Teachers’ Perceptions on Traditional Vs. Digitally- Based Language Assessment

Teachers’ Perceptions on Traditional Vs. Digitally- Based Language Assessment

Assessment reflects teachers, curriculums, and systems so achievement tests must be designed with care (Heidari, 2014). The institute under study consumed over 600,000 sheets of paper annually for its traditional achievement tests. As a result, the institute created an innovative achievement test suitable for its blended learning program (Kianoosh Soltani, 2018). Traditional achievement tests were changed to digitally-based assessment in which the question paper was eliminated and replaced with an electronic format shown on screen. However, teacher-related aspects were not examined by Kianoosh and Soltani (2018). The current study aimed to understand teachers’ perceptions on digitally-based exams and compare their ideas with teachers who used traditional exams. Five teachers were randomly selected to participate in semi-constructed interviews and they were asked seven questions on the impact, practicality, usefulness, interactiveness, flexibility, acceptance, and general ideas of the digitally-based exams. Their ideas were extracted and a questionnaire with 29 items was designed, with the items testing the ideas in an unbiased way so teachers with digitally-based and traditional exams could both answer. 50 teachers who used traditional exams and 50 who used digitally-based exams were asked to fill this questionnaire in. Cronbach’s Alpha and independent samples t test were used in the data analysis. The results showed that the teachers who used digitally-based exams generally had more positive ideas. As a result, it can be said that digitally-based exams can become a part of language classrooms as environmentally-friendly and teacher-friendly parts of the classroom.

Assessment reflects teachers, curriculums, and systems so achievement tests must be designed with care (Heidari, 2014). The institute under study consumed over 600,000 sheets of paper annually for its traditional achievement tests. As a result, the institute created an innovative achievement test suitable for its blended learning program (Kianoosh Soltani, 2018). Traditional achievement tests were changed to digitally-based assessment in which the question paper was eliminated and replaced with an electronic format shown on screen. However, teacher-related aspects were not examined by Kianoosh and Soltani (2018). The current study aimed to understand teachers’ perceptions on digitally-based exams and compare their ideas with teachers who used traditional exams. Five teachers were randomly selected to participate in semi-constructed interviews and they were asked seven questions on the impact, practicality, usefulness, interactiveness, flexibility, acceptance, and general ideas of the digitally-based exams. Their ideas were extracted and a questionnaire with 29 items was designed, with the items testing the ideas in an unbiased way so teachers with digitally-based and traditional exams could both answer. 50 teachers who used traditional exams and 50 who used digitally-based exams were asked to fill this questionnaire in. Cronbach’s Alpha and independent samples t test were used in the data analysis. The results showed that the teachers who used digitally-based exams generally had more positive ideas. As a result, it can be said that digitally-based exams can become a part of language classrooms as environmentally-friendly and teacher-friendly parts of the classroom.