Teachers in High-stakes Language Tests – Blessing or Curse

Abstract

The article deals with the involvement of language teachers in high-stakes testing from different perspectives. The theoretical part discusses the problems of language teachers as testers in a broader context, in connection with the importance of language assessment literacy as a part of professional development. In addition, it reviews results of some studies focusing on teachers involved in testing. The main part of the article is devoted to the results of two surveys intended to gather and interpret the teachers’ opinions on a standardized language examination used in the framework of NATO, which were conducted among the language teachers of authors’ institution, as well as among the language teachers at military language institutions in several foreign countries. Furthermore, the main part presents the results of the questionnaire concerning the opinions and approaches of the teachers towards the item writing training which they received to be able to create test items. The objective of the presented study is to shed light on the teachers’ views concerning their participation in testing, since most literature published so far deals predominantly with the principles of language assessment literacy from theoretical viewpoint, not from the viewpoint of the teachers themselves.