Teachers' Translation Of Formative Assessment Into College English Classrooms

Since the turn of the 21^st century,formative assessment principles have been introduced into the education of various countries around the globe,for its evidenced potential of learning enhancement.However,concerns are raised about the implementation and effectiveness of these principles in those contexts,whose sociocultural and educational structures are distinctive from the Anglophone contexts,the birthplace of formative assessment.China,for example,is such a context.Like others,it has initiated formative assessment-related reforms at various levels of education since the beginning of this century.Yet,the context is embedded with deep-rooted Confucian Heritage Culture?CHC?,examination tradition and other values,which are all at odds with formative assessment principles.Indeed,a number of studies in this field have revealed a huge disparity between formative assessment principles and its classroom practices in the Chinese context.This study tries to explore how teachers,as an important practitioner,translate formative assessment into classrooms in the area of College English,which is English as a Foreign Language?EFL?at the tertiary level of education.And then it has adopted a case study approach and aims at addressing three research questions:1)How do College English teachers perceive formative assessment?2)How do College English teachers enact formative assessment in classrooms?3)What factors are affording or constraining College English teachers'assessment practices?The data including a focus group interview on five College English teachers and an individual interview on the department Dean of a university in an undeveloped Mid-western province was collected and transcribed,and then analyzed with activity theory.The data analysis reveals:1)the five teachers have three views of formative assessment.Some teachers perceive formative assessment as process assessment;some highlight the use of summative results for a formative purpose;some emphasize the equal relationship between teachers and students and the importance of feedback for teaching and this perception is more formative in nature.2)The teachers give students'grades according to their performance as required by the institutional policy;in addition,they also initiate themselves to give feedback and/or to involve students in assessment.In this way,their assessment practices move farther away from the previous summative purpose and come closer toward the formative end.3)Factors influencing the teachers'assessment practices include examinations and traditional values at the macro level;school policy,financial support and textbooks at the meso level;teachers'assessment knowledge,students'English proficiency level,big class as well as teaching facilities at the micro level.Overall,it can be said,despite all the constraints,teachers manage to strike a balance between the policy and practice,and between summative tradition and formative initiative,and make progress for the better.