Development of Vietnamese Pre-service EFL Teachers' Assessment Literacy

Abstract

The importance of teachers’ assessment literacy has been increasingly emphasised in the literature. However, very little research has paid attention to pre-service EFL teachers’ assessment literacy and how they develop this area during teacher training programmes. Moreover, there is a paucity of research on Vietnamese pre-service EFL teachers’ assessment literacy. This study was conducted in three phases to address these gaps: (1) Phase 1 provided a description of current assessment training at four Vietnamese teacher training universities, (2) Phase 2 attempted to map out pre-service EFL teachers’ confidence levels in assessment literacy, and (3) Phase 3 mainly focused on the development of four pre-service EFL teachers’ assessment literacy during their nine-week practicum at Bach Dang University (pseudonym).

Phase 1 relied on individual semi-structured interviews with four Vietnamese teacher-trainers to describe the current status of assessment training for pre-service EFL teachers at four key teacher training universities in terms of: (1) teacher-trainers’ background, (2) course content, (3) method of instruction, (4) support for assessment training, and (5) constraints of assessment training. The teacher-trainers noted their lack of professional development in testing and assessment. The method of instruction varied for different teacher training universities. The results showed a greater emphasis on training in summative rather than formative assessment. Also, teacher-trainers identified two main constraints in the current training programmes including: (i) the lack of systematic innovation in language testing and assessment and (ii) the lack of labour, facilities and time for language testing and assessment training.

In Phase 2, a questionnaire of pre-service EFL teachers’ confidence levels in assessment literacy was developed and validated. It was then administered to 365 pre-service EFL teachers. The results indicated pre-service EFL teachers’ high confidence levels in assessment literacy. Moreover, gender and career choice did not influence their confidence levels in assessment literacy while teaching experience and training in language testing and assessment did. However, those who had had more training scored lower confidence levels in assessment literacy.

Phase 3 was conducted in two parts to focus on assessment literacy development of four pre-service EFL teachers. Part 1 had two stages. Stage 1 administered the same questionnaire as in Phase 2 to thirty-one pre-service EFL teachers to investigate their confidence levels in assessment literacy over three time periods: before their language testing and assessment course, before their practicum, and after their practicum. The findings showed a significant statistical increase in their assessment literacy confidence levels. In Stage 2, eighteen pre-service EFL teachers in Stage 1 participated in two semi-structured focus group interviews to check if their confidence levels reflected their assessment literacy. The results indicated a need for data triangulation to claim their assessment literacy based on confidence levels.

Part 2 employed different research instruments including interviews, observation, stimulated recalls, and questionnaires to examine assessment literacy development of four pre-service EFL teachers over a nine-week practicum. The data indicated three main themes in pre-service EFL teachers’ development in assessment literacy: (1) pre-service EFL teachers’ development in: (i) giving feedback, (ii) designing test items, (iii) administering tests, (iv) observing students’ learning, (v) giving instructions, and (vi) improving their content knowledge, (2) pre-service EFL teachers’ individual differences in their assessment literacy development, and (3) incident-based learning of assessment literacy.

Overall, this study offered insights into the dynamic, situated and developmental nature of pre-service EFL teachers’ assessment literacy, which has useful implications for theory, research methodology and assessment training for pre-service EFL teachers. Moreover, the findings are very practical for different levels of administration, and for my role as a teacher-trainer in Vietnam.