Narrative-based assessment of university-level achievement

Narratives represent depictions of factual or fictional events that coherently incorporate explicit or implicit messages, meanings, and interpretations. Although they can play a significant role in the teaching and learning process at all levels of education, the evaluation methods for assessing student achievement through narratives are not always clearly defined. Therefore, the aim of this exploratory study is to examine the possibility of defining and applying assessment criteria for student responses presented in narrative form, in relation to the intended learning outcomes in the domains of knowledge acquisition and the development of socio-emotional competencies. The analysis was conducted on students? assigned narratives, in which they were required to describe personal experiences using concepts and theories covered in the lesson. The study presents assumptions for identifying assessment indicators, explicates their connection to educational goals and learning outcomes at both course and lesson levels, and introduces two main domains for evaluating student achievement: the acquisition of factual and conceptual knowledge and the assessment of socio-emotional sensitivity (including emotional awareness and expression, empathy/perspective-taking, and conflict resolution). The paper further provides a detailed explanation of the quantification process for each indicator and includes examples of student narratives that illustrate the proposed evaluation approach. Finally, the study highlights the advantages, as well as the limitations, of this method of student achievement assessment.