Involving primary school students in the co-construction of formative assessment in support of writing

This paper describes the enlargement of the initial conception of formative assessment with reference to constructivist, sociocultural and situated theories of learning and the concept of co-regulation. It reviews research on student involvement in formative assessment practices (self-assessment, peer assessment, whole-class discussions of criteria and exemplars) in the area of writing, with a focus on primary school classrooms. Student participation in the co-construction of formative assessment is illustrated by qualitative observations from a study of a writing activity carried out in grades 5 and 6. The observations are discussed in relation to findings from other research and implications are presented for teacher professional development and for future studies of formative assessment of writing.