English Teachers’ Perception of Formative assessment, and Its Impact of Teaching Writing

Abstract: At the writing of this paper, no research on teachers’ formative assessment practices of writing for English as a foreign language (EFL) in a Swedish upper secondary context was found. How EFL teachers relate to formative assessment practices affects their implementation of it. Therefore, the aim of this research was to elucidate Swedish upper secondary school teachers of English’s perception of formative assessment, their reported perceptions regarding the utility of formative assessment, and how their perception affected their implementation of formative assessment of writing practices. The study used a qualitative approach by conducting semi-constructed interviews of four English teachers. The participants had a concurrent view of formative assessment as an on-going process for facilitating student development; however, their reported practices of applying formative assessment of writing differed. In general, the participants reported practices met the demands of the curriculum of Swedish upper secondary school and English syllabi and aligned with theoretical concepts formative practices, and previous research on implementing teacher feedback for assisting student writing development. Although, the analysis of reported practices also aligned with Burner’s (2016) findings of teachers not fully inviting students into the formative process in terms of participating in assessment and self-assessment. Moreover, the support of colleagues for implementing formative practices emerged as a theme among the participants. With that said, the results of this research cannot be generalized to the Swedish upper secondary context due to its small scale. Furthermore, all results of perceptions and implemented practices were self-reported and not reinforced with objective observations.