Karim Rezagah - Center for Applied Language Studies, P.O. Box ۳۵, University of Jyvaskyla, Finland

English language teachers’ assessment ability to assess all areas of pupils’ learning is important for comprehending how learners advance across the curriculum and guiding them in their development (Livingston & Hutchinson, ۲۰۱۶). The educational system of Iran decided to shift from traditional teaching methodologies toward communicative approaches. This conversion would not turn into reality unless teachers could apply it in practice. However, teachers have certain needs such as expanding and broadening contextual-related knowledge, cooperating with their colleagues, and developing their assessment literacy (Coombe, Vafadar, & Mohebbi, ۲۰۲۰). To identify the teachers’ understandings of, practices in, and challenges of assessment, ۱۵ English language headteachers (English language teachers who are responsible for moderating the group of the teachers’ activities) participated in the interviews of this study, followed by questionnaires for exploring teachers’ needs. The interviews were coded and content analyzed independently by the researcher and an expert in assessment. The main themes and needs were derived from the interview analyses and are presented in eight pivots. The findings of the questionnaires manifested the priorities that teachers felt concerning assessment literacy and classroom-based assessment needs. The paper will discuss the findings concerning assisting teachers’ professional development in assessment literacy. Implications are also provided.

Assessment, Classroom Assessment, educational system, Teacher assessment literacy