Summative assessment is designed to evaluate a student’s level of academic achievement against a set of academic standards in order to generate an overall indicator of students’ knowledge and abilities.
It also enables educators to draw inferences about the learning environment (e.g., by comparing assessment outcomes against years, amongst different groups of students, in different learning environments, etc.).
How summative assessment influences learning
The impact of assessment upon teaching and learning has been termed ‘washback’ or ‘backwash’ (Alderson & Wall, 1993). Backwash is the impact that a test may have on learners and teachers, on educational systems, and on society at large (Hughes, 2020). For example, in a full unit course, students are asked to choose three out of eight questions to answer within a high-stakes timed exam. Four questions are based on learning from each term. None of the exam questions covers topics from both terms. This assessment structure may lead students to focus on topics from one term and completely avoid engaging with topics from another term. The backwash is that the learned curriculum was narrowed to the material that was anticipated on the test. Different variables contribute to the backwash effect in different situations.
Taking a whole course approach to assessment helps educators to identify instructional opportunities (e.g., formative assessment activities) to mitigate negative backwash effects and achieve positive effects.
Alderson, J. C., & Wall, D. (1993). Does Washback Exist? Applied Linguistics, 14, 115-129. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/applin/14.2.115
Hughes, A., & Hughes, J. (2020). Achieving positive backwash. In Testing for Language Teachers (Cambridge Professional Learning, pp. 57-62). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/9781009024723.006