Establish prompting principles of neutrality, consistency, transparency, and reflexivity in oral assessment¶

Strategy · All strategies
Evidence · no claims cited

Description¶

The article recommends that assessors follow four guiding principles when prompting students during oral assessments, drawn from Pearce and Chiavaroli (2020): "Neutrality: When educators prompt, they should aim to do so in a way that neither discourages nor reassures the student," plus consistency across students, transparency through written guidelines, and reflexivity through ongoing monitoring and evaluation of prompting practice. Students should be briefed on what prompting to expect.

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• Written guidelines around prompting forms and a clear rationale for which forms are required, plus assessor training on the prompting taxonomy continuum

Constraints¶

• Negative feedback and words such as "no" or "wrong" during the assessment can impact student performance and threaten assessment validity

Target Learners¶

• high school students
• undergraduate and postgraduate university students

Target Learning Goals¶

• valid and fair assessment of knowledge and higher order thinking

Related Strategies¶

• Require process transparency artefacts: process logs, prompt records, reflective commentaries and oral defences

Examples¶

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Key Sources¶

• Fenton, A. (2025). Reconsidering the Use of Oral Exams and Assessments: An Old Way to Move Into a New Future. Educational Researcher, 54(7), 430-436. https://doi.org/10.3102/0013189X251333638