A Study Of Assessment Literacy Of Junior High School English Teachers In The Context Of Cultivating Subject Key Competences

Assessment is an indispensable and an important link between teaching and learning.The assessment literacy of teachers is a vital element of their professional development.It has an important impact on the implementation of national principles and policies concerning education.The assessment literacy of English teachers plays a crucial role in the process of cultivating and developing the key competences of students and in carrying out the educational policy of fostering their character,growth,and civic virtue and the teachers’ own professional development as well.This study is based on the theories of professionalism,professional development,multiple-intelligence theory and language testing/assessment with the combined application of quantitative analysis and qualitative interview.These tools deeply investigate the assessment literacy of junior high school teachers of English in Fujian Province by means of literature analysis,quantitative and qualitative methods.The purpose of this study is to answer three questions:(1)What is the construct of assessment literacy of English teachers in junior high school?(2)What is the actuality of assessment literacy of English teachers in junior high school and the factors affecting it?(3)How to promote assessment literacy of English teachers in junior high school under the curriculum reform of subject key competences?This study uses literature review and questionnaire methods.It follows a design to construct a framework for assessment literacy of English teachers in junior high school.This includes five dimensions:(1)the cognition of assessment methods,(2)the mastery of assessment skills,(3)the awareness of assessment reliability and validity,(4)the interpretation and application of assessment results,and(5)the activation of assessment consciousness.The findings show the factors affecting assessment literacy focus on the aspects of pre-service and post-service assessment training,years of teaching,and participation in the assessing research project or distinguished teachers’ workshop.The study also reveals that English teachers in junior high school have a good awareness of subject key competences,under the background of the curriculum reform which emphasizes on the cultivation of subject key competences.The study also shows that teachers do not know how to properly implement the assessment.Themonotonous ways of evaluation,the exam-oriented teaching method,and the use of summative evaluation instead of the formative assessment which is very common in middle schools in China are the reasons.Other factors include lack of assessment ability of teachers;many are indifferent to improve of their assessment skills;some are confused about the basic concepts of language testing theory and test scoring interpretation.In addition,the existing assessment training is not practical,teachers who are burdened with assessments tasks have never studied any courses about language testing and assessment.The teachers’ education does not coordinate with post-service training,and the courses on assessment have not paid enough attention.This study offers five feasible recommendations on how to improve assessment literacy of English teachers in junior high schools from the internal and external dimensions.(1)The government should promote the reform on the key-competences-based testing and assessment,and implement the subject-key-competences guided assessment activities;the government should also balance specific goal of the subject key competences with assessment operability,and strengthen the cultivability of the assessment under the background of subject key competences.(2)Schools should change the evaluation criteria of teachers’ teaching qualities as well as the eagerness for quick success and instant benefit.Schools should also pay more attention to the development and demand of teachers’ assessment literacy under the concept of subject key competences.(3)Regular training for incoming teachers should concern the demands on assessment literacy.(4)The public society should create a light-hearted learning environment to reduce teachers’ unnecessary assessment pressure.(5)Teachers should take the initiative to improve their assessment literacy.They should enhance their own assessment awareness,and change the misleading exam-oriented assessment method.