The Impact of Specialty, Sex, Qualification, and Experience on Teachers’ Assessment Literacy at Saudi Higher Education

Abstract

The importance of assessment literacy (AL) among teachers at all educational levels has been of interest for a considerable period. Literature has shown the increasing research surrounding the importance of AL knowledge and its impact on students' performance. This paper examines the level of assessment literacy among instructors on a Saudi higher education university preparatory program. It uses a/the Classroom Assessment Literacy Inventory (CALI), developed by Mertler and Campbell (2005), and a demographic questionnaire to investigate the AL level. It also looks at the impact of factors such as specialty (i.e., subject department), sex, academic qualification, and years of teaching experience on the AL level. The subjects of the study included 54 English and Basic Sciences teachers on the preparatory program. The study found that the level of AL among the participants was inadequate (mean=17). However, there was no significant difference found among the participants when it came to sex, qualifications, or years of experience. The subject department, on the other hand, was found to be a factor that impacted the level of AL. The study concludes with some recommendations related to increasing assessment literacy among in-service teachers and, more importantly, it highlights the importance of contextual factors when evaluating assessment literacy.

Exploring tertiary EFL practitioners’ knowledge base component of assessment literacy: implications for teacher professional development

“…These results are somewhat consistent with the literature in that most of the researchers who have used either CALI (Campbell & Mertler, 2004) or the Teacher Assessment Literacy Questionnaire-TALQ (Plake et al, 1993) have reached a consensus that teachers' assessment-related knowledge is by and large insufficient with regard to assessment standards and expectations, with some variations in terms of strengths and weaknesses in different areas with different samples (e.g. Al-kharusi, Kazem, & Al-Musawai, 2011;Campbell, Murphy, & Holt, 2002;Davidheiser, 2013;Jawhar & Subahi, 2020;Kiomrs et al, 2011;Muhammad et al, 2019;Plake et al, 1993;Tao, 2014). The variation in the results in different areas may be due to the difference in assessment- related courses in teacher education programmes, educational policies, and curriculum in different contexts.…”

“…Studies on this topic indicate that the implementation of quality classroom assessments has a strong impact on the quality of classroom pedagogical practices, resulting in higher levels of learner achievement. Linked to these conclusions, there have been some studies in different contexts across the globe that have endeavoured to examine teachers' assessment knowledge base and level of assessment literacy using different assessment literacy measures at the pre-service and the in-service level (e.g., Al-Bahlani, 2019;Al-kharusi, Aldhafri, Alnabhani, & Alkalbani, 2012;Davidheiser, 2013;Djoub, 2017;Jawhar & Subahi, 2020;Levi & Inbar-Lourie, 2020;Mertler, 2003;Volante & Fazio, 2007). Most of the research on pre-service teachers' preparation in the area of assessment and testing (e.g.…”

“…The findings also reveal that teachers have gaps in their understanding of assessment principles used to evaluate assessment tasks such as clarity, authenticity, practicality, validity, and reliability. In the context of Saudi Arabia, to my knowledge, the only two studies conducted on this subject in the tertiary EFL context are by Umer et al (2018) and Jawhar and Subahi (2020). Umer et al (2018), in their mixed-method study, investigated university teachers' assessment practices in terms of their alignment with the recommended good practice in the literature, whereas Jawhar and Subahi (2020) studied the assessment literacy level of tertiary instructors working at a public sector university based on questionnaire data obtained via the Classroom Assessment Literacy Inventory developed by Mertler and Campbell (2005) and a demographic questionnaire.…”

“…Their understanding of issues such as pretest validity, posttest validity, test reliability, authenticity, and inauthenticity helps them enhance learning inside and outside the classroom. While there is no denying the fact that one of the major responsibilities of teachers is to measure and evaluate student achievement (National Education Association, 1983;Schafer, 1993), the research on teachers' knowledge of assessment has revealed that many teachers' knowledge and understanding of the essentials of assessment and evaluation is inadequate (Al-Bahlani, 2019;Coombe, Davidson, Sullivan, & Stoynoff, 2012;Coombe, Davidson, Gebril, Boraie, & Hidri, 2017;Jannati, 2015;Jawhar & Subahi, 2020;Lam, 2015;Latif, 2017;Popham, 2009). Despite the great significance of an educational culture that recognizes and promotes teacher assessment literacy, the progress in this regard, in any EFL/ESL context in general and in the study context-the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia-in particular, has been either very slow or not up to the required standards (Coombe, Davidson, et al, 2012;Coombe, Troudi, & Al-Hamly, 2012;Rajab, 2013;Umer, Zakaria, & Alshara, 2018).…”

Teacher beliefs, personal theories and conceptions of assessment literacy—a tertiary EFL perspective

“…Coombe et al, 2012 ; Inbar-Lourie, 2008a ; Kremmel et al, 2018 ; Taylor, 2013 ; Xu & Brown, 2016 ); in terms of teachers’ assessment knowledge and skills (e.g. Al-Bahlani, 2019 ; Jawhar & Subahi, 2020 ; Latif, 2021 ; Rauf & McCallum, 2020 ); with regard to teachers’ perceived assessment training needs (e.g. Tsagari & Vogt, 2017 ; Vogt et al, 2020 ; Zulaiha & Mulyono, 2020 ); regarding the importance of the need for LAL development among different stakeholders (e.g.…”