A Study into Language Assessment Literacy of Preservice English as a Foreign Language Teachers in Turkish Context

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate language assessment literacy of preservice English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) teachers at a major state university in Turkey. The study also sought to find out their perceptions as regard to the extent of theoretical and practical training of assessment they received in their teacher education program, and also whether they perceived a need for further training in language assessment. Another aim of this study was to find out how preservice English language teachers evaluated school experience course in relation to English Language Testing and Evaluation (ELTE) course. The study used a mixed-methods research design in which both quantitative (questionnaire) and qualitative (interview) data were collected. A total of 101 4th grade preservice teachers enrolled in the ELT department of Middle East Technical University participated in the study. In addition, a total of 25 participants were involved in the qualitative part of the study. Quantitative data were analyzed using descriptive statistics such as frequencies and percentages, and means. Qualitative data gathered through semi-structured interviews were analyzed using selective coding. The results indicated that the preservice EFL teachers perceived the training that they received in different domains of language testing and assessment not to be sufficient and they needed further basic training in these domains. The findings of the qualitative data revealed that participants did not have the chance to put theoretical knowledge of language testing and assessment into practice during teaching practicum, and the theory and practice of assessment was not covered much in their school experience course. In addition, the results showed that participants were aware of the importance and contributions of ELTE course to their professional development and future practices as language teachers.