Language assessment course at Iranian state universities: An evaluation of the incorporation of assessment principles into the course content

Abstract

Upon perceiving the development of assessment literacy as a critical requirement for teachers' professional growth, the effectiveness of assessment training programs has been investigated from various perspectives. To add more to the research on this area, this study evaluated the efficacy of language assessment course at Iranian state universities in raising prospective teachers' awareness of the principles underlying language assessment. Accordingly, the course syllabus for English majors at the BA level, issued by the Ministry of Science, Research, and Technology (MSRT [1]), was content-analyzed. In addition, 92 language assessment course instructors' areas of content focus were explored through some Likert-scale items, and two instructors' teaching practices were observed throughout the course. Although the study did not claim that the course students lacked language assessment literacy (LAL), results cast doubts on the quality of their LAL concerning the principles of assessment. Overall, it seems that the assessment principles are given low priority by the syllabus designers and course instructors, which is contrary to the general debates on LAL. Concerning the underlying sub-components, reliability and validity qualities seemed to be incorporated into the course content, whereas other central themes (e.g., ethical considerations, fairness in assessment, test washback, etc.) were excluded. Finally, a set of key actions have been suggested to be taken by the course instructors and policymakers/syllabus designers to raise the course students’ awareness of the principles of assessment.