Chapter 8: Student Conceptions of Assessment Across Cultural and Contextual Differences: University Student Perspectives of Assessment from Brazil, China, Hong Kong, and New Zealand

Assessment serves the dual purposes of evaluating students (e.g., for the award of course grades or qualifications) and improving performance by providing feedback to teachers and students. Conventionally, and especially in examination-driven systems and cultures, students were ‘victims’ of externally administered and mandated assessments. However, more recently, in both compulsory schooling and higher education, students are expected to be active participants in assessment, through self- and peer-assessment, so as to improve the quality of their learning. Since beliefs, values, and attitudes (i.e., conceptions) are strong predictors of behavior, it seems important to understand what students think about the nature, purpose, and effect of assessment. Furthermore, since self-regulation of learning involves both active self-examination of learning outcomes and preparation for evaluative, accountability testing, it is logical that student conceptions of assessment could be either adaptive or maladaptive towards learning achievement. Additionally, while the general improvement and evaluative purposes of assessment are universal, there appear to be culturally unique notions attached to assessment and uses for it within different jurisdictions and, to the degree that conceptions about educational activities are ecologically rational these differing priorities ought to be reflected in the conceptions of assessment.