Improper accountability: Towards a theory of critical literacy and assessment
Author(s)
Wyatt-Smith, Claire
Griffith University Author(s)
Year published
2000
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
While critical literacy has recently become a pervasive discourse in policy and professional materials, there remains a most surprising silence about the theory and practice of assessment of students' performances and products in critical literacy classrooms. As the title of this paper suggests, our purpose is to move towards a theory of critical literacy and assessment, with the focus of the latter being on formative assessment designed to enhance classroom learning. Specifically, our intention is not to privilege either critical literacy or formative assessment theory, but rather to critique each from the vantage point of ...
View more >While critical literacy has recently become a pervasive discourse in policy and professional materials, there remains a most surprising silence about the theory and practice of assessment of students' performances and products in critical literacy classrooms. As the title of this paper suggests, our purpose is to move towards a theory of critical literacy and assessment, with the focus of the latter being on formative assessment designed to enhance classroom learning. Specifically, our intention is not to privilege either critical literacy or formative assessment theory, but rather to critique each from the vantage point of the other. In this way, we challenge various silences to speak about: the teaching-learning contract; mastery and apprenticeship; a dialogic relationship between teacher and student; and values and evaluation. In examining current theorising of the bases of formative assessment of students and critical literacy, we identify and explore tensions in that practice of assessment, and suggest a way beyond apparent impasses. Central to the discussion is a redefining of the nature of accountability in the theory and practice of critical literacy and assessment.
View less >
View more >While critical literacy has recently become a pervasive discourse in policy and professional materials, there remains a most surprising silence about the theory and practice of assessment of students' performances and products in critical literacy classrooms. As the title of this paper suggests, our purpose is to move towards a theory of critical literacy and assessment, with the focus of the latter being on formative assessment designed to enhance classroom learning. Specifically, our intention is not to privilege either critical literacy or formative assessment theory, but rather to critique each from the vantage point of the other. In this way, we challenge various silences to speak about: the teaching-learning contract; mastery and apprenticeship; a dialogic relationship between teacher and student; and values and evaluation. In examining current theorising of the bases of formative assessment of students and critical literacy, we identify and explore tensions in that practice of assessment, and suggest a way beyond apparent impasses. Central to the discussion is a redefining of the nature of accountability in the theory and practice of critical literacy and assessment.
View less >
Journal Title
Assessment in Education: Principles, Policy and Practice
Volume
7 (1)
Publisher URI
Copyright Statement
© 2000 Taylor & Francis. Please refer to the journal's website for access to the definitive, published version.
Subject
Specialist studies in education
Education systems