The development of EFL examinations in Haiti: Collaboration and language assessment literacy development

Abstract

Research was conducted during the delivery of a series of workshops on language assessment with Haitian teachers in the spring of 2013. The final products of these workshops were several revised national English examinations presented to the Haitian Ministry of Education and Professional Training (MENFP). The research goal was to examine the language assessment literacy (LAL) development of both teachers and language assessment specialists during this collaboration. Data included the compiled feedback from Haitian teachers on draft examinations during the workshops, as well as survey and interview responses immediately following the workshops. Results reveal the complementary expertise of teachers and specialists, which facilitated LAL development by both parties. Results also identified challenges in collaborative decision making and consensus building to be addressed in future projects.

A Post-Positivist and Interpretive Approach to Researching Teachers’ Language Assessment Literacy

“…Additionally, observations can help to elucidate what happens in contexts where pre-and inservice teachers are being educated in lal. Although research has reported successful outcomes of professional development initiatives (for example, Baker & Riches, 2017;Nier et al, 2009), the process of getting to such outcomes is not reported, therefore limiting the usefulness of these case studies to provide instructional insights for practice in other contexts.…”

“…• A related point is that language teachers have reported the need to improve their lal in general, for which an understanding of their life-worlds is a central condition (Hill, 2017;Scarino, 2013). • Discussions of lal need to center on teachers' lal development (Baker & Riches, 2017) and how this development occurs through time.…”

“…In test-based teaching countries such as those reported in Sultana (2019) and Baker and Riches (2017), a post-positivist and interpretive lens helped these researchers to realize that lal is shaped by teachers' cultures. Specifically, teachers can at times accept largescale tests unquestioningly (Sultana, 2019), an issue Vogt and Tsagari (2014) see as problematic.…”

“…In Arias, Maturana, and Restrepo (2012), the participating teachers made their assessments more comprehensive and valid; they also embedded democracy and fairness in their practice by making students active participants in assessment. Finally, in a recent article, Baker and Riches (2017) reported that Haitian language teachersengaged in a one-week lal program-learned how to create questions for reading comprehension, embed vocabulary in teaching and assessment tasks, and in general integrate language skills in assessments, make connections between teaching and assessment, and consider assessment as essentially student-and learning-centered.…”

Toward measuring language teachers’ assessment knowledge: development and validation of Language Assessment Knowledge Scale (LAKS)

“…First of all, in order to provide a deep theoretical background to the instrument, the books referenced so far on language testing and assessment (Harris 1969;Hughes 1989;Heaton 1990;Bachman 1990;Bailey 1998;Alderson 2000;Buck 2001;Weigle 2002;Brown 2003;Luoma 2004;Fulcher andDavidson 2007, 2012;Coombe et al 2012, etc. ) were read by the researcher.…”