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BRIEF RESEARCH REPORT article
Front. Psychol.
Sec. Educational Psychology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1567615
This article is part of the Research Topic Culture and Emotion in Educational Dynamics - Volume III View all 10 articles
The Influence of Formative Assessment on Academic Performance: Exploring the Role of Teachers' Emotional Support
Provisionally accepted
Junsheng Wu 1*
Xin Yu 2- 1 The Education University of Hong Kong, Tai Po, Hong Kong, SAR China
- 2 South China Normal University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China
Formative assessment is widely recognised as a vital tool for improving student achievement. However, how formative assessment effectively influences academic achievement remains unclear. This study explores the mediating role of emotional support of teachers in this association. By reviewing the recent literature, we explore how formative assessment can indirectly influence student achievement through the emotional climate created by teachers. The study was analyzed using a structural equation model to explore the impact of formative assessment on the academic performance of 280 middle-school students in the South Chinese region. The results showed a significant positive relationship between formative assessment and teachers' emotional support, as well as a significant positive relationship between teachers' emotional support and academic performance. Furthermore, we also confirmed that teachers' emotional support plays a mediating role in the relationship between formative assessment and students' academic performance. These implications illuminate the importance of integrating emotional support strategies into formative assessment to improve educational outcomes. Several limitations of this study are discussed (e.g. cross-sectional design, cultural constraints, and reliance on self-reported data).
Keywords: formative assessment, academic performance, teachers' emotional support, Mediation, structural equation modeling (SEM)
Received: 27 Jan 2025; Accepted: 18 Mar 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Wu and Yu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Junsheng Wu, The Education University of Hong Kong, Tai Po, Hong Kong, SAR China
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