University English teacher assessment literacy: A survey-test report from China

Abstract

Assessment literacy (AL) is central to the quality of education because competencies in assessing student learning lead to informed decisions. While the AL of university English teachers in China is particularly crucial as they teach the largest group of adult English language learners in the world, it has regrettably remained largely unexplored. The present study subjected an adapted version of the Teacher Assessment Literacy Questionnaire to rigorous psychometric property analyses, and used it to investigate the AL level of Chinese university English teachers (N=891) and the effects of their demographic characteristics on AL performance. Findings reveal a basic level of AL in certain dimensions with limited influence from demographic characteristics. Discussions are centered around validation of the AL instrument, causes for limited AL competence, and key factors that have impacted AL. This study concludes with a reflection of constructing contextually-grounded AL measures and implications for principles, policy and practice of teacher assessment education.