Investigating the Status Quo of Writing Assessment Literacy among Moroccan EFL University Teachers: Perceptions and Practices

Ahlame Boumehdi; Hicham Laabidi

doi:10.21093/ijeltal.v10i2.2028

Investigating the Status Quo of Writing Assessment Literacy among Moroccan EFL University Teachers: Perceptions and Practices

Ahlame Boumehdi, Hicham Laabidi

Abstract

Assessing students’ writing skills is at the heart of teachers’ work in the English department studies of Moroccan universities. However, research has predominantly focused on student outcomes instead of paying close attention to investigate, assess, and quantify teachers’ writing assessment literacy. Against this background, the purpose of this descriptive quantitative study is to investigate the status quo of writing assessment literacy among Moroccan EFL university teachers in an attempt to draw a general picture about their writing assessment perceptions, and practices. To achieve this goal, an adapted version of Crusan et al.’s (2016) WAL questionnaire was administered to a convenient sample of 54 teachers from various Moroccan universities. The results unveil significant insights into the levels of teachers’ writing assessment literacy levels. In fact, the study reveals that teachers are favorably disposed towards writing assessment literacy. Yet, teachers’ level of assessment literacy was not fully mirrored in their practice given a plethora of challenges issued by the participants. The results further uncover that teachers have primarily developed their assessment literacy through on-the-job learning. The study’ findings have several pedagogical implications for training writing teachers and the enhancement of EFL writing assessment practices. Additionally, these findings are supposed to serve as a roadmap for future researchers to explore the topic from various perspectives.

Keywords

assessment practices, teacher training, teachers’ writing assessment literacy, writing assessment, writing assessment literacy

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DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.21093/ijeltal.v10i2.2028

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