Implementing rubrics as formative assessment in English writing classes in Japan.

This study explored how the implementation of formative assessment with the use of rubrics in high school English classes in Tokyo, Japan, improved students' motivation and encouraged ownership of learning. The researcher implemented rubrics as a formative assessment strategy in her two English writing classes over two terms with her co-inquirer/team-teaching partner and reflected on student responses and her own teaching practice. The study was carried out using professional inquiry informed by action research, based on the cycle of actions and reflection developed by Brown and Cherkowski (2011). As a theoretical framework, learning community theory identified this inquiry as an act of leadership, one that began to build interpersonal and organizational capacity in a school by sharing personal learning. Findings focused on student responses, teacher learning, and the school-level organizational response. --Leaf ii.