A GROUNDED THEORY APPROACH TO THE STUDY OF CLASSROOM ASSESSMENT PRACTICES OF TEACHERS IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN KAZAKHSTAN
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Date
2016-07
Authors
Tynybayeva, Madina
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Graduate School of Education
Abstract
Nowadays Kazakhstan is in the process of reforming secondary education. Reforms
include the transition from 11-year to 12-year schooling, implementation of new curriculum,
trilingual education, and new assessment system. However, the current situation in secondary
schools, in terms of teachers’ classroom teaching and assessment practices, is understudied.
The aim of the present research is to study teachers’ classroom assessment practices in grades
six to eight of secondary schools in Kazakhstan. There are two research questions in this
study:
RQ1: What are teachers’ classroom assessment practices in secondary schools in
Kazakhstan?
RQ2: How do teachers understand the assessment practices they use in the
classrooms?
For the study a qualitative grounded theory design is employed. Data-driven theory
formation approach is used throughout the data collection, data analysis, and discussion of
the results of the analysis. Document study, lesson observation, individual interviews and
focus group interviews are used as the research methods. Participants in the study were
twenty-five teachers in two schools with Kazakh medium of instruction and two schools with
Russian medium of instruction. Two of these schools were situated in the urban area and two
in the rural.
The main findings were built from empirical data analyzed using NVivo software. In
total, sixty sources of data were collated and thirty-four were used for analysis: official
documents, audio files with interviews, word files with transcribed interviews, protocols with
lesson observations. The research resulted in the emergence of four main categories around
which the theory was built. First, the answer to the research questions was sought through the
prism of the professional development of the participating teachers and how professional
development impacts the practices in the classroom. Second, the link between classroom
assessment and teachers’ individual pedagogical style was identified. Third, the external
factors that put pressure on teachers and their classroom assessment practices were revealed.
Finally, in the framework of current reform of secondary education, teachers’ different
reactions to the changes and reforms in the education were discussed.
The study has a significant role in contributing to international empirically-based
theory on assessment practices and perceptions of school teachers, and should be of particular
interest to researchers interested in school education reform in post-Soviet and Central Asian
contexts. It may also provide insights for those involved in proposed reforms of the education
system in Kazakhstan.
Description
Keywords
Type of access: Restricted, Kazakhstan, education reform, classroom assessment practices, secondary schools, qualitative research, grounded theory design
Citation
Tynybayeva, M. A. (2016). A grounded theory approach to the study of classroom assessment practices of teachers in secondary schools in Kazakhstan. Graduate School of Education