Building Teachers' Assessment Literacy: A Case in Chinese Heritage Language Learning

• In Event: Roundtable Session 57
  In Roundtable Session: Diverse Democracies, Democratic Diversities: International Studies on Identities, Multilingualism, and Language Rights and Ideologies

Abstract

A teacher’s assessment literacy refers to her/his demonstrated understanding of the principles of task design to support student learning. This study examines the development of assessment literacy in twelve Chinese language teachers as they participated in a two-year authentic assessment professional development program. By analyzing the quality of assessment tasks designed by the teachers over time, we found that, although teachers quickly grasped many aspects of assessment literacy, they found it difficult to incorporate certain knowledge manipulation criteria into their task designs. The study provides insights into the contextual and discipline-embedded challenges that face language teachers with regard to assessment.

Authors

• Kim H. Koh, University of Calgary

• Lydia E Carol-Ann Burke, University of Toronto