Deciphering the Language of Assessment in Pharmacology Summative Written Assessments

Success in assessments requires that both the knowledge and processing demands of questions are addressed. The focus of students, however, tends to be on knowledge demands oftentimes failing to address adequately or misinterpreting assessment processing demands. While there is a universal list of assessment action verbs used for conveying processing demands, these often take on nuanced meanings within disciplines. To-date there is a paucity of studies investigating pharmacology assessment processing demands. Our study purpose was threefold: (i) identify the most frequent action verbs and collocated words in pharmacology summative written assessments, (ii) determine the meaning(s) lecturers attribute to them, and (iii) reach consensus on their meanings. Using NVivo software, a frequency analysis of action verbs and collocated words embedded in pharmacology summative written assessments was performed on over 200 exam papers (2010–2020), totaling 1,200 questions. An online survey gathered educators' meanings of common assessment action verbs and their collocated words. Seven common assessment action verbs identified were “discuss”, “describe”, “outline”, “include”, “explain”, “give”, and “write”, their weighted frequencies differing across programmes and academic years. High frequency collocated words included “the pharmacology of” and “mechanism of action”. Survey analysis identified diverse educators' meanings for all except the action verb, “discuss” highlighting the importance of our study. A follow-on focus group defined both action verb and collocated word meanings commonly used in pharmacology assessments. Ultimately, assessment effectiveness must encompass transparency of language, so students are assessed on their knowledge rather than their ability to align with educators' interpretation(s).