Exploring Students’ Perceptions of Assessment and Testing Practices and Their Impact on Learning Outcomes in Moroccan Higher Education

Abstract

Education research emphasizes the significance of students’ perceptions of assessment. This study aimed to investigate how students perceive the assessment tasks designed by their professors and to examine the relationship between these perceptions and their learning outcomes (i.e., grades) across three Moroccan Faculties of Letters and Humanities. The study is particularly important as it provides valuable feedback to test designers within these faculties and supports efforts to improve the quality of assessments for common core students. Furthermore, it aims to raise professors’ awareness of the impact that test quality has on student performance and encourage more thoughtful and research-informed approaches to assessment design. In this regard, the study answers the following research questions: How do Moroccan students in the departments of English studies at the faculties of letters and humanities perceive the assessment tasks designed by their professors concerning the validity, reliability, authenticity, washback, and practicality of assessment tasks? Is there a relationship between students’ perception of assessment and their performance? To investigate the five variables associated with students’ perceptions of assessment, 526 higher education students completed the adapted Students’ Perception of Assessment Questionnaire (SPAQ). The obtained data were analyzed using descriptive statistics to demonstrate the overall perception of students. In addition, multiple regression of the five scales on students’ grades was used to measure the relationship between students’ perception and performance. The results revealed that students across the three Faculties had a positive perception of assessment. However, no significant relationship was found between students’ perceptions of assessment and academic performance.