Appropriation and Actualization of a Formative Assessment Initiative at a Chinese Local University: The Power-Process Nexus

Abstract The past two decades have seen formative assessment claim legitimacy in policy discourse and engender immense tensions within the testing-dominated assessment regimes of multiple educational settings. These tensions, along with the top-down approach of the policy process, have made the inroads of formative assessment in local contexts very complex. This study seeks to unveil the localized appropriation and actualization of a formative assessment initiative in the College English area at a Chinese local university. The focus is on how the key actors at the institutional and classroom levels appropriate and negotiate the policy meaning within their local community of practice. Analysis of an individual interview with the dean and a focus-group interview with six teachers has revealed a “two-hand” approach Two-hand approach: “Grasp with both hands and both hands be hard” is a literal translation of late Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping’s well-known initiative, meaning to try to attach equal importance to two things in hand. to the national policy and a nested mediation from local constraints, “cultural tools for thinking” and, more importantly, power in the policymaking process at the institutional level. The classroom level, on the other hand, witnesses capable teachers exercising their agency within a limited space. As a result, we would caution that power and agency could be solid mediators in the policy process and need to be exercised with care to ensure a more coherent implementation of assessment innovations.