Teachers’ Beliefs and Practices of Cooperative Group Work Assessment: Selected Secondary School Teachers in Focus

Abstract

Group work assessment is still a hot issue which is not yet resolved. This study was to investigate secondary school teachers’ beliefs and practices of cooperative group work assessment. In view of this, 213 teachers were selected randomly for questionnaire survey. Besides, two teachers and five students were also selected at each study site for interviews and focus group discussion (FGD), respectively. In order to analyze the data acquired through questionnaire, one-sample t-test was applied. To examine the relationship between teachers’ beliefs and practices of cooperative group work assessment, Pearson product moment correlation was used. To analyze data obtained through interview and FGD, qualitative verbal descriptions were employed. The findings showed teachers’ had favorable beliefs towards cooperative group work assessment. To the contrary, the assessment practices of group work were partial with focus on group product, with diminutive or no assessment of group process and individual contribution to the group work. From the results of this study, it has been recommended that concerned Education Bureaus have to organize on job training for teachers on cooperative group work in general and assessment of group work in particular.

Keywords: belief, practice, assessment, group work, assessment belief, assessment practice

DOI: 10.7176/RHSS/10-7-03

Publication date: April 30^th 2020