Abstract
The role of assessment in a learner-centred environment is considered to be significant for both learners and teachers. Most of the time, however, it is used in traditional ways and ignores learners’ individual needs. Based on the results of a survey conducted in 2019, in which a questionnaire was administered to a hundred and twenty EFL teachers, the present study aims to investigate Greek EFL teachers’ responses to communicative testing techniques and their awareness of assessment methods and principles. The aforementioned survey revealed that the majority of EFL teachers in the Greek educational context use traditional tests to assess their students and, although they are aware of alternative assessment methods and the benefits they offer, they fail to employ them. Thus, a 106-item tool was created in order to help teachers design, develop, and critically evaluate tests, as well as reflect on their assessment techniques to promote the use of alternative assessment and supplement the teachers’ theoretical knowledge and experience. Ninety-three EFL teachers evaluated themselves and rated their practices through the toolkit to find out the type of assessors that they are. The findings revealed that a lot of the participants are aware of the key principles of assessment and try to assess the four skills in a communicative and authentic way to a great extent, but most of them are mainstream assessors. The findings can be used to help design samples of authentic tasks for all skills and assessment-related teacher training material.
Highlights
Assessment is an integral part of the learning process
The assessment toolkit was dispensed to ninety-three EFL teachers, who either work in the private or public sector
They seek to involve learners in meaningful, forwardlooking communicative situations that extend to real-life language use. Those that score 41–70% are considered to be Mainstream Assessors (TEACHER B). Teachers in this category move beyond traditionally constructed tests by trying to adopt a communicative approach that extends to real-life language use with the use of a combination of third-generation testing techniques
Summary
Assessment is an integral part of the learning process. It is interwoven with teaching and learning, and involves making judgments about learners (Nunan 1990) and monitoring their development (Hedge 2000) in order to assess their needs and tailor instruction to optimize learning. As McNamara and Roever (2006) assert, language testing in education dictates what is to be taught, what is to be valued in instruction, and what becomes the focus of activity (Swan et al 2006). In many cases, “teaching to the test” (Bowers 1989) in order to allocate a mark overlooks other parameters, such as the learner profile, individual needs and preferences (Tsagari 2004), and lacks authenticity and contextualization with a negative washback effect on learning. It has a negative washforward effect, since product-oriented teaching does not prepare learners for real-life situations (Widdowson 1976). More and more EFL learners in Greece are interested in acquiring a language certificate (Papageorgiou 2009), which leads to exam-oriented teaching based on the final product and not the process of learning
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