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Student-Related Challenges of Performing Alternative Assessments from the Perspective of Kurdish Tertiary TESOL Teachers

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Revisiting the Assessment of Second Language Abilities: From Theory to Practice

Part of the book series: Second Language Learning and Teaching ((SLLT))

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Abstract

Most of the student-related challenges of alternative assessments are perhaps associated with those in which students are the major assessors. Brown and Hudson (1998) state that portfolios, self-assessment, and peer-assessment can be relatively difficult to produce and organise. Pedagogically, diagnosing and tackling the challenges of alternative assessments are potentially important for developing the teaching, learning, and assessment of English language. This study investigated the student-related challenges of conducting alternative assessments from the perspective of Kurdish tertiary TESOL teachers. Teachers’ perspectives are immensely important because their beliefs influence and shape their classroom practices (Wang, 2011). This is part of the continuing research “to understand how cognitive and affective factors interact in shaping what teachers do” (Borg, 2006). To this end, this study used face-to-face and focus group interviews as methods of data collection, and embraced an interpretivist and phenomenological approach, which requires researchers to situate meaning units in relationship to context and structure (Anderson, 2007). The participants were 12 interviewees from two English departments at a public university in the Kurdistan Region. The findings revealed that, regarding the performance of alternative assessments, teachers contended that most students had limited knowledge and low skills, and were unwilling to participate, unresponsive, and uncooperative. They were primarily interested in being spoon-fed information and using memorisation techniques, and were preoccupied with passing tests and acquiring certificates rather than actual learning. They were also often shy and ashamed of their mistakes, and thus lacked confidence, were unmotivated, not eager to learn, careless, inattentive to the rules, and subjective, all of which prevented the successful implementation of alternative assessment practices. The implications of the findings of this study could be influential in tackling the aforementioned student-related challenges of alternative assessments.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. 11 Flamborough St, London, E14 7LS, UK

    Dler Abdullah Ismael

  2. Exeter University, Exeter, UK

    Dler Abdullah Ismael

  3. Sulaimani University, Sulaymaniyah, Iraq

    Dler Abdullah Ismael

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  1. Dler Abdullah Ismael
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  1. Department of English, Faculty of Human and Social Sciences of Tunis, Tunis, Tunisia

    Sahbi Hidri

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Ismael, D.A. (2018). Student-Related Challenges of Performing Alternative Assessments from the Perspective of Kurdish Tertiary TESOL Teachers. In: Hidri, S. (eds) Revisiting the Assessment of Second Language Abilities: From Theory to Practice. Second Language Learning and Teaching. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-62884-4_19

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-62884-4_19

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