In the following, we report the findings concerning the need for assessment
education by respondents who had different background in terms their qualification,
type of student they worked with or their role / profession. This document provides
an overview of the findings; links are provided to other, supplementary documents
that provide more details on the significant differences observed.
The number of European-based respondents who replied to the Part 1 of the questionnaire (the teachers’ questionnaire) was 697 (of the total of 857 European respondents; see Table 1 below). The analysis of the relationship between the respondents' background and their need for training in language testing and assessment below is based on the data from Questionnaire 1 only and addresses the following questions:
1. Did the needs for assessment education differ depending on the qualification of the respondent?
2. Did the needs for assessment education differ depending on the type of student that the respondent worked with?
3. Did the needs for assessment education differ depending on the respondent’s role or profession?
The respondents were asked to select one of the four options describing their qualification for their profession:
Your qualification:
- language degree
- teacher training
- combination of language degree and teacher training
- other qualification
Table 1: The qualification of the respondents and the number of different assessment
activities (in Questionnaire 1) in which they needed further training.
Qualification |
Total number of European respondents in the survey |
Number of European respondents who replied to Questionnaire 1 |
Average number of activities in which a need for (basic or advanced) assessment education was reported |
Language degree |
184 |
139 |
10.9 |
Teacher training |
90 |
68 |
9.9 |
Combination of language degree and teacher training |
486 |
409 |
11.6 |
Other qualification |
97 |
81 |
8.3 |
Total |
857 |
697 |
Analyses of variance were computed on the number of different activities in which the respondents reported need for either basic or advanced education in language assessment. The assumption here is that the higher the number of activities the respondent reports, the ‘bigger’ his/her need for education is (or, at least, the area in which need is perceived is bigger or more extensive). Overall, the differences were statistically significant (F = 3.33, p = .019). Those who had the most complete qualifications (both language degree and teacher training) reported more extensive need than the other groups (11.6 activities on average), especially compared with those having ‘other qualification’ (about 8 activities only, on average).
All 25 assessment activities in Questionnaire 1 were analysed by crosstabulating the respondents' bacground and their need for training in the particular activity. Chi-square analyses revealed significant differences for three assessment activities:
• Giving feedback
• Using self / peer assessment
• Testing integrated language skills
Typically, respondents with ‘other qualification’ were more often in no need for further education as far as these three activities were concerned, whereas those with the combined qualification of language degree and teacher training tended to need advanced level training in these activities.
Overall, however, different qualifications were not strongly related to different needs in assessment training, and it is difficult to explain the few cases above where relationships were found. Possibly more detailed analyses that take into account e.g. the interaction between qualifications and other background variables can reveal more easily interpretable findings.
In the following, we compare the need for assessment training of different respondent
groups, defined in terms of the type of student they worked with. We address
questions such as:
Do the training needs of the teachers and other who work with younger students differ from the needs of those who work with adults?
Do the training needs of the teachers etc. who work with different types of adult students differ?
Do the training needs of the teachers etc. who only work with one type of student differ from the needs of those who teach two or more types of student?
The respondents can be divided in a number of different ways. For this report,
the following groupings were used:
A. Respondents working with children (up to 18 years old) vs. respondents working
with adults of any type;
B. As above, but respondents working with very young (under 10) children removed;
C. Respondents who only teach adults in universities/higher education vs. respondents
who only teach other types of adult;
D. Respondents working only with one type of student vs. respondents working
with two or more types of student.
Other kinds of categorisations are also be possible and may be computed and tried out by anybody with access to the data from this survey.
Crosstabulations with chi-squares and t-tests or analyses of variance were performed for the four different ways of categorising the respondents. The analyses were performed first with the summary variables that indicate the overall amount of need or the overall range of need in terms of the number of different assessment activities where one might want to receive further training.
Differences in previous education in language assessment between the two groups:
Differences in the need for more education in language assessment between the two groups:
Click here for access to the detailed statistical results.
Proportionately, the respondents working only with the adults reported that they needed no further training in the specific activities included in the questionnaire compared with those who worked only with younger learners. When the respondents working with adults needed further training, it tended to be advanced rather than basic education, whereas those working with younger learners needed both basic and advanced education, although often with an emphasis on basic training.
The same findings as reported above were observed when the respondents working
only with very young learners (under 10 year olds) were removed.
No significant differences were found in the previous assessment education of these two groups. Neither were there any differences between them as far as the need for further education is concerned, except in the case of number of different assessment activities where either basic or advanced education was needed. The respondents working with adults in universities / higher education reported that they need education on about 10 different activities whereas the figure for the respondents working with adults outside the higher education sector was only about 7 (t = 2.2, p = .028).
The previous education in language assessment was the same for both these groups, i.e. typically they had received a little bit of training (1-2 days) on any of the assessment activities.
Some differences in the reported need for further training in assessment were however observed. The respondents who worked in more than one context, with more than one type of student, expressed a need for assessment education in more different activities (be that basic or advanced training) than those working only with one type of student (12.2 situations vs. 9.7 situations; t = 3.9, p = .000).
Significant difference for education was found for the following activity:
• Acting as an interviewer in an external test / examination where the respondents who worked with more than one type of student needed education more often, in particular advanced education (chi2 = 7.1, p = .029)
Here the respondents’ professional roles are examined. The respondents
were divided into (1) those who only worked as language teachers and reported
having no other professional role, and (2) other respondents who either combined
the role of a language teacher with one or more other roles (e.g. textbook writer,
member of an exam board) or who worked in some other role than that of a language
teacher.
For almost all assessment activities, the two groups (teachers only vs. others) differed significantly in terms of their need for assessment education. Typically, the respondents who worked only as language teachers needed basic training on assessment, in almost any given assessment activity, whereas the respondents who had several professional roles (or sometimes non-teaching roles) reported significantly more often the need for more advanced assessment education.
The only assessment activities where no significant differences were found between the training needs of those who only worked as language teachers and those who worked in a different role or in other roles besides teaching were the ‘use of self / peer assessment’ and ‘use of portfolio’.
Click here for access to the detailed statistical results.