writing assessment literacy

The ability to assess the language learners’ progress has been known as one of the most important parts of EFL/ESL teachers’ literacy. Language assessment literacy (LAL). The notion of LAL has evolved over time, as a large number of researchers showed to be enthusiastic to study this research area. However, the number of studies on teachers’ Writing Assessment Literacy (WAL) is scanty. As writing skill is very necessary for language learners to communicate with native speakers of the English language, it is very important for writing teachers to develop assessment tasks to positively contribute to the rate of learners’ progress in writing skill. Therefore, it is of much significance to review the related studies on assessment literacy, language assessment literacy, and writing assessment literacy. In this review study, the relevant studies were reviewed and further directions for writing assessment literacy of EFL/ESL teachers are suggested to the researchers interested in the field.

riting assessment literacy (WAL) for second or foreign language (L2) teachers, which refers to teachers’ knowledge, conceptions, and practice of writing assessment in L2 contexts, has lately received attention from scholars. Although there has been significant debate about the impact of contextual and conceptual factors on teachers’ assessment literacy, studies focusing on how such factors influence teachers’ WAL are lacking. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore the way Iranian English writing teachers' conception of assessment, and macro, meso, and micro contextual variables, impact their writing assessment practice. It also looked at how writing teachers make assessment decisions in order to negotiate and find a compromise when their assessment views and beliefs diverge from the assessment policies in their local contexts. The data were collected through semi-structured interviews with ten in-service L2 writing teachers in Iran. The findings show that participants had positive conceptions about formative writing assessments, but they stated that they mostly used summative assessments in writing classes. Macro-level contextual factors turned out to mostly impact teachers’ writing assessment practices and conceptions. The results underscored the role of school and work experience in shaping and changing writing assessment conceptions. The findings of this study contribute to our current understanding of WAL development and the provision of more efficient assessment training for language teachers in teacher education programs.