Examining Teachers’ Assessment Literacy in EFL Classrooms: The Effect of Educational Background

Classroom assessment, as the complementary part of the language learning process, is a powerful decision-making instrument. Nonetheless, more research is required regarding the ways teachers cope with these requirements, and how they affect their pedagogical practices. This study is an attempt to examine EFL teachers’ perceptions of assessment literacy and the criteria they consider to assess their students. Moreover, it examines whether graduate and undergraduate teachers differ in terms of their assessment literacy. To this end, by using a survey and Ex-Post Facto research design and through a two-part questionnaire on assessment literacy (adapted from Plake, 1993; Plake, Impara, & Fager, 1993), a comparison was made between undergraduate (N=22) and graduate teachers (N=10) of English as a Foreign Language (EFL), English Literature, Translation studies, and Linguistics selected through purposive sampling on their perceptions of assessment literacy. The research results revealed a statistically significant difference between undergraduate and graduate teachers’ perceptions of assessment literacy. Results also showed that graduate teachers had higher perceptions of assessment literacy than their undergraduate counterparts, representing the effect of their level of education and educational background. Thus, this study highlights the significance of giving sufficient and proper training to all soon-to-be language teachers on language assessment, argues for the need, suggests ways by which teachers can become more literate in the domain of language assessment, and presents ways teacher educators and language testing experts can assist in this path.