An exploratory study of EFL teachers' assessment conceptions and their reading and writing assessment practices
Khaled Barkaoui, York University, Canada & Sahbi Hidri, Higher Colleges of Technology, UAE
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https://doi.org/10.58379/LZGT8674
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Volume 14, Issue 1, 2025
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Abstract: This exploratory study investigated the assessment conceptions of university English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers and their reading and writing assessment practices. An online questionnaire about teachers’ assessment conceptions and practices (i.e., why, how, and when they assess reading and writing) was developed, piloted, and then administered to about 100 university EFL teachers in English and non-English departments (e.g., engineering, medicine) across Tunisia. The findings indicated that the participants’ assessment practices varied in relation to teacher qualification, experience, and context. Additionally, cluster analysis revealed two sub-groups that differed in terms of their assessment conceptions. The largest group viewed assessment as a tool to make students accountable and to improve education, while a smaller group viewed assessment as irrelevant. The first group reported using alternative assessment methods and assessing reading and writing for formative purposes significantly more frequently than did the second group, who reported using traditional assessment methods and assessing reading and writing for summative purposes (i.e., grading) more often. The paper reports the findings and discusses their implications for research on teacher assessment conceptions and practices.
Keywords: Assessment conceptions, assessment practices, reading assessment, writing assessment, English as a foreign language