A scoping review on the notions of Assessment as Learning (AaL), Assessment for Learning (AfL), and Assessment of Learning (AoL)

Abstract

Associations between assessment and learning are widely studied and often organized around the notions of Assessment as Learning (AaL), Assessment for Learning (AfL), and Assessment of Learning (AoL). Although these notions are appealing in theory, the notions are unclear constructs to comprehend, as both their definitions and their practice are used inconsistently in educational research. We present a synthesis of common characteristics among these notions, based on a scoping review on definitions and descriptions of AaL, AfL, and AoL (131 studies). The synthesis of common characteristics consists of nine themes that refer to how educational assessment relates to learning. The themes are grouped into: 1) Student-teacher roles and relationships within assessment; 2) Assessment learning environment; and 3) Educational outcomes of assessment. Then, we used the themes within the synthesis to analyze the results of the included empirical studies on their contributions to practice (84 studies). The synthesis provides stakeholders with a clear and integrative view of how educational assessment relates to learning and may be beneficial to educators to support and design their assessment practices. We argue that the notions of AaL, AfL, and AoL should be seen in coherence with one another in order to establish an assessment culture that facilitates students’ learning maximally.