Private school efl teachers' perceptions on assessment: A case study in Turkey

Abstract

Teachers' selection and use of appropriate assessment methods requires not only their contemplation on lesson objectives, but also their knowledge, awareness and understanding of assessment processes. The present study aims to investigate Turkish private school language teachers' perceptions, use and understanding of assessment as an integral part of their teaching practices. Using a sequential mixed method approach, researchers triangulated the data to get an in-depth understanding of the phenomena: a 5-point Likert type online survey, participants' self-reports on assessment terminology as a part of an inservice training session, and participants' metaphors to explain formative and summative assessments which were collected during the same training. Results revealed participants' high self-confidence on traditional summative uses of assessment, but moderately low perceptions on using assessment formatively. Findings showed significant inconsistency between participants' limited knowledge on assessment terminology as opposed to high self-perceptions.