked compositions and document analysis. Quantitative data was analysed using SPSS while qualitative data was analysed using content analysis procedures. The findings revealed that to a significant degree, learners were not assessed reliably enough to know their true ability and the shortcomings in their work that they needed to address. The findings also revealed underutilisation of evidence-based ways of evaluating students’ writing. This raises issues of accountability in monitoring learners’ progress and supporting their progress in learning. Therefore, it is essential for teachers to use reliable procedures for evaluating learners’ writing and communicate the results in a form that enables use of feedback to inform subsequent learning.