Investigating Identity-related Assessment Practices and Decisions in EMI: A Narrative Inquiry

Abstract

Research in Assessment Literacy AL has long focused on the knowledge and skills that assessors need to ensure that their assessments are fair and accountable. However, assessors are not neutral, and they bring to their assessment design and interpretations more of their backgrounds, past assessment experiences and beliefs about assessment. For this, researchers called for the need to go beyond assessment literacy to explore the human and the social conditions of assessment (Brown et al., 2016) particularly Assessment Identity AI (Looney et al., 2017). This thesis aims to capture the extent to which assessors’ identities influence assessment-related decisions and practices. This issue is most evident in contexts where the focus of the assessment is not English, like in the context of English Medium Education/Instruction EME/EMI, as assessors need to make some decisions that can be aligned or opposed to their conceptualisation of English and their first language. However, research on assessment in EME/EMI contexts is scarce (Macaro et al., 2018). In response to this call and to fill this gap in EME/EMI research, this study explored assessors’ identity regarding the assessment practices in a Problem-Based Program PBL in a Saudi medical school from the Positioning Theory PT perspective. The aim is to explore agents' positions of themselves and others regarding the use of English in their assessment practices. Additionally, this study aims to explore the functions of English and Arabic used in PBL assessment in the light of agents’ positions. The study also aims to explore the consequences of agents’ positions on their observed and self-reported assessment practices and decisions. Positioning is one approach to identity exploration in which researchers can access identity as displayed and negotiated narratively in interaction (Davies & Harre, 1990; De Fina, 2013). Therefore, the data of this study were collected from observing academics (N=7) as they assessed their students in PBL sessions (N=20). Academics were then invited to interviews (n=7), and their students (n=41) participated in seven focus groups. The data were small stories collected from the participants and analysed employing the Small Story Approach to narrative (Bamberg & Georgakopoulou, 2008) and through the lens of Bamberg’s refined version of Positioning Theory, the Three Positioning Levels (Bamberg, 1997). Further analysis was conducted at positioning level one utilising the Identity Navigation Spaces (Bamberg, 2020). At positioning level three, a thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2006) was also conducted to connect the stories and the data to the macro level (master narrative) of assessment in EME/EMI contexts. Findings showed that agents’ positioning of themselves and others has significantly influenced their assessment practices and decisions. For example, an academic’s decision to assess English in EME was found to be the result of his concerns that students would make a life-threatening mistake as a result of their miscommunication with other staff in the hospital. This was evident in his story about himself when he committed a similar mistake. Additionally, the functions of Arabic and English were found to be conceptualised in light of agents' positions. Therefore, in addition to the pragmatic reasons for using a specific language code for assessment, identity-related factors were also found to be relevant. Moreover, positions were found to have consequences on assessment decisions, providing more insights into how identities are performed in action. These consequences are not only evident at the discursive level in the interviews but were also observed in the PBL sessions. This study contributes to understanding assessors’ identity in EMI, which can be central to fair and sustainable assessment practices and thus ensure quality classroom assessment. It also expands the knowledge of EME assessment in the unique assessment context of PBL. Additionally, the study contributes to Positioning Theory by acknowledging the role of agency in linking positions to performed identities. It also provides some practical implications for EME assessment practices by highlighting the need to take the human and social dimensions of assessments into consideration when planning EME assessment.