Iranian EFL Teachers’ Techniques to Assess Student Learning During Class

摘要

The purpose of this study was to determine the types of techniques that Iranian EFL teachers usually use to assess their students. To this end, classroom assessment techniques (CATs) were categorized in terms of assessing course-related knowledge and skills (minute paper, muddiest point, approximate analogy), assessing learner attitudes, values and self-awareness (classroom opinion polls, knowledge and skills checklists) and assessing learner reactions to instruction(chain notes, Email feedback, exam evaluation) based on Thomas A. Angelo & k. Patricia Cross? s classroom assessment techniques. As well, 20 experienced EFL teachers participated and interviewed .The participants were non-native speakers of English and had an MA in TEFL, ten of whom were male and the rest were female. They were also asked to complete the classification form. The quantitative data were subjected to a set of descriptive analyses. The findings manifested that the minority of EFL teachers are familiar with classroom assessment techniques. Based on qualitative data, the findings also revealed that the majority of the participants make the same and reckless decisions assessing students? learning and use the same and unspectacular techniques. As a consequence, EFL teachers might be better prepared to assess their students? learning and to use the best classroom assessment techniques. Moreover, language teachers should also know what relevant evidence for a particular purpose is how to collect and interpret the evidence and how to communicate it to intended users (students, parents, university administrators) (Harlen, 2005).