Abstract
Because English is an integral component of education in Mexico, it is necessary to explore teachers’ language assessment literacy (LAL), or their language assessment knowledge and practices. Previous LAL studies have been performed in standardized testing-focused. However, the present study aims to explore the LAL of teachers of middle school English students in a context where governmental policies strive to engender communicative language learning, specifically, Mexico. I have taken a mixed methods approach which involved a survey (N = 123) and interviews at two locations in Mexico. The semi-structured interviews were conducted at one bilingual middle school (N = 7) and in one extracurricular English program (N = 6). Participants were asked about their previous training, confidence levels in their assessment practices, and their training needs. Findings suggest a divide among teachers with higher and lower levels of LAL. Participants indicated that their training primarily covered traditional forms of assessment and classroom-level decision-making. However, data also suggest that participants valued non-traditional assessment activities. Finally, participants desired training on topics such as the use of technology in assessment, unfamiliar non-traditional assessment activities, and program-level decision-making.
Highlights
Assessment is an essential element of any language classroom but is often seen as confusing or challenging by teachers (Fulcher 2012; Lam 2015; Vogt and Tsagari 2014).Because of these challenges, language assessment literacy (LAL) research strives to gain insight into the language assessment knowledge and practices of classroom teachers
LAL research has suggested that K-12 English language teachers (ELT) feel underprepared for their role as language assessors (e.g., Lam 2015, 2019; Tsagari and Vogt 2017; Vogt et al 2018)
This section is organized such that each research question is addressed with both the quantitative and qualitative findings per research questions (RQs)
Summary
Assessment is an essential element of any language classroom but is often seen as confusing or challenging by teachers (Fulcher 2012; Lam 2015; Vogt and Tsagari 2014). Because of these challenges, language assessment literacy (LAL) research strives to gain insight into the language assessment knowledge and practices of classroom teachers. As language testing has begun to adopt a more communicative approach, previous studies have shown that teachers may find it challenging to adopt alternative forms of assessment, such as oral presentations or portfolios (e.g., Lam 2019; Vogt et al 2018).
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