The assessment of complex tasks
A Double Reading
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 4097209 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Suellen Shay (University of Cape Town, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2005 |
| Volume | 30 |
| Issue | 6 |
| Pages | 663-679 |
| Publication date | 2005-12-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Studies in Higher Education (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0307-5079 • E-ISSN: 1470-174X |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/03075070500339988 |
| OpenAlex | W2092477083 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 36 |
| References cited | 31 |
Drawing on Bourdieu’s theory of social practice, the author challenges common‐sense notions of objectivity and subjectivity which inform assessment practice, and argues for assessment as a socially situated interpretive act. A case study of an engineering community of practice at a South African university illustrates the multiple subjectivities that shape assessors’ interpretations of student performance. This case study contributes to an understanding of academic professional judgment as a ‘double reading’ – an iterative movement between different modes of knowledge which comprise the objective and the subjective. The author concludes with a brief discussion of the theoretical and practical implications of this for how academic communities of practice come to judge and how these judgments are validated. Of all the oppositions that artificially divide social science, the most fundamental, and the most ruinous, is the one that is set up between subjectivism and objectivism. The very fact that this division constantly reappears in virtually the same form would suffice to indicate that the modes of knowledge which it distinguishes are equally indispensable to a science of the social world. (Bourdieu, 1990, p. 25)
Epistemology · Objectivism · Pedagogy · Political science · Situated · Social practice · Sociology · Subjectivism · Subjectivity · Computer Science · Evaluation of Teaching Practices · Law · Student Assessment and Feedback · Teacher Education and Leadership Studies
Language assessment in EMI
A Case Study on the Administrative Impacts of Different Engineering Capstone Teaching Modalities
Dancing with explicit criteria or marginalising them
Understanding educational development in terms of the collective creation of socially-just curricula
Extending Shay’s double truth
Not there yet
Knowledge-building in higher education research
Building knowledge for higher education
Epistemic agency
The longitudinal stability of rating characteristics in an EFL examination
Feedback as an epistemic practice
Interview assessment as compressed judgement
Behind the grades
Doing what it says on the tin? A psychometric evaluation of the Assessment Experience Questionnaire
Research project assessments and supervisor marking
What do examiners look for in a PhD thesis? Explicit and implicit criteria used by examiners across disciplines
Assessment moderation
But is it fair? Developing students’ understanding of grading complex written work through peer assessment
Indeterminacy in the use of preset criteria for assessment and grading
Let’s stop the pretence of consistent marking
Beyond a critique of grades
Social moderation and calibration versus codification
The use and value of Bernstein’s work in studying (in)equalities in undergraduate social science education
Accountability in grading student work
Assessment at the boundaries
A situative metaphor for teacher learning
External examining
Analysing an audit cycle
Situational analysis and mapping for use in education research
It sort of feels uncomfortable
Exploring the discourses around 'creativity' and 'critical thinking' in a South African creative arts curriculum
Conceptual acrobatics
Mark my words
Who's marking my essay? The assessment of non-native-speaker and native-speaker undergraduate essays in an Australian higher education context
Examining the tension between academic standards and inclusion for disabled students
The significance of conflicting discourses in a professional degree
Beyond Objectivism and Relativism
Making Social Science Matter
Communities of Practice
Shifting Conceptions of Validity in Educational Measurement
The restructuring of social and political theory
Practical Reason
The Logic of Practice
The State Nobility
Pulling Your Hair Out
Enlarging the Dialogue in Educational Measurement
Complex, Performance-Based Assessment
Educational Standards, Assessment, and the Search for Consensus
An invitation to reflexive sociology
Summative Assessment in Higher Education
Summative assessment of portfolios
An Invitation of Reflexive Sociology
Professional Vision
| Unique citing works | 36 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1,89 |
| Citation span | 2007 - 2026 (20) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 36 |