Investigating Assessment as Learning in Second Language Writing: A Qualitative Research Perspective

Using assessment to improve learning has become a global phenomenon. Research has shown that applying assessment for learning (AfL) in classroom contexts could increase learning gains. Despite this, not much is done to substantiate how assessment as learning (AaL), a subset of AfL, has developed to support English-as-a-second-language (ESL) pupils’ learning of writing because teacher-centered pedagogy remains prevalent in the ESL educational landscape. In this article, I first introduce the idea of AaL. Second, I review five AaL studies with a focus on what research methods they adopted and evaluate whether these methods were applied appropriately. Third, I suggest four qualitative research methods that are suitable to track how AaL could facilitate pupils’ continued writing development. Fourth, I present a case study, exemplifying how I use three research methods to investigate young adolescents’ (Grade 7) mastery of AaL skills in a forthcoming project. This article ends with methodological implications, which enlighten scholars and teachers to investigate AaL in second language writing from a qualitative research perspective.