Assessment preferences of preservice teachers: analysis according to academic level and relationship with learning styles and motivational orientation

This study analyze the preferences of preservice teachers about different assessment procedures, and the relationship of these preferences with the students’ academic levels, learning styles and motivational orientations. The participants were 248 students in the Teaching degree program (124 first-year students and 124 in their third-year). The results confirmed that the preferences were structured on the basis of two orthogonal dimensions (preferences for conventional and non-conventional methods). There is also a sharp reduction in preferences for conventional procedures depending on the academic level considered, while a slight increase is observed in preferences for non-conventional ones. The preference for non-conventional procedures is associated with a deep learning style, methodical study, and elaborative learning, as well as an intrinsic orientation toward learning, the task value, and academic self-efficacy. Preference for conventional procedures is associated with elaborative processing, an extrinsic orientation toward learning, the task value, and an internal locus of control.