Assessment as an area of research has a rich history of theories and debates and numerous studies deal with the definitions and different functions of assessment. Recent developments in the assessment field (Sadler, 1989; Black & Wiliam, 1998; Black et al., 2004; Taras, 2005; Fraser, 2016) stress the influence of assessment on learning and show a switch in assessment responsibilities from teacher to students. Although, there is a broad literature on the need for research on language assessment across many parts of the world like the United States of America, Europe, and Australia, there is still very limited research in the Arab world, particularly in Libya. Therefore, this study aims to investigate factors related to teachers' assessment practices in public secondary schools in a Libyan context. It sought to explore teachers' and students' perceptions towards these processes and identify major influences that could have effects on these processes. The research sample consists of 180 male and female students and 50 male and female teachers from 6 secondary public schools in Libya. The different schools in this study were chosen randomly using stratified random sampling. The study addressed various issues that may influence teachers' practices, including teachers' and students' perceptions about the different assessment processes to evaluate students' academic learning. A combination of quantitative and qualitative research methods was utilised to collect data. A closed-ended questionnaire was administered to 50 teachers and a student's questionnaire was distributed to 180 students. In addition, 12 semi-structured interviews and observations were conducted with 12 teachers and 12 semi-structured interviews were also conducted with students. SPSS software was used to analyse the questionnaire responses, while thematic analysis was applied to the qualitative data. The findings revealed that most teachers and students were aware of the significance of assessment practices, including both the traditional test item forms and the new assessment processes. Teachers' comments showed that they were able and willing to implement different practices to evaluate their students' learning performance. However, there were some external factors such as; the accountability for the external exams, the class size and the lack of training that negatively influenced their application of different assessment forms and restricted their capability to introduce new assessment procedures. Furthermore, the instability of the country and the war affected the teachers' decisions towards students' evaluation and assessing with the latter sometimes threatening teachers with guns in order to gain high marks in their poor achievement. Teachers' responses also indicated that they would welcome any further plans that help in introducing any assessment workshops and training sessions in the new assessment processes. The findings of the current study draw attention to the impact of these factors on assessment practices, and further studies are needed to explore these issues in more detail and in different contexts. Additionally, the research findings provide empirical information that can be utilized in improving pedagogy in countries where English is taught as a foreign or second language.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:742084 |
| Date | January 2018 |
| Creators | El-Taher Al-Fourganee, Zadma |
| Publisher | University of Sunderland |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | http://sure.sunderland.ac.uk/9585/ |
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