AN INVESTIGATION INTO EFL TEACHERS’ PERCEPTIONS OF IN-CLASS ENGLISH SPEAKING ASSESSMENT

Abstract

The study was conducted to explore EFL teachers’ perceptions of in-class English speaking assessment. The constructs of teachers’ perceptions investigated in the current research included their general understanding of speaking assessment, the task types of in-class speaking assessment, and the teachers’ work involved in the assessment implementation. Questionnaire and interview were employed as data collection instruments of the study. Forty-two EFL teachers at different high schools in Quang Tri, Vietnam responded to the questionnaire and then five of them participated in the subsequent interview sessions. The findings revealed that the teachers’ perceptions of in-class English speaking assessment in terms of three investigated aspects were generally appropriate. Nonetheless, the teachers showed their limited knowledge about oral portfolios as a speaking assessment type; they also articulated their need for more instruction on how to implement self-assessment as a type of English speaking assessment.