The College English Curriculum Requirement (CECR) (MoE, 2007) proposed by the Chinese Ministry of Education advocates an integrated approach to assessment. A major aim of this policy is to reconcile the emergent assessment for learning initiative with the traditional accountability objective of assessment. The research on which this paper is based investigates how a provincial university has implemented the assessment policy change which requires the use of assessment for both formative and summative purposes. The research investigates what the teachers understand by the policy change and how they implement these changes into their teaching and assessment practices. It also explores students’ responses to the changes to assessment practices and analyses their perspectives particularly in relation to the impact on their learning.

The research adopts a case study approach and the provincial university has been purposively selected as the case as it was a pilot site in the trial phase of the implementation of the policy change. The students are non-English major undergraduates studying English as a Foreign Language (EFL). The research is underpinned by a sociocultural theoretical perspective and involves the analysis of data collected by interview, observation, document analysis and surveys. The findings of this study aim to illuminate and explain how to reconcile the use of formative assessment in a context which has been traditionally dominated by an examination culture.