Towards a learning-oriented assessment to improve students’ learning—a critical review of literature

Learning-oriented assessment (LOA), a concept coined by Carless, has emerged in Europe, Canada, the USA, and the Asia-Pacific Region as an alternative assessment methodology. LOA evolved from both summative assessment and formative assessment, and its framework comprises three integrated components, assessment for learning, assessment as learning, and assessment of learning. While a few studies have provided information about the connections among assessment for, of, and as learning, the purpose of this review is to summarize what is state of the art of LOA, and we aim to examine the history and the nature as well as the strategy of developing LOA. We conducted a transformed critical review of LOA to address these questions. To be specific, the related studies were searched between January 1971 and December 2016, using specific inclusion criteria to remove irrelevant documents. Results provide the publication types of the selected studies and the reported approaches to LOA, trace the evolution of classroom assessment from summative and formative assessment to LOA in order to clarify the historical foundations of LOA, and indicate its nature from the dimensions of components, functions, conceptual frameworks, and principles, as well as to illustrate strategies for using it in the classroom. The findings of a deep analysis of 48 publications were then used to define a holistic framework for LOA and a dynamic framework for its development and also yield important recommendations for practice and future research. Finally, we propose the conclusion.