Question 1: How does formative assessment support student performance?

Formative assessment is a ongoing process used by teachers during instruction that gives explicit feedback to students to adjust teaching and learning process to improve students’ achievement of the desired instructional outcomes. It is also known as “assessment for learning”.
Formative assessment is proven to be highly effective way to enhance and support student performance. The purpose of formative assessment is to give students the means and motivation to take ownership of their own learning. This means that students need to be responsible for their own learning. Students themselves must have the initiative to discover what to learn and how to learn. At the same time, teachers play important roles to encourage students to monitor and support their own learning. More powerful learning happens when students have more control over their own learning through such assessment practices. They should not be excluded from the assessment process. Students will be able to know what they are ready to learn next.
Through formative assessment, students are able to know and understand their specific learning goals clearly. This can be done through direct communication which involves interactions between teacher and student and student and student. Students are informed directly their specific learning goals. For example, at the beginning of the lesson, teacher can tell the students they will be tested on “Adverbs” at the end of the lesson. When the students are clear of what they have to learn in the learning activities, they will concentrate their efforts to the specific learning areas and improve overall performance.
Furthermore, teachers are able to identify students’ current knowledge and skills and decide the steps to be taken to achieve the desired goals. Formative assessment highlights the