Integrating Formative Feedback in the Process of Summative Assessment as a Means to Ensure Acquisition of English as a Foreign Language A Case Study Using Formative Feedback in a Sandwich-like Summative Assessment Process

This paper presents the reader with the results of a case study carried out at the Faculty of Foreign Languages, University of Tirana, in order to highlight the role and impact formative assessment has on learning in the process of summative assessment and the role it plays in the improvement of student performance in exams in the subject of Text Analysis. The hypothesis raised is that even summative feedback can effectively be used for formative purposes in English classes. The arguments and data in support of this hypothesis are based on the results collected from a mid-term exam whose aim is to assess the degree to which the scheduled grammatical structures have been mastered during the first three weeks into the 1st year. After students take the 1st variant of the exam they are provided with feedback and are granted the right to decide whether to sit another variant of the exam. If they decide to try again, they can choose from the two variants the one they would prefer to be assessed with a grade. The study enables us to see the degree to which the feedback provided to individuals, groups and the whole class after the 1st variant can lead to an improvement of the results in the 2nd variant of the exam.Keywords: formative assessment, summative assessment, formative feedback, learning, teaching