Assessment Literacy And Its Influential Factors:A Study Between Junior High School English Teachers In Urban And Rural Areas

Assessment literacy(AL)has traditionally been defined as teachers’ basic understanding of educational assessment and related knowledge,as well as their ability to apply assessment skills to various measures of student achievement(Stiggins,1991a).In the actual classroom,assessment affects the way and content of teachers’ teaching and students’ learning.The research on AL in China is still in the embryonic stage,with many theoretical studies and few empirical studies,and fewer studies on the current situation and problems of AL in urban and rural areas under different educational environments and resources.Based on the research background and research gap,this study focuses on the development of AL for urban and rural junior high school English teachers,aiming to answer the following three research questions:(1)What is the overall level of junior high school English teachers’ AL in urban and rural areas?(2)Do urban and rural English teachers’ AL vary in terms of gender,age,teaching experience,professional title,educational degree,and pre-service and in-service training experience? If so,what are the differences?(3)What are the factors influencing urban and rural English teachers’ AL? In this study,251 junior high school English teachers in urban and rural areas were investigated with questionnaires on their level of AL and their differences in terms of demographic information.At the same time,semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with 8 English teachers to unpack the factors that affect their AL development from the inside and outside.Besides,classroom observation was used to observe 10 classes of English teachers in urban and rural junior high schools,and the assessment behavior was recorded on the scale.The research results show that:(1)The AL of English teachers in urban junior high schools is higher than that of rural junior high schools,and the mean scores of urban teachers in the four dimensions of assessment conceptions,assessment knowledge,assessment skills and assessment ethics are higher than those of rural teachers.Among the four dimensions,urban teachers have the highest mean score in assessment ethics dimension and the lowest mean score in assessment skills dimension;while rural teachers have the highest mean score in assessment ethics dimension and the lowest mean score in assessment conceptions dimension.(2)From the perspective of demographic information,teachers with older age and more teaching experience,as well as higher professional title and educational degree,tend to have higher levels of AL.However,there is no significant difference in the AL of junior high school English teachers between urban and rural areas in terms of gender and pre-service and in-service training experience.(3)Through the interview,it can be seen that both internal and external factors affect the development of teachers’ AL.The internal factors include teachers’ will and interest to improve AL as well as teachers’ understanding of the importance of AL.The external factors include the regulations and requirements of schools and education management departments,training and learning opportunities provided by schools and society,and teachers’ dual pressure on teaching and scientific research.Therefore,in order to improve English teachers’ AL,the author proposes the following suggestions: on the one hand,stimulate teachers’ subjective initiative from the inside;on the other hand,the governments,education management departments,and schools create convenient conditions for teachers from the outside.