The investigation of testing and assessment process in English languageteaching at secondary school level

The aim of this study is to identify teachers' opinions about testing and assessment process in English language teaching. The study which was conducted within the scope of mixed research method, is a descriptive survey. The participants included in qualitative data collection process consist of 45 teachers selected by purposive sampling method and working in different secondary schools in the central districts of Diyarbakır in 2019-2020 academic year. As for quantitative data collection, the sample of the study consists of 306 teachers determined by stratified sampling method method among 543 English language teachers working in the central districts of Diyarbakır in 2020-2021 academic year. A semi-structured interview form and "The Questionnaire of Testing and Assessing Foreign Language Skills" developed by the researcher were used to collect data. The qualitative data was analyzed through content analysis method while descriptive analysis techniques were used to analyse quantitative data. The results of the study reveal that English language teachers make some arrangements to design a test and mostly pay attention to a test's basic principles regarding validity, reliability and practicality before beginning testing and assesment process at "Preparation" stage. Moreover, most of the teachers state that they are partly careful about designing measurement tests which are truly in accord with English language teaching curriculum. Considering the findings regarding "Implementation" main theme, it was determined that teachers usually prefer using multiple choice tests among traditional assessment techniques; and projects, performance tasks and porfolios among alternative assessment tasks. When it comes to assessing language skills, qualitative and quantitative data reveal that teachers can't assess listening and speaking skills at a satisfactory level. On the other hand, teachers' opinions about assesing reading skills are mostly positive. Writing skills are neither as ignored as listening and speaking skills, nor they are considered as important as reading skills. Most of the teachers make assessment practices to test learners' vocabulary knowledge. Also, it was revealed that a clear majority of teachers view measuring affective skills significant. The results regarding "Assessment" main theme show that all of the teachers use summative assessment as it is stated compulsory in the curriculum to carry out this kind of assessment. When it comes to findings regarding "Feedback" main theme, teachers mostly care about informing learners about their testing scores. In addition, improving testing instruments, learning environment, foreign language curriculum and teaching materials are suggestions provided by teachers to experience a more qualified assessment process. Key Words: Testing, Assessment, English Language Teahing, English Language Teachers