Formative assessment and motivation: Theories and themes

The crisis of ineffective learning interactions in schools was expressed in 1998 by Black and Wiliam: ‘in terms of systems engineering, present policies in many countries seem to treat the classroom as a black box’. Since that time many nations have adopted formative assessment as a key strategy for improving classroom instruction and student engagement. The ‘black box’ is an object of criticism because it functions primarily as a receptive system where certain inputs from the outside such as standards and tests with high stakes are fed into the box. It is now widely understood that such learning environments reduce the opportunity for meaningful learning interactions inside the classroom and diminish the motivation to learn among students. This article assumes an international perspective, examining the theory of self-determination (SDT) and various socio-cultural theories on motivation and how they intersect with formative assessments.