DOI: 10.14457/tu.the.2022.1676
title: Language assessment literacy: exploring Thai EFL teachers’ assessment knowledge, assessment beliefs, and digitally-mediated assessment practices in classrooms

description: Language Assessment Literacy (LAL) plays a crucial role in improving language teaching and assessment practices. In language classrooms, it is vital for instructors to have a solid grasp of language assessment principles and the ability to effectively implement assessment-related activities. However, LAL remains an underdeveloped aspect among English language instructors, as literature suggests that many still struggle to bridge the gap between theory and practice in language assessment, which can undermine the potential of assessment in language classrooms. This study sought to explore Thai EFL university lecturers’ digitally-mediated language assessment knowledge, beliefs, and practices, to uncover the digitally-mediated language assessment literacy of Thai EFL university lecturers, focusing on their assessment practices and how their practices were affected by their language assessment literacy, and to understand the extent to which lecturers’ knowledge and beliefs are reflected in their assessment practice and vice versa. Through multistage sampling, 152 Thai EFL university lecturers from eight Thai public universities participated in this study and completed the language assessment knowledge test, assessment-related belief questionnaire, and assessment practice inventory for a quantitative phase. Through purposeful sampling, four participants joined this study regarding qualitative analysis through classroom observations, stimulated recalls, and semi-structured interviews. In this study, classroom observations were carried out to discover the participants’ assessment practices, and stimulated recalls were conducted after each observation to probe the participants' assessment methods. In addition, when classroom observations were completed, semi-structured interviews were conducted to inquire about their perspectives on classroom assessment practices. The findings revealed that, regarding lecturers’ assessment knowledge, most of the Thai EFL university lecturers in this study demonstrated a moderate level of language assessment knowledge, indicating that they were most literate in articulating clear learning intentions but least literate in communicating effective feedback. Concerning their assessment beliefs, in addition, they affirmed that performance assessment was the most important aspect of classroom assessment, whereas traditional assessment methods and non-achievement-based grading were the least significant. Moreover, they indicated that they often informed students in advance of how grades would be assigned, but test item analysis was seldom conducted, and test revisions were seldom based on the test item analysis. Regarding their assessment practices, the results further indicated that the majority of lecturers were at an intermediate level of digitally-mediated language assessment literacy, as they mostly administered assessment tasks in a digital environment and developed performance indicators in collaboration with students. In addition, their assessment tasks were based on those in the coursebook, and their assessment tasks primarily focused on evaluating students’ learning and diagnosing students’ knowledge utilizing a range of assessment methods. These findings are anticipated to make several contributions towards enhancing the understanding of English language lecturers’ language assessment literacy. Moreover, they can serve as a foundation for the development of language assessment literacy among lecturers.