2.3 Rationales of Teachers’ AL
2.4.1 Definitions of AL and LAL
AL, first coined by Stiggins (1991) in general education, was defined from the description of the assessment literates who could discern the high-quality assessment from unsound ones. Nearly a decade later, one of the earliest attempts to integrate AL with language assessment was Brindley (2001), who argued for a curriculum-based
LAL, although he did not specifically address LAL (Fulcher, 2012; Hildén &
Fröjdendahl, 2018; Inbar-Lourie, 2017).
The subsequent defining efforts on AL and LAL could be roughly evolved from traditional instrumental understanding into a modern social-cultural perspective (DeLuca et al., 2019). Initial definitions on AL, both in general education (e.g., Alkharusi, 2011; Brookhart, 2011; Koh, 2011; Mertler, 2009; Mertler & Campbell, 2005; O’Sullivan & Johnson, 1993; Paterno, 2001; Plake et al., 1993; Popham, 2009;
Stiggins, 1995) and in language assessment (e.g., Brindley, 2001; Malone, 2013; Vogt
& Tsagari, 2014) concentrated on identifying the componential elements of assessment knowledge and skills primarily required of teachers. For example, Paterno (2001) conceived AL as “the possession of knowledge about the basic principles of sound assessment practice, including terminology, the development and use of assessment methodologies and techniques, familiarity with standards of quality in assessment” (p.
2). Similarly, Popham (2009) asserted genuinely assessment literate teachers should be “conversant with a wide array of potential assessment options” beyond the knowledge of developing appropriate assessments (p. 7). Influenced by the view, LAL was also approached in the same way. According to Vogt and Tsagari (2014), LAL was mastery of knowledge, skills, and familiarity with principles, procedures, and practices especially in language assessment. LAL was the combination of AL skills in general and language-specific skills related to language assessment (Inbar-Lourie, 2017;
Malone, 2013).
The later broader conceptualizations of AL (e.g., Gareis & Grant, 2015; Kim et al., 2020; Lam, 2015; Zolfaghari & Ahmadi, 2016) and LAL (e.g., Davies, 2008; Fulcher, 2012; Giraldo, 2018a; Hassan & Coombe, 2020; Inbar-Lourie, 2008; Shahzamani &
Tahririan, 2021) were extended to contain the awareness of the potential function and impact of assessment on individuals and society at large. For example, according to Gareis and Grant (2015), assessment literate teachers needed to use assessment practices to enhance students’ learning. Zolfaghari and Ahmadi’s (2016) definition took the understanding of the emotions of the learners into account. Kim et al. (2020) advocated to include the social context of the assessment into the definition apart from a set of knowledge, skills, and competencies needed in assessment.
In the same vein, Davies (2008) incorporated the awareness of the proper use of language tests, fairness, and potential impact on a range of stakeholders into the core elements of LAL. For language assessment literate teachers, they should acknowledge the reasons or rationales for assessment (Inbar-Lourie, 2008; Shahzamani & Tahririan, 2021). Unlike the previous definitions, Fulcher (2012) provided a more detailed and comprehensive working definition of LAL by highlighting the wider social-political context where assessment embedded, though the element of language was excluded from the following description
The knowledge, skills and abilities required to design, develop, maintain or evaluate, large-scale standardized and/or classroom-based tests, familiarity with test processes, and awareness of principles and concepts that guide and underpin practice, including ethics and codes of practice. The ability to place knowledge,
skills, processes, principles and concepts within wider historical, social, political and philosophical frameworks in order understand why practices have arisen as they have, and to evaluate the role and impact of testing on society, institutions, and individuals. (p. 125)
Over time, these instrumental conceptualizations of AL and LAL were shifted towards a recent application of social-cultural lens which was linked to practitioner’s evolving professional identities (e.g., Coombs et al., 2018; Cowie et al., 2014; Looney et al., 2018; Scarino, 2013; Willis et al., 2013; Y. Xu & Brown, 2016). AL was far more than the acquisition of assessment-related knowledge and skills, but rather a social-cultural professional disposition tied to teacher identity. It was reconceptualized by Willis et al.
(2013) as “a dynamic context-dependent social practice that involves teachers articulating and negotiating classroom and cultural knowledges with one another and with learners, in the initiation, development and practice of assessment to achieve the learning goals of students” (p. 242). Looney et al. (2018) echoed the perspective with updated teacher assessment identity involving
not only a range of assessment strategies and skills, and even confidence and self-efficacy in undertaking assessment, but also the beliefs and feelings about assessment that will inform how teachers engage in assessment work with students, and focuses not simply on what teachers do, but on who they are. (p.
446)
Therefore, more than an accumulation of knowledge and skills mandated in assessment activities, AL was contemporarily reconceptualized as a developmental process that was mediated by a variety of external and internal factors, including but are not limited to context, opportunities to learn, personal preferences, and system culture (Coombs et al., 2018; DeLuca et al., 2016a).
In this study, which aims to describe the trajectory of pre-service EFL teacher’s LAL evolvement, the latest social-cultural stance is more suitable for the developmental perspective towards LAL and the acknowledgement of the mediating factors. Thus, based on the social-cultural reconceptualization synthesized from Fulcher (2012) and Willis et al. (2013), LAL is considered to be a dynamic context-dependent social practice that involves teachers articulating and negotiating classroom and cultural knowledges with others (including learners) in the entire process of assessment guided by their principles and oriented by historical, social, political, and philosophical frameworks so as to achieve the learning goals.
To summarise, the conceptualizations of AL and LAL have been evolved from an instrumental perspective to a social-cultural lens. However, maybe largely due to its multifaceted and context-sensitive nature (Esfandiari & Nouri, 2016; Giraldo, 2019;
Kaur et al., 2018; A. Kim et al., 2020), no consensus on the conceptualizations of AL and LAL has been reached yet (Deygers & Malone, 2019; Giraldo, 2020; Shahzamani
& Tahririan, 2021). Its concrete meanings and specific requirements depend on the varying needs of different stakeholders in diverse educational contexts (Pill & Harding, 2013; Y. Xu & Brown, 2016). But so far, the existing conceptualizations of LAL are derived either from academic researchers or in-service teachers, little is known from the pre-service EFL teachers’ perspectives, an important stakeholder in LAL.