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Assessment systems as cultural scripts: a sociocultural theoretical lens on assessment practice and products

This themed section of the journal aims to extend and enhance ongoing debates within the assessment community that consider the challenges raised by sociocultural theories of learning in presenting a different way in which to understand assessment practice and assessment systems. Moss, Pullin, Gee, Haertel, and Jones Young (2008), in their major work in this area, have debated the importance within the field of educational assessment of bringing to the surface the ‘tacit assumptions about psychometric and alternative assessment practices’ as well as identifying ‘the unintended consequences of current assessment practices’ and the specification of ‘the kinds of new knowledge that might be needed to inform more constructive and equitable practices in the future’ (p. viii). This paper and the others included in this themed section will explore some of the challenges for assessment raised by sociocultural theories within both formative and summative assessment frameworks and arenas. Thus, we are interested in how claims made about sociocultural theories of learning are informing the expansion of fundamental concepts of assessment and what this ultimately means for assessment practice.