A Study On The Current Situation And Improvement Strategies Of Jnuior Middle School EFL Teachers’formative Assessment Literacy

With the deepening of China’s curriculum reform,major changes have taken place in the field of educational assessment in our country.The transformation of the assessment paradigm,as well as the reform of education and teaching,has given teachers more responsibilities and expectations.The reform of China’s basic education and the Compulsory Education English Curriculum Standards(Ministry of Education,2012)actively advocate the concept of diversity of assessment subjects,diversification of assessment forms and contents,multi-dimensional assessment objectives,and the combination of both formative assessment and summative assessment.EFL teachers play more significant roles in teaching assessment.The level of EFL teachers’ formative assessment literacy will affect the assessment reform to a great extent.However,at present,the summative assessment still occupies a dominant position in English classroom assessment in junior middle schools.In view of the above reasons,the author conducts a study to figure out the present situation of formative assessment literacy of junior middle school EFL teachers in Suixi area,Anhui province,and makes a detailed analysis of the results.Some corresponding suggestions will be put forward to enhance junior middle school EFL teachers’ formative assessment literacy.Taking the junior middle school EFL teachers in Suixi area as the research subjects,the study focuses on discussing the following three questions.Firstly,what is the current situation of junior middle school EFL teachers’ formative assessment literacy? Secondly,what are the factors affecting junior middle school EFL teachers’ formative assessment literacy? Thirdly,how can we improve junior middle school EFL teachers’ formative assessment literacy?This study uses a mixed methodology with quantitative and qualitative researches as the paradigm.By means of literature review,questionnaire,semi-structuredinterview and class observation,the author conducts the study in the following steps.First of all,the researcher makes a survey on 134 junior middle school EFL teachers and 194 students in Suixi area with questionnaires.Then,using a purposeful sampling method,the author chooses eight EFL teachers to engage in further interviews.Meanwhile,the researcher actively participates in EFL teachers’ class using EFL teachers’ formative assessment class observation scale as instrument.Finally,the author makes a deeper analysis on the collected data and draws some conclusions.Through the study,the author draws the following conclusions: firstly,the present situation of junior middle school EFL teachers’ formative assessment literacy is not optimistic.Summative assessment is still the main method when teachers evaluating students.Secondly,the internal factors,which involve the limitations of EFL teachers themselves and their great teaching pressure,and the external factors,such as the system of high school entrance examination and the defects of educational system,jointly affect the promotion of EFL teachers’ formative assessment literacy in junior middle schools.Lastly,based on the results of the analysis on the current situation,the author proposes some suggestions.EFL teachers need to further improve their formative assessment literacy from the choice of assessment subject,the transformation of assessment methods,and the selection of assessment methods.Schools can improve junior middle school EFL teachers’ formative assessment literacy through carrying out school training activities,introducing the professional forces outside the school and improving principal’s formative assessment literacy.Educational administrations are supposed to reform English examinations system and policy,carry out formative assessment training activities to improve junior middle school EFL teachers’ formative assessment literacy.