Persuaded by the critique of cultural essentialism, many critics believe that there is no defensible way of identifying distinct cultures, or of distinguishing cultural loss from cultural change, that is compatible with the normative agenda of multiculturalism. This article challenges this widely shared belief by developing a concept of culture that can withstand the critique of essentialism an...

This study was conducted to examine the impact of formative and summative assessment in the professional development of Iranian EFL Instructors at universities. Moreover, an attempt was made to figure out whether the formative assessment is more effective than the summative assessment. Since the present work is qualitative/quantitative research in nature, it was conducted within the ethnography...

BACKGROUND Though formative assessments are popular in medical education, but data to establish their educational benefits are lacking. This study was conducted to determine whether participation and performance of MBBS students in regular formative assessments are associated with positive outcomes and has measurable effects on learning. METHODS One hundred and fifty MBBS students of semester...

In management research, there is a growing trend toward formative measurement, in which measures are treated as causes of constructs. Formative measurement can be contrasted with reflective measurement, in which constructs are specified as causes of measures. Although recent work seems to suggest that formative measurement is a viable alternative to reflective measurement, the emerging enthusia...

This paper aims to increase understanding and appreciation of formative assessment and its role in improving student outcomes and the instructional process, while educating faculty on formative techniques readily adaptable to various educational settings. Included are a definition of formative assessment and the distinction between formative and summative assessment. Various formative assessmen...

Writing high-quality test questions is not an easy task. This report offers a brief summary of how to write more effective multiple choice questions and reasoning questions based on the principles of adult learning theory. The intent of this article is to present a brief overview of information for readers at a formative level who are interested in basic question-writing tips.

This study questions a common practice of using item weights for construct validity tests in the application of formative measurement. The practice does not confirm to the theoretical formation of formative constructs. A Monte Carlo simulation analysis is conducted to examine the practice. The results clearly demonstrate that item weights do not reflect the true design of the focal formative co...

Formative measurement models were first introduced in the literature more than forty years ago and the discussion about their methodological contribution has been increasing since the 1990s. However, the use of formative indicators for construct measurement in empirical studies is still scarce. This paper seeks to encourage the thoughtful application of formative models by (a) highlighting the ...