Student assessment experience and academic achievement in higher education: The mediating effect of self-regulation

A growing amount of research evidence proves the powerful influence of feedback on student learning and performance. The processes of formative assessment and feedback can empower students to control their own learning and become self-regulated learners and therefore enhance their academic performance. However, little is known about how student perceptions of formative feedback relate to students’ self-regulated learning and academic achievement in English writing. The current study aimed at examining whether self-regulation mediates the relationship between students’ feedback experience and learning achievement in English writing. A total of 1,200 undergraduate students in English major at three universities in mainland China was investigated after a pilot study was carried out with a smaller sample size of 100 students from the same population. Two instruments were employed for data collection in the current study, namely the Assessment Experience Questionnaire (AEQ) for formative feedback and the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ) for self-regulated learning. Three subscales (quantity and timing of feedback, quality of feedback, and what you do with the feedback) of AEQ and the cognitive self-regulation subscale (rehearsal, elaboration, organization, and critical thinking) from MSLQ were used to collect data. Academic scores in English writing were also collected. Self-reported survey responses for students’ perceptions of formative feedback (SPFF), self-regulated learning strategies (SRLS), and final score of English Writing Course (FSoC) were evaluated with confirmatory factor analysis and then a structural equation model. A model had been tested with SRLS as mediators between SPFF as predictors and FSoC as learning outcome. Mediation analyses results showed that how students perceived formative feedback predicted their academic achievements in English writing directly and indirectly through self-regulation. Implications for enhancing the student learning process and academic achievement through students’ assessment experience were discussed. Copyright © 2018 HKERA International Conference.