Educational Assessment in Tanzania by Joyce Kahembe & Liz Jackson

Author:Joyce Kahembe & Liz Jackson
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9789811599927
Publisher: Springer Singapore

3.4.2 The Impact of Teacher Practices on Student Experiences

Studies identify two major approaches students take to learning: a deep approach and a surface-level approach. A deep approach is related to the qualitative level of processing and understanding of information, in which learning is conceived to occur as a learner engages deeply in interpreting and processing content knowledge. A surface approach to learning is based upon memorisation of course material and acquiring of facts and procedural knowledge, rather than processing them. Students who take a surface-level learning approach are conceived to take in knowledge and reproduce it. In a deep approach to learning, they do not just take in new knowledge, but integrate new knowledge with their ideas in knowledge construction processes (Boulton-Lewis, Smith, McCrindle, Burnett, & Campbell, 2001).

Teachers’ practices influence students’ approaches to learning (Richardson, 2005; Vermetten, Lodewijks, & Vermont, 1999). In other words, students’ approaches to tasks depend in part on teachers’ practices, such as how a teacher delivers content and assists students and engages them in learning processes (Richardson, 2005). Students taught by teachers who use a transmission mode of teaching or teacher-dominant teaching practices are likely to adopt a surface approach to learning (Kember, 1997; Säljö, 1979). On the other hand, students taught by teachers who used active teaching practices, such as learner-centred pedagogies, are likely to adopt a deep approach to learning.

There are also associations of students’ approaches to learning and learning outcomes and quality of learning (Biggs, 1996; Watkins & Biggs, 1996). Student learning outcomes can be defined as specific, observable, and measurable results to be expected after a learning experience (Marton & Säljö, 1976). Measurable learning outcomes provide evidence of what learning has been acquired in relation to a specified programme. Learning outcomes can be measurable and achievable at cognitive, behavioural, or affective levels (Bloom, 1968). However, learning outcome measures at school are often more focused on cognitive outcomes than on affective or psychomotor characteristics (Biggs, 1996; Marton, Watkins, & Tang, 1997).

Cognitive outcomes of learning are prescribed quantitatively or qualitatively based on what a student has learned, grasped, or comprehended in a subject (Marton & Säljö, 1976). Qualitative learning outcomes are associated with deep understanding because the measure of learning is focused on how students develop their ability, construct meanings, and understand and relate content within their environment. Quantitative learning outcomes are associated with surface understanding because the measures focus on how students acquire facts and procedural knowledge or master key concepts.

Learning outcomes are associated with factors such as teachers’ instructional practices and the nature of the assessment system, students’ background knowledge, and students’ approaches to learning. For example, teachers’ uses of higher cognitive-level questions engage students in deep approaches to learning to answer questions and, henceforth, they can better develop qualitative learning outcomes, for processes such as critical thinking and problem solving (Storey, 2004). Teachers’ uses of instructional practices such as inquiry-based methods, discussions, and laboratory practices are best practices for developing high-quality student knowledge (Lederman, 1992). Teachers’ instructional practices, students’ approaches to learning, and learning outcomes are thus intersecting, reciprocal processes.

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