Influence of Students’ Perception of Classroom Assessment Practices on Their Learning Approaches at Senior High Schools in Sefwi Wiawso Municipality

Abstract

The study examined the influence of students’ perception of classroom assessment practices on their learning approaches at senior high schools in Sefwi Wiawso Municipality. Five research questions were explored with two hypotheses. The descriptive survey research design was employed. A total population of 4514 students were identified for the study. The study included a sample size of 357 participants, however only 260 completed replies were used to analyse the data. Questionnaires (i.e., SPAQ and Revised Approaches to Studying Inventory) were adapted for the study. Permissions were sought from the appropriate quarters at every stage of the data collection and all data collected from responses were kept confidential. The data collected were analysed with descriptive statistics (i.e., means and standard deviations) and inferential statistics (i.e., MANOVA and multivariate multiple linear regression). It was found that, with the exception of student involvement which was a positive significant predictor of students’ use of surface learning approach, none of students’ perception of assessment practices substantially predicted their use of a learning approach. It was concluded that the students were consulted or involved in assessment task decisions, the more likely they were to employ the surface learning approach. Teachers in the Sefwi Wiawso Municipality are encouraged to desist from involving students in assessment task decisions since it leads to the employment of the surface leaning approach or rote learning