An Empirical Study On The Classroom Assessment Literacy Of College English Teachers

College English is an inseparable part of higher education and is of great importance to improve undergraduates’ English levels and their comprehensive qualities.College English Teaching Guidelines(2020)clearly states that teachers should comprehensively employ various assessment methods to address the relationship between internal and external assessments,formative and summative assessments,so as to realize the transformation from the summative assessment of curriculum results to formative assessment which promotes curriculum development.As an essential part of college English assessment system,classroom assessment serves as a link between teachers’ teaching and students’ learning.As educational assessment theory continues to advance,“assessment of learning” is being replaced by “assessment for learning” or“assessment as learning”.To ensure that classroom assessment is used efficiently to promote students’ learning,the in-depth exploration of college English teachers’ classroom assessment literacy meets the demand of the times.The purpose of this study is to ascertain the current situation,influential factors and approaches to improving college English teachers’ classroom assessment literacy.More precisely,the study aims to address the following three research questions:1)What is the current situation of college English teachers’ classroom assessment literacy? And does their classroom assessment literacy vary in demographic variables?2)What are the factors that influence college English teachers’ classroom assessment literacy?3)How can college English teacher’ classroom assessment literacy be improved?The current study adopts a mixed research methodology,combining both quantitative research methods with quantitative research methods.The questionnaire is completed by college English teachers from a university of Project 211 directly under the ministry of Education.Finally,57 valid samples are gathered,which are analyzed by Excel and SPSS 23.0 to gain quantitative information.Additionally,three college English teachers from the target university are selected to conduct classroom observation and semi-structured interviews,which provide the qualitative information.Through the analysis and discussion of quantitative and qualitative information,this study finds:According to the analysis of quantitative research data,college English teachers’ classroom assessment literacy enjoys a medium level(M=3.7632),and the four dimensions of teachers’ classroom assessment literacy show the different levels,among which the dimension of assessment attitude is the highest one(M=3.9614)while the dimension of assessment knowledge is the lowest one(M=3.2912).Through the analysis of quantitative research data,college English teachers hold a positive attitude toward classroom assessment literacy in general and generate the consciousness of classroom assessment according to teaching needs.Besides,the current situation of teachers’ application of assessment skills is better than that of teachers’ accumulation of classroom knowledge.And no statistically significant differences are found in teachers’ classroom assessment literacy in terms of gender,age,years of teaching,academic degree and professional title.Secondly,the influential factors of college English teachers’ classroom assessment literacy can be divided into internal,interpersonal and external factors.According to the classroom observation and semi-structured interviews,the internal factors are mainly divided into teachers’ accumulation of assessment knowledge and daily practices of assessment skills;The interpersonal factors are mainly from the interpersonal interaction between teachers and students,and interpersonal interaction between teachers and their colleagues.The external factors are mainly from the society and the workplace.These influential factors affect teachers’ classroom assessment literacy to some extent.Finally,from the quantitative data and qualitative data,this study finds that college English teachers can improve classroom assessment literacy through internal driving force and interpersonal collaboration.The research is conducive to facilitate the professional development of college English teachers’ classroom assessment literacy.As classroom assessment plays an important role in undergraduate’s English learning and college English teachers’ professional development,improving college English teachers’ classroom assessment literacy benefits college English teaching,which is of crucial importance to ensure the quality of college English teaching and to cultivate more advanced English learners who meet the needs of China.