EFL teachers’ language assessment literacy training needs

Abstract

Teachers are responsible for their students' assessment; therefore, they need assessment knowledge and skills to professionally engage in an effective educational assessment. However, research showed that language teachers had insufficient assessment language assessment literacy (LAL). Thus, this study aimed to explore the components of the LAL construct in the Yemeni context and to assess Yemeni EFL teachers' LAL training needs. For this purpose, a self-report language assessment literacy questionnaire (LALQ), was developed based on Taylor's (2013) LAL theoretical framework and by adopting items from three questionnaires (Fulcher, 2012; Hasselgreen et al., 2004; Kremmel & Harding, 2020). The questionnaire was administered to 471 EFL teachers who taught grades 7, 8, and 9 (ISCED 2) in Yemeni schools. The findings suggested a ten-dimensional model for the LAL which was empirically distinct tailored to the Yemeni context. Teachers' needs analysis revealed that teachers needed training in Knowledge of assessment and Assessment administration and use. The study concludes with implications for teachers' LAL development and for further research in LAL.

Keywords

• Assessment
• Assessment literacy
• Language assessment literacy
• EFL teachers
• LAL contextualization