The Interplay between Assessment Conceptions and Practices of EFL Instructors: A Mixed-method Study
Abstract
Purpose: Teachers’ assessment conceptions and beliefs are influential on the assessment practices teachers apply. In that sense, this study aims to explore the interplay between the assessment conceptions of EFL instructors and their self-reported assessment practices.
Design/Methodology/Approach: Data came from 101 EFL instructors working at preparatory schools in Ankara/Türkiye. Quantitative data were collected using the TCoA-IIIA, developed by Brown (2006), while qualitative data were gathered through three semi-structured focus group interview sessions. Descriptive statistics were used to analyse the quantitative data. The qualitative part was analysed through coding by placing the codes under the four pre-determined themes of Brown, which are improvement, school accountability, student accountability, and irrelevance by using MAXQDA. Besides, a self-reflection journal was kept by the researchers to reflect on their opinions and decisions during the data collection and analysis stages.
Findings: The findings of the study pointed that improvement and irrelevance conceptions were the most agreed ones and assessment practices of the EFL instructors in Türkiye vary from AfL tools to AoL tools. The study highlighted some significant implications for assessment component at pre-service curricula, assessment needs of language teachers, and teacher education assessment policy.
Highlights: Instructors are in favour of using a variety of assessment tools. Formative assessment increases student motivation and achievement, which might be the reasons for their favouring AfL tools. Assessment component fails to bridge the theory and practice in pre-service teacher education. This could be solved by making PSTs gain more real-life experiences.
Keywords
Assessment conceptions, Assessment practices, English language assessment, EFL instructors
References
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