From Compliance to Conviction: Assessment for Learning in Singapore’s Mother Tongue Language Classrooms

This study examines how Assessment for Learning (AfL) is valued and enacted by secondary Malay Language teachers in Singapore. Using a sequential mixed-methods design, the study drew on survey responses from 121 teachers, followed by interviews with 20 participants and classroom observations of eight teachers. Survey findings identified four AfL Values–Practice profiles, with 69.4% of respondents classified within the two lower-practice groups. Qualitative analysis of three focal cases showed contrasting patterns of procedural, hybrid and dialogic enactment. AfL was often incorporated into examination-oriented routines of checking, correction and test preparation, even where teachers expressed support for its principles. More sustained dialogic enactment was associated with stronger alignment between teachers’ beliefs, observed practice, leadership support and collegial professional learning. Drawing on Vygotskian concepts of mediation and internalisation and Bourdieusian concepts of habitus, field and capital, the study interprets AfL enactment as shaped by teachers’ assessment histories, examination expectations and culturally situated classroom relationships. The findings distinguish between visible procedural compliance and deeper pedagogical conviction, expressed through the Malay concepts of zahir and batin . The study contributes empirical insight into AfL within an under-researched Southeast Asian Mother Tongue Language context.