An investigation of teachers' conception and practices concerning assessment in English for young learners classroom

The aim of the study was to investigate TEYL teachers' conceptions of assessment and their choices of assessment tasks in practice. Quantitative and qualitative data collection tools were utilized to collect data. The data of the study were gathered through an adapted version of Teachers' Conceptions of Assessment Questionnaire (TCoA-IIIA) originally developed by Brown (2001-2003, 2008). The data were obtained from 43 English language teachers in primary state schools in Osmaniye, Turkey. The quantitative data were subjected to SPSS 20 (Statistical Package for Social Sciences). This study indicated that language teachers prefer variety of assessment tools and use various assessment strategies in practice, however, teachers prefer traditional types of assessment practices altough they state high percentages of alternative assessment. Teachers' conceptions of assessment and their perceived preferences did not contradict. However, their actual assessment practices contradicted with their perceived preferences of assessment and the meaning they attached to the concept.