An Investigation of Chinese Middle School in-Service English Teachers� Assessment Literacy

Abstract

This paper reports an investigation into the status quo of assessment literacy of Chinese middle school in-service English teachers. Using tasks designed by Coombe et al. (2007), the study finds out that Chinese secondary English teachers have low levels of assessment literacy. They are not aware of such principles as authenticity, sensitivity issues about test content and self-assessment. Especially, they are extremely incompetent in understanding statistics about item analysis and distractor efficiency analysis. No significant difference was detected about teachers' assessment literacy in terms of teaching experience and whether they have taken assessment training courses in any forms. The authors call for a study into language assessment courses offered for secondary English teachers and enough attention paid to the relevance of language assessment training courses to classroom assessment.

‘Complex teaching realities’ and ‘deep rooted cultural traditions’: Barriers to the implementation and internalisation of formative assessment in China

“…Not only is professional development urgently needed to develop teachers' conceptual knowledge of formative assessment, it is http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/2331186X.2016.1156242 also needed to improve teachers' assessment literacy (Dunlai & You, 2015). If teachers are more aware of the aims and often hidden assumptions that go hand in hand with assessment, then they may have a firmer foundation on which to start critically analysing both formative and summative assessments.…”

Investigating Language Assessment Literacy of Novice In-service English Teachers in Private Colleges and Universities

“…LAL is broadly defined as stakeholders' knowledge about language assessment principles and its sociocultural-political-ethical consequences, the stakeholders' skills to design and implement theoretically sound language assessment, ans their abilities to interpret or share assessment results with others stakeholders (Lee, 2019) [9] . Domestically, Lin Dunlai and Gao Miao (2011) [10] view assessment literacy as the knowledge and skills required for engaging in the assessment process. He Lianzhen (2020) [11] points out that "assessment literacy means understanding why to assess, what to assess, and how to assess, aiming to establish a scientific educational evaluation system and mechanism in line with the needs of the era".…”

“…In addition, researchers have also discussed the current status of language assessment literacy among foreign language teachers in China. For instance, Lin Dunlai and Gao Miao (2011) [10] , Xu Yueting (2013) [24] , Peng Kangzhou (2014) [25] , and Sheng Huixiao (2014) [26] have pointed out from various perspectives that the development of language assessment literacy among English teachers in China lags behind other areas (such as classroom teaching). There is significant room for improvement in assessment knowledge base and assessment operational skills.…”

A review of teachers’ assessment literacy proficiency measures

“…In each sub-category, the instruments are listed in chronological order in Table 1. In the first sub-category, four tests are identified: Teacher Assessment Literacy Questionnaire (TALQ) [22], Assessment Literacy Inventory (ALI) [23], Assessment Literacy Test (ALT) [24], and Assessment Tasks (AT) [25]. The second type is the Likert-scale questionnaire.…”

“…The assessment test [25] adapted from previous study [31] was specifically designed for 39 middle school English teachers in China before the language assessment course. The instrument consisted of 10 tasks covering both the language-specific testing knowledge (the four skills: listening, speaking, reading, and writing) and the overall test-related knowledge (test preparation process, the statistic interpretation).…”