Teachers' opinion about the relation between a students' formative descriptive grade and their motivation to learn

Several factors influence the learning process. Learning motivation is the most important. Motivation influences learning and, consequently, also the learning success of students. Therefore, it is important that teachers strive for more qualitative learning motivation in students. Assessment of knowledge and grading have, in addition to cognitive and emotional, also motivational influence, which indicates that the course and intensity of motivation in learning also depend on how teachers check and assess students' knowledge. Because of the close connection between students' learning motivation and their grades, in my master's thesis, I researched the relations between formative descriptive assessment and students' learning motivation through the expert opinions of Slovenian teachers. In the theoretical part of the master's thesis, I first defined the concept of learning motivation. I explained learning motivation through different psychological theories and through the placement in the model of learning motivation according to the author Jurisevic. In the process, I focused on the theory of self-determination, which is one of the more current motivational theories. The emphasis in defining learning motivation is also on the teacher’s role in motivating the students. Another set of theoretical starting points is the teacher's feedback to the student or students. This can be given by teachers in the framework of the assessment and grading which are defined in this section in more detail. In line with the problem of the master's thesis, there is a greater emphasis on the descriptive assessment that students receive in the first educational cycle. I also provided guidelines for improving the impact of assessment and grading on learning and the learning motivation. In the empirical part, I intended to ascertain the relationship between the formative descriptive assessment and the learning motivation of students according to the professional opinion of teachers. I wanted to check whether formative descriptive assessments, in the professional opinion of teachers, encourage students to learn, increase their interest in learning, or have a motivating effect on them. I intended to ascertain how, in the professional opinion of teachers, formative descriptive assessments affect students' learning motivation according to the theory of self-determination. I was also interested in how students, in the professional opinion of teachers, perceive a formative descriptive assessment and how they understand its purpose. The research included 52 primary school teachers from Dolenjska elementary schools who teach or have already taught classes of the first educational cycle and have experience with descriptive assessment. The questionnaire included open-ended questions and scales of Likert-type attitudes connected to the field of formative descriptive assessment and learning motivation of students. The results showed that the formative descriptive assessment, according to the professional opinion of teachers, encourages students to learn or has learning motivating effect on them. They believe that this is because of the message value and the role of the feedback that the formative descriptive assessment has. Students can monitor and improve their knowledge and progress based on immediate feedback. According to the professional opinion of teachers, formative descriptive assessments have a motivational effect on students also because of the clearly expressed goals and criteria in such a method of assessment. Teachers believe that a formative descriptive assessment that encourages learning motivation must be written clearly, concretely, and understandably. It must contain information about what the student knows. It must praise him and guide him to correct the mistakes, to the progress, and to achieve goals that have not yet been achieved. Teachers believe that formative descriptive assessment promotes autonomy in students, which, in their opinion, is manifested in students through a sense of responsibility for their success. However, teachers are undecided whether such assessments promote students' competence. The results of the empirical research show that, according to the theory of self-determination, external regulation and introjected regulation occur in students the least. These regulations are also more controlled forms of motivation. Most often, identified regulation occurs in students. It is the first stage of autonomous motivation. According to the professional opinion of teachers, students perceive formative descriptive assessments as feedback on already acquired knowledge, with which they can eliminate gaps in their knowledge. The results of the master's thesis represent the important contribution for understanding of formative descriptive assessments’ importance from the teachers’ perspective. Besides that, it steers for teachers’ specific approaches to encourage learning motivation for learning of their students.