IRANIAN EFL TEACHERS' WRITING ASSESSMENT BELIEFS, LITERACY, AND TRAINING NEEDS: DO MAJORS MATTER?

Abstract

This study gauged the current level of Iranian EFL (English as a Foreign Language) teachers in Writing Assessment Literacy (WAL) and identified their training needs in this area. Further, this research investigated the teachers' beliefs about scoring accuracy in writing assessment, general assessment issues in writing classrooms, and different writing assessment methods. 146 participating Iranian EFL teachers were divided into two groups of TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) and Non-TEFL, based on their university degrees, so the mentioned issues were explored in terms of the teachers' majors in order to find any significant associations between the teachers' majors and the raised issues or any significant differences between the two groups of teachers' beliefs in the above-mentioned subjects. Quantitative data were collected via a questionnaire. A significant association was found between the teachers' majors and the status of receiving prior writing assessment training. Moreover, comparative analyses between the TEFL and Non-TEFL groups revealed significant differences in all areas of WAL training, as well as the teachers' beliefs about general assessment issues in writing classrooms and different writing assessment methods. However, regarding the teachers' self-report about the perceived level of training need and the teachers' beliefs about writing scoring accuracy, no significant differences were found between the two groups in majority of WAL areas and belief statements. To improve the condition, amending of the language teacher education programs is a vital step to be taken in Iran.