Abstract

Assessing and giving feedback on learning is a complex task for teachers and poses a challenge for early teacher training, since there are various approaches and representations regarding evaluation in scholastic culture. However, there are few studies which offer empirical evidence on such representations in future teachers. This study explores the meanings which 112 students of pedagogy at a university in south-central Chile attribute to assessment and feedback. The technique of natural semantic networks was used as the method to account for implicit representations based on natural constructs. Quantitative analysis of answers indicates that a majority of terms related to assessment are linked to the discourse of technical rationality, while the concept of feedback is associated with cognitive and performative processes. These findings may be related to a transition toward formative assessment.