Language assessment knowledge of preservice teachers of english as a foreign language

The significance of language education is undeniable in today's contemporary world and as the boundaries of the countries has become less important, the ability of speaking English gains much importance. Language assessment is one of the key elements of language education and as one the main stakeholders, the assessment knowledge of language teachers is highly essential to implement sound assessment practices and to determine whether the language education is successful or not. Considering these facts, this study aimed to find out the general and skill-based language assessment knowledge level of preservice EFL teachers. Besides, since the only source of the language assessment knowledge of preservice EFL teachers was the Language Testing and Assessment course, it was tried to figure out the opinions about the course. The study adopted a survey-based research method and conducted a questionnaire to collect data, and two open-ended questions were also asked to support the quantitative data. 154 participants involved in the study. The quantitative data was analysed via SPSS programme and the content analysis was made to the responses of open ended questions. The results presented that the language assessment knowledge level of the participants was below average and they were in need of more detailed and comprehensive assessment related training activities and tasks.