Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
International Conference on Teaching and Learning English as an Additional Language (GlobELT), Antalya, Türkiye, 14 - 17 Nisan 2016, cilt.232, ss.136-144
The values and world views of different nations are reflected in their educational systems (Barnwell 1996). The methodologies they use to train language teachers and to assess language proficiency not only mirror and reinforce general attitudes about language and language learning but also create closed systems that are usually highly resistant to change and innovation (Locastro 1990). Language teachers' experiences as testees shape their beliefs about assessment, inform their teaching and play a central role in how they plan and implement classroom assessment practices (Bliem & Davinroy 1997; Craig et al. 2013). Therefore, the current study, first, presents the sociocultural and historical context of how English is taught and tested in Turkey and then, it presents the beliefs and views of pre-service teachers related to assessment of English in Turkey. The views and beliefs of pre-service teachers have been gathered using questionnaires and interviews. Both qualitative and quantitative analyses of all sets of the data have been performed so that a more detailed, more representative picture is created. The results of the study not only present how language assessment policies shape and reshape teaching beliefs and practices in the country but also reveal how pre-service teachers' views about assessment could be situation-specific, hence difficult to understand once placed out of context. (C) 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license.