Exploring biological sciences preservice teachers’ sense-making of assessment feedback at a South African university.

Abstract

This study explored the biological sciences preservice teachers‟ understandings of assessmentfeedback. The guiding research questions focused on preservice teachers‟ understanding of assessment feedback; the type of assessment feedback they received for their assessment-tasks; how they used the assessment feedback for their assessment-tasks; and why they used it the way they did. A qualitative methodology and interpretive paradigm were used. The participants of the study were purposely selected and data was collected through questionnaires and focus-group interviews. Thirty participants completed the questionnaires and 20 were selected for the focus-group interviews. The findings of this study indicated that the Biological Sciences preservice teachers understood assessment feedback as results of assessment tasks, students‟ performance and reflection on the assessment tasks. The Biological Sciences preservice teachers received written feedback, oral feedback, feedback through face-to-face consultations and electronic feedback through emails and the module‟s e-learning site. It was evident that the Biological Sciences preservice teachers used assessment-feedback to prepare for future assessment tasks, to correct mistakes in their learning and improve their performance. The use of assessment feedback was induced by the need to strengthen conceptual understanding and improve academic performance. The findings of this study can inform how lecturers construct and deliver feedback to students.