Implementing Classroom-Based Assessment for Young EFL Learners in the Chinese Context: A Case Study

Liu

2021

Self Cite

Student engagement is an important issue in learning and teaching given its positive effects on students' learning outcomes. Assessment for Learning (AfL), an assessment and pedagogic innovation, if done well, can fully engage students in the learning and assessment process. Adopting a multi-case design, the present study explored how Chinese university English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers used AfL to facilitate student engagement in their classrooms and what factors influenced their AfL practices. Three EFL teachers were recruited on a voluntary basis from two universities in Northwest China. Data collected from semi-structed interviews, stimulated recall interviews, and classroom observations suggested that teacher participants demonstrated differed assessment practices, representing Assessment of Learning (AoL), convergent, and divergent AfL, respectively. Three factors: teacher assessment literacy, teachers' beliefs about the relationship between goal orientation and motivation, as well as a trusting relationship between teachers and students, were identified as contributing to teachers' different assessment practices. Our study calls for teacher educators' efforts to equip teachers with necessary assessment-related knowledge and skills, encourage teachers to negotiate learning goals with students, and help teachers establish a trusting environment in their classrooms, if AfL is to be fully embedded in classroom instruction.

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 94%

Using Assessment for Learning: Multi-Case Studies of Three Chinese University English as a Foreign Language (EFL) Teachers Engaging Students in Learning and Assessment

Liu

2021

Self Cite

“…Born and brought up in such an entrenched value, NNES teachers probably believe it is their duty to give feedback targeting a variety of errors. In contrast, western education system gives more importance to students' agency in learning and underplays teachers' role (Rao and Li, 2017 ; Yan et al, 2021 ). NES teachers who were brought up and educated in this culture may support that it is important for students to accept the responsibility to identify their errors by themselves, and so it is unnecessary for teachers to mark errors comprehensively.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Teachers Helping EFL Students Improve Their Writing Through Written Feedback: The Case of Native and Non-native English-Speaking Teachers' Beliefs

Cheng

2022

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Although the efficacy of teacher written feedback has been widely investigated, relatively few studies have been conducted from feedback practitioners' perspectives to investigate teachers' beliefs regarding it, particularly compare beliefs held by teachers with different sociocultural and linguistic backgrounds. Consequently, much remains to be known about teachers' conceptions about written feedback, who has different first languages (L1). To bridge such a gap, we conducted this qualitative study to examine the similarities and differences between native English-speaking (NES) and non-native English-speaking (NNES) teachers' beliefs in Chinese University EFL settings. We analyzed the in-depth interviews with eight teachers through thematic analysis. The findings showed that NES and NNES teachers espoused a range of beliefs in relation to the five themes of written feedback: Purpose, scope, focus, strategy, and orientation. While they shared similar beliefs with regard to feedback focus, their beliefs differed in terms of feedback scope. Important implications are discussed for educational practices.

“…More recently, in mainland China, where significant correlations were found between self-assessment of reading/writing scores and reading comprehension/writing test scores, Liu and Brantmeier’s (2019) study has demonstrated that Chinese young learners could self-assess their English reading/writing skills and knowledge quite accurately. Nevertheless, further details are needed not only regarding the processes that young learners use to self-assess their reading and writing, but also how language teachers’ assessment literacy can be further developed to support students’ growing needs in such assessment activities ( Yan et al, 2021 ).…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…There is a growing recognition of the value for teachers to implement Assessment for Learning (AfL), namely, a student-centered assessment approach, in classrooms globally ( Birenbaum et al, 2015 ; Tai et al, 2018 ; Dixon et al, 2020 ). In the Chinese context, although AfL has been promoted across university classes at the policy level, for example, the Ministry of Education (MoE) of China has proposed and stressed AfL to be prioritized in every major curriculum in classroom practices ( MoE P. R. China, 2017 ), EFL teaching and assessment are still mostly confined to an exam-driven, product-oriented, and teacher-dominated environment, particularly in the writing domain (see Berry, 2011 ; Brown and Gao, 2015 ; Reinders et al, 2017 ; Wu et al, 2021a ; Yan et al, 2021 ). Therefore, how policies are enacted in EFL classroom assessment practices and how teachers conceive student-led assessment approaches are of significance and the latter is part of the current research endeavor.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploring teachers’ attitudes and self-efficacy beliefs for implementing student self-assessment of English as a foreign language writing

Zhang¹,

Parr

et al. 2022

Self Cite

With the growing need to nurture students’ independent learning, English language teaching (ELT) practices should reflect student-centered assessment approaches, such as self-assessment, an ultimate goal of higher education. It has been pointed out that to conduct effective self-assessment, students need to be taught systematically, and that is where teachers are expected to step in. Prior to implementing such a change in ELT, it is important to conduct research on English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers’ attitudes toward, and self-efficacy beliefs about, implementing self-assessment to cultivate capable student self-assessors. Although the strong global endorsement of self-assessment over the past two decades has witnessed its classroom implementation in different disciplines, such studies are scant in relation to EFL writing classrooms. To address this gap, the present qualitative research examined five Chinese tertiary EFL writing teachers’ attitudes toward and self-efficacy beliefs about student self-assessment of writing, as well as possible reasons that discourage them from engaging students in self-assessment practices. Data collected from in-depth, semi-structured interviews indicated that self-assessment, a critical element of self-regulated learning, is surprisingly missing from the teachers’ knowledge base and previous practices. Additionally, the findings offer insights into the striking differences in teachers’ understanding of, attitudes toward, and low self-efficacy beliefs about self-assessment of writing. Reasons why teachers choose not to implement self-assessment of writing are also discussed. Findings from this study contribute to a deeper understanding of how EFL teachers’ attitudes and self-efficacy beliefs are enacted in relation to their classroom assessment practices in order to move forward discussions on the feasibility of implementing self-assessment of writing in tertiary EFL classrooms.