Abstract
The present study investigated the relation between values of a test and the testing method, focusing on the following aspects of the testing method : the teachers’ approach to informed assessment and the test contents. Informed assessment was defined as explaining to students about the purpose of the test or the grading standards. Data were collected from 1358 students from 6 junior high schools and 4 senior high schools, using a self-report questionnaire. Results of a multilevel analysis showed that the teachers’ approach to informed assessment was positively correlated with the students’ perception of the test’s role in their improvement, and negatively correlated with their perception of the test’s role as enforcement. Furthermore, the present results suggest that the students who understood their teachers’ approach to informed assessment and considered the test questions to be practical were more likely to have positive values of tests, and those who considered the test questions to be factitive were more likely to have negative values. The results also suggested that the students’ school and achievement goals had little effect on the above relationship.
