Working Paper

Dr M. Hosam Al Kaddour

Introduction

• Teaching Accounting and Taxation

• MANG2066 Principals of Taxation (150)

• MANG3076 Advanced Taxation (70)

• MANG6025 International Accounting and Taxation (100)

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Background

The students’ performance, the students’ learning styles and

students’ efforts.

- The logic of formative assessment—identifying learning goals,

assessing where students are with respect to those goals, and

using effective teaching strategies to close the gap—is

compelling and has led to the expectation that formative

assessment would improve students’ learning and achievement

(Ramaprasad, 1983; Sadler, 1989).

- Formative assessment is a process through which assessment-

elicited evidence of student learning is gathered and instruction

is modified in response to feedback.

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Popham points out that both teachers and students can drive instructional

changes; specifically, “assessment-elicited evidence of students’ status is

used by teachers to adjust their ongoing instructional procedures or by

students to adjust their current learning tactics ” (2008, 6).

Three components are key to this definition: evidence of students’

knowledge and understanding, the nature of the feedback given to

students, and shifts in the way that students learn.

- This paper investigates the impacts of two formative assessments

on the students’ performance in accounting.

- The first assessment oral and/or written questions the second

multiple choice questions at the beginning of each lecture.

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Study Question

• The study attempted to answer the following questions:

(a) Can different formative assessments have different impacts on

the students’ achievement? And

(b) Can different formative assessments have different impacts on

the students’ engagement, motivation and the quality students’

learning?

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Experiment

• Two formative assessments were applied;

1- a traditional questions and answers assessment (either oral or

written questions) and

2- interactive Multiple-choices tests in which a famous TV show

(Who Wants to be Millionaire) simulation slides has been used.

Accounting and finance students enrolled in two modules taxation

and accounting at Southampton University were surveyed. These

assessments were run over two academic years (2014-15 and 2015-

16) for two undergraduate and postgraduate modules in

Southampton University.

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Who Wants To Be A

Millionaire?

Question 1

What is tax ?

A

B

C

D

optional levy by authorities for which nothing will directly provided in return

compulsory levy by authorities for which we will get direct service in return

compulsory levy by authorities for which nothing will provided in return

compulsory levy by companies for which nothing will provided in return

What is tax ?

A

B

C

D

optional levy by authorities for which nothing will directly provided in return

compulsory levy by authorities for which we will get direct service in return

compulsory levy by authorities for which nothing will provided in return

compulsory levy by companies for which nothing will provided in return

Study design

• Questionnaire & simple regression

• Dependent Variable

• The students performance (students’ grades in summative assessment, exam)

• Independent Variables

• Student effort

• Students efforts will be operationalized as each students’ grades on their

assignments, self reported studying hours and the attendance percentage.

• Control Variables

Age, gender, ethnicity, previous educational experience (secondary schools),

feedback, formative assessment evaluations ( personal opinion about the

assessment, engagement, learning tactics changing setting targets and

motivation) 12

Results

The initial results indicate that using interactive Multiple-choices

has improved the students’ performance in both under and

postgraduate modules by encouraging them to do more efforts in

their modules. Moreover this Multiple-choices assessment has

improved their attendance levels and the two-way feedbacks

indicate that this assessment has suited most of their learning

styles.

Reliability Analysis: (Cronbach's Alpha)

Validity Analysis: (factors analysis /KMO& Bartlett’s test of

sphericity)

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Further discussion

Focus groups and observations

• Attendance level has increased in both under and postgraduate

modules by 15-20% respectively.

• Enrollment (students numbers have increased from 99

postgraduate students to 115).

• Focus groups (assessment, improvement and the impact)

Limitations and future studies

• Sample size.

• Formative assessment results record. 19

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