Language assessment in the new English curriculum in Iran: managerial, institutional, and professional barriers

Abstract

Background: Assessment policies and practices are key to the success of curriculum innovations. Therefore, large-scale ELT innovations always include changes in assessment too. Thinking that Iranian students were not enabled to communicate in English after six years of English education in public schools, educational policy makers have recently embarked on a new curriculum that is thought to be a departure from traditional reading and grammar approach towards a communicative one. This study investigated the impact of a recent language assessment reform (LAR) on Iranian English teachers' assessment practices. Methods: To this end, four teachers participated in a focused group interview (FGI) session. Teacher-made tests were also collected and scrutinized. Both FGI and test data were content analyzed and the recurring themes were derived. Results: It was revealed that managerial, institutional, and individual barriers stand in the way of the reform. First, the managerial, technocratic approach to reform implementation has caused teachers not to take ownership of the reform. Secondly, at the institutional level, two obstacles were identified in the way of reform: inadequate resources within schools and the accountability demands that foster grade inflation. Finally, regarding professional competencies, teachers appeared to be largely unprepared to conduct language assessments consistent with the LAR demands. In particular, they seemed to have difficulties with the contents of their assessments, with the reasons for doing assessments, and with adjusting their assessments in keeping with LAR communicative aspirations. Conclusions: To remedy the situation, action should be taken to convince teachers to buy into the reform and to create opportunities for teachers to become adequately literate in language assessment.

Postgraduate students’ conception of language assessment

“…Their results indicated that (i) teachers have not taken ownership of the reform, (ii) schools lack adequate resources, (iii) accountability demands have resulted in grade inflation, and (iv) teachers tend to be unable to assess consistently with the LAR demands. More specifically, Razavipour and Rezagah (2018) found that teachers appeared to be unclear about what and why they assessed; the teachers also found it difficult to align their assessment practices with principles of communicative language teaching method. These findings indicate the need for developing language teachers' language assessment literacy to ensure that they comprehend the idea of language assessment reform and adjust the way they assess.…”

“…For example, in Colombia, López and Bernal (2009) reported that only about 25% of the undergraduate programs in their study offer a course on assessment. Another example could be offered from Iran where the managerial, institutional, and professional barriers seem to be standing in the way of the reforms in the new English curriculum and language assessment (Razavipour and Rezagah 2018). In the context of Malaysia, the educational system has been undergoing a drastic change in the past few years.…”

The language assessment literacy needs of Iranian EFL teachers with a focus on reformed assessment policies

“…Analysis of documents showed that the reformed-based assessment policies in Iran follow the assessment for learning paradigm (Black & Wiliam 1998). In addition, students, who had no say in their own assessments in the previous curriculum, are now expected to take responsibility for their learning through self-regulation and self-assessments (Razavipour & Rezagah 2018).…”

“…Although their study contributed to the contextual understanding of teachers' assessment literacy, the components were identified exclusively based on teachers' perspectives without taking account of assessment policies. In addition, a recent study has shown that Iranian English teachers' inadequate LAL is one of the factors contributing to the gap between the reform-based assessment policies and teachers' assessment practice (Razavipour & Rezagah 2018). Yet, what assessment subskills are needed on the part of teachers to do language assessment consistent with recent assessment policies remains to be investigated.…”

“…Given that classroom assessment transpires within diverse educational contexts with different educational policies, the identified components of assessment literacy based on the standards of assessment in English speaking contexts (e.g., Brookhart 2011;DeLuca et al 2016;Xu & Brown 2016) may not be adequate in accounting for the language assessment needs of teachers working in other educational contexts. In the Iranian EFL context, there is evidence that English teachers' language assessment literacy is, at least, partly responsible for teachers' failure to comply with a mandated reform requiring teachers to assess communicative competence rather than discrete bits of language knowledge (Razavipour & Rezagah 2018). Yet, Razavipour and Rezagah's study was not specifically concerned with the language assessment needs of teachers.…”