Utilising Formative Assessment to Improve Students' Learning Outcomes in Hybrid Higher Education Environments

This paper draws attention to the importance of applying formative assessment principles and providing regular feedback to students at the tertiary level. It reports on the results obtained from a case study conducted with a group of second-year students majoring in English that aimed to investigate the correlation between formative assessment and learning outcomes. During a three-month English Semantics course, one group of students did continuous assessment tasks regularly and were provided with feedback each time. Another group did not do these tasks and they took only two compulsory midterm tests that were prerequisites for taking the final exam. The results were obtained from 10 continuous assessment tests which were taken by one group of students every week as part of the lesson and the learning process, and 2 midterm tests taken by all the respondents. Descriptive statistics was used to present the results, whereby the average, minimal and maximal values were calculated, and subsequently compared and analysed. The main conclusion drawn from the study shows better learning outcomes and better scores obtained by those students who were actively involved in the continuous assessment process.