Scientific paradigm as a reference frame for the study of assessment in teaching

Abstract

The subject ofthis paper is paradigm as a frame of reference for the current study of assessment in teaching. After a review of the literature, two ways to use this concept have been identified: a pluralistic way and the one in which certain categories of assessment are examined through the empiricalanalytic, interpretive and critical-theoretic scientific paradigms. The latter system has been enriched with the additional categories of assessment and applied to the description of three typical assessment practices. The examples of such an application to practice provide a basis for the conclusion that this frame of reference enables the thorough and analytical study of assessment, understanding the meaning of different perspectives on assessment, studying the reform potential of assessment in teaching, and consideration of what brings about changes in assessment practices in the reform process. The specificfeature of theframe is the insight into paradigmatic congruence of all the didactic choices in teaching. It is a big didactic problem in the search for the starting point of the current study of assessment.