Turkish EFL instructors’ in-class language assessment literacy: perceptions and practices

Yıl 2017, Cilt: 6 Sayı: 1, 25 - 44, 16.04.2017

Serpil Öz Derin Atay

Öz

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.

 

Keywords: Assessment Literacy, In-class Language Assessment, In-class Assessment Practice