Exploring EFL Assessors’ Assessment Literacy in an English Preparatory Programme in Kuwait

Abstract

This exploratory study is conducted to understand, re-conceptualise, and possibly develop Teachers’/Assessors’ Assessment Literacy (TAL/AAL) in an English Preparatory Programme (EPP) at one university in Kuwait. It has been observed that the evaluation practices adopted in the described context depend mainly on tests and that the adopted Assessment Practices (APs) therefore do not fulfil one primary purpose of assessment, which is supporting learning. Exploring TAL could provide an understanding of their assessment awareness and if their APs are informed by solid assessment knowledge or not. Understanding the source of existing APs can guide assessment improvement and development in the described context. In order to explore TAL, different data collection tools were used to collect qualitative data from eight assessors about their Assessment Literacy (AL). The research used an open-ended questionnaire, an open-ended checklist, a semi-structured interview, an open-ended report, and an unstructured interview to explore all components of AL suggested by Teacher Assessment Literacy in Practice (TALiP) framework (Xu & Brown, 2016). It was found that the participants' pre-and in-service training had not prepared them theoretically or practically for their assessment tasks. Their assessment knowledge base has not been developed through accredited channels or on the job. The participants were not confident with most of the components of the knowledge base proposed by the TALiP framework. However, they did show full awareness of assessment complexities in their teaching context. They were able to distinguish appropriate and inappropriate practices and their washback on learning. Their beliefs about assessments also resonated with recommended APs in the AL literature. It is recommended that the participants should receive theoretical and practical training in the assessment knowledge base. If they had a more substantial assessment knowledge base, they could have revealed better solutions to uncertainties surrounding them, and they could have been more precise in specifying their assessment needs.