Ethiopian Secondary School EFL Teachers’ Classroom Assessment Conceptions and Practices from an Activity Theory Perspectives

Abstract

Teachers’ language assessment conceptions play a vital role in the effectiveness of classroom assessment practices. Drawing on activity theory perspectives, the researchers intended to present a picture of English language teachers’ classroom assessment/testing conceptions and how their conceptions reflect their practices. To this end, 15 English language teachers whose teaching experience is more than three years were purposely selected for interview. The obtained data were coded, categorized into themes, and analysed qualitatively. The results indicated teachers’ assessment conceptions reflect that students and schools are highly accountable for English language classroom assessment. Teachers’ classroom assessment practices do not reflect their assessment conceptions as they use summative oriented assessment tools, and the activity system is dominated by teachers themselves.