Changes In Pre-service EFL Teachers’ Language Assessment Literacy

With the proposal of The Overall Plan of Deepening the Reform of Education Evaluation in the New Era,language assessment literacy(LAL)has become increasingly important for it affects the success of the reform.Prior research on LAL has focused on defining and proposing constructs of LAL,and conducting empirical research guided by different frameworks,including surveys of in-service teachers’ LAL.Pre-service EFL teachers’ LAL tends to be marginalized and the insufficient assessment training at pre-service stage can lead to the insufficient preparation for future teaching and assessment.Therefore,an understanding of whether the training can bring changes in LAL and what changes it brings can enlighten the teacher education or LAL training program and offer suggestions for more targeted instruction.Based on Davies’(2008)definition of LAL,Vygotsky’s(1978)sociocultural theory,and Clarke and Hollingsworth’s(2002)model of teacher professional growth,this study adopts a mixed-method design to investigate the changes in pre-service EFL teachers’LAL before and after the Language Testing and Assessing(LTA)course and the factors influencing the changes in pre-service EFL teachers’ LAL.The participants are 39 pre-service EFL teachers of the two-year postgraduate program of Education Master at a comprehensive university.The questionnaires,semi-structured interviews,and reflective journals are adopted as the research instruments of the study.The major findings of the study are summarized as follows.Pre-service EFL teachers’ overall LAL was at a low level before the LTA course,but after the course,their LAL experienced changes at varying degrees in the three dimensions of LAL,namely "Knowledge","Skills" and "Principles",increasing from a low level to a relatively high level.The factors influencing the changes in pre-service EFL teachers’ LAL include three aspects:the personal domain,the external domain and the domain of practice.The personal domain includes prior experience,learning motivation,language proficiency and learning attitude.The external domain includes fellow students,course instructor and educational landscape.The domain of practice includes learning activities and part-time jobs.These factors have contributed to the increase in the level of pre-service EFL teachers’ LAL.Based on the above-mentioned research findings,this study offers some implications for different stakeholders.For university administrators,high-quality training programs of language assessment are indispensable.For course designers,LTA course should be properly arranged.For the pre-service EFL teachers,the awareness of the importance of LAL should be raised and they should take active actions to promote their LAL for better career development.