Development Of English Teachers’ Writing Assessment Literacy In Senior High School

The concept of assessment serving for teaching and learning proposed by General Senior High School English Curriculum Standards(2017 Edition revised in 2020),along with the continuation writing in the latest National College Entrance English Language Examination,poses a higher demand for EFL teachers’ writing assessment literary.Writing assessment literacy involves the assessor’s writing knowledge base,conceptions,and practices.A writing-assessment-literate teacher can identify students’ strengths and weaknesses in writing and provide feedback effectively and efficiently,enhancing students’ writing competencies.Increasing studies have been conducted to investigate the status quo of teachers’ language assessment literacy and explore the methods to improve it,while few studies have touched upon EFL teachers’ writing assessment literacy and its dynamic development.Based on Lam’s(2019)conceptual framework of teachers’ writing assessment literacy and the socio-cultural activity theory,this study explores the effects of the application of an online diagnostic assessment platform(U-Dig)on the development of high school EFL teachers’ writing assessment literacy.Two high school English teachers in Chongqing are invited to be the participants in this one-year-long case study.Through analyzing and coding the data collected from feedback reports generated by U-Dig,a questionnaire,interviews,classroom observations,and participants’ reflection journals,this study attempts to answer the following questions: 1)Can the application of an online diagnostic assessment platform affect high school teachers’ writing assessment literacy? If yes,what is the change of their writing assessment literacy after using the platform? 2)How does high school teachers’ writing assessment literacy change after using the online diagnostic assessment platform?This study found that the application of an online diagnostic assessment platform enhanced teachers’ writing assessment literacy development and the dynamic development process was a spiral expansive learning cycle.Specifically,U-Dig renewed or reinforced teachers’ conceptions toward writing assessment both cognitively and affectively,which prompted them to take the initiative to update,systemize,or consolidate their writing assessment knowledge and brought forth innovations to their writing assessment practices.During this process,teachers encountered contradictions on four levels and took various corresponding actions to relieve or resolve them.The process of their writing assessment literacy development was a spiral expansive learning cycle,where teachers went through phases of questioning,analyzing,modelling,examining,implementing,reflecting,and consolidating and achieved transformation in writing assessment literacy.Based on these findings,implications for administrators in institutions,designers of writing assessment training programs,and EFL teachers were presented.