Investigating Language Assessment Knowledge of EFL Teachers İngilizceyi Yabancı Dil Olarak Öğreten Öğretmenlerin Dilde Ölçme Değerlendirme Bilgilerinin Araştırılması (original) (raw)
Related papers
Exploring the Language Assessment Literacy of Turkish In-Service Efl Teachers
2021
The purpose of this study is to find out the language assessment literacy (LAL) of teachers who teach English at state elementary, middle, and high schools in Turkey. 101 teachers working in various cities participated in this study. A mixed-methods research design was employed in the study, so the data were collected through both quantitative (questionnaires) and qualitative (interviews) instruments. The data for the quantitative part of the study were collected by means of the "Teachers Questionnaire" prepared by Vogt & Tsagari (2014) under three domains regarding language testing and assessment (LTA); classroom-focused LTA, purposes of testing and content and concepts of LTA. The data from questionnaires were analyzed via SPSS in terms of means, percentages, and frequencies to find out the training levels and needs of the respondents in language assessment. In the qualitative phase, a total of 18 teachers volunteered to take part in the interviews. The qualitative data that was gathered through semi-structured interviews were analyzed one by one in terms of their similarities and differences, and selective coding was utilized. The overall results from the questionnaires indicated that EFL teachers who work at state high, middle and elementary schools in Turkey perceived their training levels in all three domains of LTA insufficient, and they were also in need of further basic training in those domains. Furthermore, qualitative findings also supported the findings from the questionnaires by also providing insights into the reasons for participants' insufficiency of LAL levels.
Turkish EFL Teachers' Familiarity of and Perceived Needs for Language Testing and Assesment Literacy
There has been a growing interest in examining teachers’ competency and practice of assessment literacy which concerns teacher’s knowledge and skills of assessing and evaluating student learning. This study aimed to investigate a group of Turkish EFL teachers’ familiarity of and training needs for language testing and assessment literacy. To this end, a 47- item questionnaire adapted from Guerin (2010) was administered to 48 EFL teachers in Trabzon, Turkey. Findings showed that majority of the respondents expressed a familiarity with testing and assessment issues yet reported a need for further training to improve their understanding of assessment literacy. The results have implications for designing training programs for language teachers in Turkey.
Iranian EFL Teachers' Language Assessment Literacy (LAL) under an Assessing Lens
Applied Research on English Language, 2018
Despite being trained in pre-service teacher education programs, most EFL teachers are underprepared when faced with language assessment-related activities. Part of the problem emanates from the fact that Language Assessment Literacy (LAL) as a construct has not been well defined by experts. The purpose of this study was to pinpoint the components of LAL in the Iranian EFL context using an adapted version of Fulchers' (2012) LAL survey with two types of constructed and closed response items. The participants were 280 English language teachers from seventeen different provinces in Iran. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses and cross validation were used to define LAL as a construct. Furthermore, qualitative data analysis procedures were employed to analyze the data obtained from constructed response items. The results indicate that LAL in the Iranian context is comprised of four factors, namely: test design and development, large-scale standardized testing and classroom assessment, beyond-the-test aspects (which mainly includes social and ethical aspects of language testing/assessment), and reliability and validity. Furthermore, the results show that the EFL teachers in this study believe that besides the theoretical issues of assessment, they should also receive hands-on skills-based instruction in language assessment. These results can have direct implications for future teacher education programs with the aim of enhancing EFL teachers' LAL.
Turkish EFL instructors' in-class language assessment literacy: perceptions and practices
The current study was conducted with the aim of understanding Turkish EFL instructors' perceptions towards in-class language assessment and its reflection in their classroom practice. The purposes of this research are: (1) to find out Turkish EFL instructors' perceptions of the term 'in-class language assessment', (2) to reveal their reflections of their in-class assessment knowledge to their own practice and (3) to find a relationship between experience and perception of in-class assessment. In this study, data was collected from twelve instructors, 8 (female) and 4 (male) prep school teachers, varying in experience between 1-15 years, working in English Preparatory Program of a Turkish university. For the study, semi-structured interview was applied in order to collect data. The interviews were recorded and transcribed through reoccurring content and themes. The findings of the study show that, although most of the teachers were familiar with basic classroom assessment, when it comes to classroom practice, there is an imbalance between assessment literacy and classroom reflection. It also revealed that there is not much relationship between the experience and assessment perception. The findings have some implications for the teachers, continuous professional units, school principals and teacher educators in the area of testing and have some recommendations for the future studies.
Language Testing in Asia, 2018
This study reports on the development and validation of Language Assessment Knowledge Scale, LAKS, which aims to measure teachers' language assessment knowledge. The initial development of the scale included a thorough literature review, creating an item pool, and an initial expert opinion stage. The later process, which led to the development of the final form, consisted of several detailed stages including organizing meetings with practitioners in the field, gathering opinions of experts in language testing and assessment, and piloting the scale. At the end of this long-lasting validation process, LAKS with 60 items and 4 constructs (assessing reading, assessing listening, assessing writing, and assessing speaking) was completed by 542 EFL teachers working in higher education context. The statistical procedures during the analysis process included second-order confirmatory factor analysis, and Cronbach alpha for the reliability. The findings revealed that LAKS had a good model-data fit with the obtained factor loads, and Cronbach alpha coefficients were satisfactory. Concluding that LAKS can serve as a valid and reliable instrument to measure language teachers' assessment knowledge, the study offers several suggestions for further research.
Teaching English Language Journal, 2021
Teachers need to keep up to date with a set of clear and common expectations and formidable challenges that arise in classroom assessment practices. Defining and conceptualizing of language assessment literacy have been the subject of much debate, especially with regard to detecting and defining the main components of language assessment literacy for language teachers (Levi literacy and define the main components of language assessment literacy based on the EFL teachers' perceptions. The proposed model consists of three elements, namely awareness of language pedagogy, assessment principles and interpretation, assessment policy and local practices. In the second stage of the present study, to ensure reliability and validity of the scale, 203 Iranian EFL teachers with the age range between 22 to 55 were asked to complete the newly-developed instrument. Finally, to measure the EFL teachers' language assessment literacy, 41 five-point Likert-scale items were developed. Based on all validation and statistical procedures, the newly-developed scale can be considered a valuable tool for measuring high school EFL teachers' language assessment literacy.
Turkish EFL Teachers' Perceptions and Practices of Foreign Language Assessment in Primary Education
The present study aimed to investigate perceptions of EFL teachers working at state primary schools on core language skills, assessment types and question types used in assessing student's foreign language development and proficiency during an academic year. Data were gathered from 56 EFL teachers working at 42 primary state schools in Turkey through a questionnaire comprising a variety of items to elicit their perceptions and applications of language assessment in the classes of 4th to 6th graders. Results obtained from frequency analyses indicated that the pen-and-paper tests, performance tasks, and in-class observation are the mostly used assessment tools, and that the selected response items are mostly employed question types in the tests, and that performance-based and communication-based assessment types are preferred more frequently than the traditional types in evaluating students' success in learning EFL.
Voices Of EFL Teachers as Assessors: Their Opinions and Needs Regarding Language Assessment
Journal of Qualitative Research in Education - JOQRE , 2019
Employing a qualitative research design, this study aims to investigate the opinions of EFL teachers regarding their language assessment knowledge and identify their general and skill-based needs in this domain. The participants included 11 EFL teachers who were determined through purposeful sampling and working at different universities in Turkish higher education setting. The data collection process included the participants’ responses to seven open-ended questions that focused on their evaluations regarding the findings of a larger study investigating the language assessment knowledge of EFL teachers in Turkey and asked their needs in language testing and assessment. The data were analysed based on the qualitative content analysis by code-labelling and identifying the emerging themes. The findings indicated the insufficiency of trainings in both pre-service and in-service teacher education as the major reason of the low level in language assessment knowledge of EFL teachers. The teachers preferred hands-on trainings given by testing practitioners, and designed to improve them in assessing each skill separately. In the light of these findings, the study offers several suggestions for pre-service and in-service teacher education programs on language testing and assessment.
Language Testing in Asia
Teachers' assessment literacy has recently captured the attention of scholars across various educational contexts. The literature has it that there is a gap between teachers' assessment practices and national assessment policies. The present study investigated the assessment needs of Iranian EFL teachers in the wake of the new assessment reform, which aims at replacing traditional discrete point testing policies with performance testing. In-depth interviews were conducted with 15 EFL head teachers. In addition, documents related to the curriculum reform were also closely examined. Inductive coding of the data showed that to meet the demands of the noted reform, teachers' current perceptions of language assessment need to change. Furthermore, teachers need training in both knowledge and skills of language assessment. More specifically, teachers need training in developing rubrics for use in assessing the productive skills of speaking and writing. They also need to develop literacy in devising higher-order thinking skills in assessing reading and listening comprehension. Finally, as non-native speakers of English, Iranian English teachers need better English aural/oral skills.