The notion of “closing the learning gap” is widely used in the conceptualisation of formative assessment. It builds on an unarticulated assumption that students' learning can and should be controlled towards predefined outcomes. This article discusses this control assumption in the light of the concept of the American philosopher John Dewey and the German philosopher Hans‐Georg Gadamer. Their conceptualisation challenges the idea of learning as a linear and controllable process that results in stable and predictable outcomes. Using the concept of experience, we argue that learning follows a continuous circular movement where previous experiences condition future interpretations and that every experience changes the subject. This process of change is both unpredictable and diverse and requires that attention is paid to the uniqueness of each situation and to students as subjects. Following the discussion, we propose a model for considering the extensiveness and rigidity of formative assessment practices and that authors pay attention to whether they conceptualise formative assessment in a way that promotes student and teacher “gap closing” and control.

中文翻译：

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别介意差距：杜威和伽达默尔的体验概念面临形成性评估

“缩小学习差距”的概念在形成性评估的概念中被广泛使用。它建立在一个明确的假设之上，即学生的学习可以而且应该被控制为达到预定的结果。本文根据美国哲学家约翰·杜威和德国哲学家汉斯·乔治·加达默尔的概念讨论了这种控制假设。他们的概念化挑战了学习的思想，认为学习是一个线性且可控制的过程，可以带来稳定且可预测的结果。使用经验的概念，我们认为学习是连续不断的循环运动，以前的经验会限制未来的解释，而每种经验都会改变主题。这种变化过程既不可预测又是多样的，因此需要注意每种情况的独特性以及作为主题的学生。在讨论之后，我们提出了一个模型，以考虑形成性评估实践的广泛性和刚性，作者要注意他们是否以促进学生和教师“关闭差距”和控制的方式来概念化形成性评估。