Examining classroom grades as complex communication

Permanent URL: http://hdl.handle.net/2047/D20196341
Title:
Examining classroom grades as complex communication
Creator:
Bourassa, Jennifer L. (Author)
Contributor:
Brown-Thompson, Corliss (Advisor)
Conn, Kelly (Committee member)
Dobrin, Carson (Committee member)
Language:
English
Publisher:
Boston, Massachusetts : Northeastern University, 2015
Date Accepted:
May 2015
Date Awarded:
August 2015
Type of resource:
Text
Genre:
Dissertations
Format:
electronic
Digital origin:
born digital
Abstract/Description:
For the past one hundred years or more, educational specialists have been admonishing classroom teachers to standardize their grading practices but have met little success. Most research into classroom grading practices indicates that both teachers and students are comfortable with the current system of "hodge-podge" methods of grade construction. Many researchers view teachers as resistant to changes in grading construction due to a lack of assessment education. However, other studies of teacher attitudes toward grading suggest that teachers view grading as complex and relational. This polar case study research investigated the construction and interpretation of grades as a form of complex communication. The findings suggest that although assessment researchers often view grading as a simple process, the teacher in this study viewed grading as a highly subjective and complicated procedure, deeply connected to her view of herself as a teacher. The implications of the case study are for further mixed-methods studies that would quantitatively examine educational measurement specialists' recommended practices alongside qualitative studies that examined how the communicative properties of grading were impacted by new grading practices.
Subjects and keywords:
classroom grading practices
communication
grading
polar case study
rhetorical transaction theory
secondary education
Grading and marking (Students) -- Case studies
High school students -- Rating of -- Case studies
Communication in education -- Case studies
High school teachers -- Attitudes
Teacher-student relationships
Rhetoric
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17760/D20196341
Permanent Link:
http://hdl.handle.net/2047/D20196341
Use and reproduction:
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