Conceptions of Assessment: Investigating What Assessment Means to Secondary and University Teachers

Oct 15, 2026

The overriding objective of this study is to examine secondary and university teachers’ conceptions of assessment in an EFL context using a four-factor Teachers’ Conceptions of Assessment (TCoA) inventory (Student Accountability, School Accountability, Improvement and Irrelevance). Questionnaire data were collected from 336 secondary school teachers and 206 university teachers. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses (EFA, PCA, and CFA via SPSS and AMOS) reveal a three-factor model, with a significant relationship between Accountability and Improvement, while teachers’ misconceptions about assessment emerge from ecological relations among factors and indicators. Implications are discussed for future TCoA research in related contexts.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages25

Reading Time1 h 3 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Background to the Study

Assessment conceptions and ethics/standards

Assessment literacy and its stakeholders

Teachers’ role in assessment reforms

Socio-cultural context of assessment literacy

High-stakes assessment, accountability, improvement, and irrelevance

Prior research on TCoA in different contexts

Conceptions of Assessment: Investigating What Assessment Means to Secondary and University Teachers Arab Journal of Applied Linguistics e-ISSN 2490-4198 Vol. 1, No. 1, January 2016, 19-43 © The Author [http://www.arjals.com](http://www.arjals.com) Sahbi Hidri Faculty of Human and Social Sciences of Tunis, Tunisia Abstract The overriding objective of this study was to investigate secondary and university teachers’ assessment conceptions in an EFL context using a four-factor (Student Accountability, School Accountability, Improvement and Irrelevance)teachers’conceptions of assessment (TCoA) inventory (Brown, 2006) . Data of the study were collected by a questionnaire administered to secondary school (n=336) and university (n=206) teachers.Factor analyses (exploratory factor analysis (EFA), parallel analysis (principal component analysis (PCA)), dimension analysis (SPSS R-Menu v.2.0) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA)) using SPSS v. 22.0 and AMOS v. 21.0 were examined. Results delineated a three-factor model (Accountability, Improvement and Irrelevant)withan endorsement of and a significant relationship between Accountability and Improvement. The ecological relationship between factors and indicators denoted teachers’ misconceptions about assessment. Implications for future research on TCoA in similar-related contextswere also discussed. Keywords: Assessment literacy, TCoA, education policy,EFA, PCA, CFA, assessment misconceptions Background to the Study One of the major roles ofassessment conceptions is to preserve ethics and standards (Conley, 2005; Davies, 2008a) . Such conceptions impact teachers’ views on how to conceive of learning, teaching and assessment intended to cope with instructional objectives and learning outcomes; a trend that was ignoredduring the early days when researchers (e.g., Lado, 1961) started theorizing about language testing. Many researchers (e.g., Inbar-Lourie, 2008; Malone, 2013; Stiggins, 2002; Stoynoff & Chapelle, 2005) have accentuated varying definitions of assessment literacy. According to Taylor (2009), assessment literacy spans many stakeholders (Jeong, 2013) such as students, teachers, parents, policy-makers, educators and even governments. Itis concerned with certifying learning (Brown, Kennedy,Fok, Chan & Yu, 2009; Kennedy, Chan & Fok, 2011) and it refers to teachers’theoretical and operational knowledge to design useful tests whose constructs arebased on welldefined test specifications (specs) . Further, assessment literacy is interpreted as the teachers’ ability to use scores, analyse, comment, report results, make fair inferenceson test-takers’ future (Qian, 2008) andwrite evaluation reports on instructional materials and language programs(Brown & Bailey, 2008; Davies, 2008a).In this regard, teachers are held to play a key role in assessment reforms. Acquiring such literacy is imbedded in a broader socio-cultural context where advocates of assessment literacy have addressed assessment conceptions (Brown, 2006; Brown et al. 2009; Gebril & Brown, 2013) and practices (Brown, 2002, 2004, 2008a, 2011) . The challenging principle of assessment literacy (Malone, 2013) is to instil a new culture of assessment that straddles conceptions with practices and not disregard them. On the challenges of assessment literacy, Stiggins (2002, p. 762) contends that “few teachers are prepared to face the challenges of classroom assessment because they have not been given the opportunity to learn to do so.”Fulcher and Bamford (1996) highlightsome assessment principles that are at the core of any profession where tests are frequently used for examination or promotion. In addition, Inbar-Lourie (2008) stressesthe deployment of multiple principles for assessment literacy, such as the disparity between formative and summative assessment, decision-making, classical vs. modern testing, different modes of assessment, (i.e., alternative and traditional), relevance of formative assessment

FAQs

What is the main aim of the study?

To investigate secondary and university teachers’ conceptions of assessment in an EFL context using the Teachers’ Conceptions of Assessment (TCoA) inventory.

How were the data collected and analyzed?

Data were collected via a questionnaire administered to secondary and university teachers. Analyses included EFA, parallel analysis with PCA, and CFA using SPSS and AMOS.

What did the results show about teachers’ conceptions?

A three-factor model was identified (Accountability, Improvement, and Irrelevant). The study also finds a significant relationship between Accountability and Improvement, indicating misconceptions about assessment through ecological links among factors and indicators.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by supergirl