A Study On Classroom Assessment Literacy Of English Teachers In Junior Middle School

Assessment is an indispensable part of the teaching process,playing an important role in English teaching.Teachers will spend one-third to half the professional time on the assessment.Based on the background of the “Double Reduction Policy”,after-class learning time is shortened,which guides teachers to take advantage of class time to improve teaching quality.Classroom assessment,as the checking part of the teaching process,is receiving more and more attention.And it corresponds with the social orientation in the field of language testing,which transforms from focusing on a large-scale test to formative classroom assessments.At the same time,the new edition of English Curriculum Standards for Compulsory Education advocates assessing students from multiple angles,which puts forward higher requirements for English teachers’ assessment ability.Thus,the significant role of English teachers’ classroom assessment literacy is highlighted.However,at present,related studies focus on the construction of classroom assessment literacy and how to improve it.In terms of research objects,teachers in junior middle school are always regarded as an integrated group and there is short of distinction in the subjects and teaching stages.And research methods are divorced from the authentic classroom.Therefore,the empirical studies of the classroom assessment literacy of English teachers in junior middle school are insufficient.Therefore,classroom assessment literacy of English teachers in junior middle school is confirmed as the research content and two research questions are proposed:(1)What is the status quo of classroom assessment literacy of English teachers in junior middle school?(2)What are the factors influencing classroom assessment literacy of English teachers in junior middle school? Then,the qualitative and quantitative methods are used to explore the status quo of English teachers’ classroom assessment literacy and its influencing factors.Both questionnaires for teachers and students are handed out to give a general description of English teachers’ classroom assessment literacy level;classroom observation is implemented to record and analyze the English teacher assessment practice in authentic class;the semi-structured interview is conducted to dig out the influencing factors.And the research results are as follows:The descriptive analysis of the questionnaire shows that most English teachers show a high classroom assessment literacy level,especially in dimensions of assessment result application,assessment fairness and assessment purpose.But there is still room to make improvements in the assessment theory and the assessment method.And this result is also confirmed by the questionnaire for students.The inferential analysis of the questionnaire shows that English teachers with different ages,professional titles,English proficiency and teaching age present classroom assessment literacy levels with significant differences.And generally speaking,those who have rich teaching experience show higher classroom assessment levels.In order to make up for the generality and subjectivity of self-evaluation in the questionnaires,classroom observation is implemented to present the classroom assessment literacy of English teachers in detail.And the classroom observation data reveals that the expert teacher shows a higher level in terms of assessment task design,assessment task practice and assessment feedback than the novice teacher and the skilled teacher.It can be found that classroom assessment literacy is a kind of practice-oriented characteristic for English teachers.That is to say,teachers with more teaching experience and practice are better at classroom assessment.This result corresponds with the inferential analysis of the questionnaire.The analysis of interview demonstrates that English teachers’ classroom assessment literacy is influenced by teachers themselves,external context and students.And the teacher-related factor includes that their assessment awareness is not strong enough and they are short of assessment training and practice;external-context refers to the exam-guided teaching context and the shortage of strong support from the school;and most importantly,a large number of students in a class and students with significant differences are the biggest challenge for English teachers to practice classroom assessment.This research attempts to put forward suggestions to improve classroom assessment literacy for English teachers in junior middle school: English teachers should update their cognition,establish an awareness of classroom assessment,and rely on self-drive to improve their classroom assessment literacy level;the school and the continuing education system should cooperate together to build the longitudinal training curriculum system to provide a guarantee for the cultivation of teachers’ classroom assessment literacy.Teacher professional development and training departments should pay attention to classroom assessment theory and skill training to improve English teachers’ classroom assessment literacy effectively.