Language Assessment Literacy: Task Analysis in Saudi Universities

Abstract

Language assessment literacy is defined as the ‘language instructor’s familiarity with testing definitions and the application of this knowledge to classroom practices in general and specifically to issues related to assessing language’. Recent times have witnessed a phenomenal increase in the role of teachers in language testing and assessment. They are involved in assessing students and evaluating assessment data to improve student learning and their own instructional strategies (Malone, 2013). This highlights the significance of teachers’ assessment literacy in influencing how they construct and implement high-quality assessment instruments that adequately assess students’ specified learning outcomes (e.g. Stiggins, 2002). In Saudi Arabia, research indicates major gaps in EFL teachers’ assessment literacy and therefore this study investigates Saudi EFL teachers’ development of assessment tasks and the extent that these tasks are aligned with student learning outcomes. The study examines the gaps in teachers’ knowledge of assessment practices in classrooms and any incongruity between the tasks and learning outcomes. Suggestions are made for how teachers’ language assessment literacy can be improved through future professional development courses.

Appendix 1: Learning Outcomes and Selected Course and Test Items

University 1 (Course: ENG 102)

Writing SLOs

• 1. Can write short simple emails providing and asking for personal information (e.g. about family, people, possessions and local environment) incorporating correct spelling and punctuation.

• 2. Can write a series of simple sentences providing information about their own and others’ habits, routines and preferences.

• 3. Can produce drafts and a revised final draft of a cohesive analytical paragraph describing the essential features of a job.

• 4. Can write sentences using so and because to show reason and result, with correct punctuation.

• 5. Can use a/an, the or no article appropriately with familiar countable and uncountable nouns.

• 6. Can begin the process of planning writing by generating ideas on a familiar topic through free writing.

• 7. Can revise writing by understanding and implementing peer and instructor feedback and by checking own writing for simple mechanical and grammatical mistakes.

Test item 1

Write a comparison of two malls. Your paragraph should:

Have a topic sentence, supporting ideas and a concluding sentence.

Compare location, age, size, hours, and number of floors, shops and car park spaces.

Use comparative adjectives. Write 90–120 words (Table 4).

Table 4 Test item details for ‘University 1’

University 2 (Course: REAP 1)

Writing SLOs

• 1. Write simple phrases and sentences about themselves and imaginary people, where they live and what they do.

• 2. Write numbers and dates, own name, nationality, address, age, date of birth or arrival in the country, etc.

• 3. Write correct simple phrases and sentences.

• 4. Use very basic linear connectors such as and or then correctly to link words or groups of words.

• 5. Employ basic punctuation such as full stops, commas and capital letters correctly.

• 6. Use appropriate word order in subject-verb, subject-verb-object, subject-verb-adjective and subject-verb-adverb sentence structures.

• 7 Write a 4 to 5 paragraph essay including an introduction, body and conclusion.

• 8. Use simple, compound and complex sentences in writings (Fig. 1).

  Fig. 1

  

  Test item 1 instructions ‘University 2’

Test item 1

University 3 (Course: Pre-intermediate)

Pre-Int (SLOs/Writing)

Pre/W1 demonstrate some fluency in cursive writing in sentences and paragraphs

• a. legible form

Pre/W2 use appropriate punctuation symbols in sentences

• a. full stops

• b. capital letters

• c. proper nouns

• d. question marks

Pre/W3 write simple and compound sentences on familiar topics

• a. correct word order

• b. appropriate use of tense

• c. subject-verb agreements

• d. simple grammatical structures

• e. use simple connectors to construct clauses

Pre/W4 spell familiar words with reasonable phonetic accuracy

• a. identify simple letter patterns

Pre/W5 complete a simple questionnaire or standardized form using words, phrases and short sentences

Pre/W6 write simple descriptions using simple and compound sentences on familiar topics

• a. use simple grammatical structures accurately

• b. use simple adjectives

Pre/W7 write simple texts for different genres identifying appropriate format (Fig. 2)

Fig. 2

Test item 1 instructions for ‘University 3’

Test item 1