Arab World English Journal (AWEJ) Volume 12. Number3   September 2021                          Pp. 464-485
DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.24093/awej/vol12no3.32

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An Exploratory Study of EFL Teachers’ Assessment Conceptions at a Saudi University 

Ahmad Qadi
English language and Translation
Umm Alqura University, Makkah, Saudi Arabia
Email: ahqadi@uqu.edu.sa

 

Received: 6/21/2021                           Accepted:  9/1/2021               Published: 9/29/2021

 

Abstract:
Each teacher evaluates students’ learning outcomes in their own way, depending on their own ideas and beliefs about teaching, learning, and assessing. It impacts on how pupils work. As a result, concentrating on instructors’ perspectives in general appears to be vital, and exposing EFL teachers’ evaluation concepts is crucial and requires considerable investigation. The current study examines teachers’ assessment conceptions of English as a foreign language (EFL) at a Saudi University. Specifically, it investigates EFL university teachers’ assessment conceptions using Brown’s (2006) Teachers’ Conceptions of Assessment Abridged Inventory, four-factor assessment inventory conceptions that include variables like student accountability, school accountability, progress, and irrelevance. The survey employed a Likert scale with response options ranging from one (strongly disagree) to five (strongly agree). The researcher gathered the study’s data using Google Forms and administered an online questionnaire to fifteen EFL English teachers in English Language Center at a Saudi University called Afaq University (pseudonym), Saudi Arabia. The obtained quantitative data were analyzed manually by descriptive statistics. The findings demonstrated that of all participants, the enhancement principle had the primary value, whereas the conceptions of irrelevance, on the other hand, were discovered to have the lowest level of agreement. The study presented some pedagogical implications and then concluded with the need for further triangulated exploration of the phenomenon.
Keywords: Classroom assessment, conceptions of assessment, teachers’ beliefs,

Cite as:  Qadi, A.  (2021). An Exploratory Study of EFL Teachers’ Assessment Conceptions at a Saudi University.  Arab World English Journal, 12 (3) 464-485.
DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.24093/awej/vol12no3.32

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Received: 6/21/2021
Accepted:  9/1/2021 
Published: 9/29/2021
https://dx.doi.org/10.24093/awej/vol12no3.32  

Ahmad Qadi is an assistance professor of English language and translation at Umm Al-Qura University, Makkah, Saudi Arabia. He has a PhD in translation and linguistics from Western Sydney, Australia. He also has MA in linguistics and translation. His research interests include English language teaching pedagogies, translation, flipped learning and ELT assessment practices.  ORCID number:  0000-0002-1169-5851