EFL Teachers’ Knowledge, Beliefs, and Practices Regarding Fairness and Justice in Technology-Enhanced Classroom Assessment: A Duoethnography

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Guilan University of Medical Sciences, Iran

2 English Language and Literature Department, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran

10.30466/ijltr.2023.121405

Abstract

Drawing on duoethnography, the teacher researchers in the present study interacted with the relevant literature, engaged in dialogs, and shared artifacts to examine their knowledge, beliefs, and practices regarding fairness and justice considerations in technology-enhanced language classroom assessment. Under the domain of knowledge, they conceptualized fairness and justice and identified their components. Within beliefs, the difference between high-stakes and low-stakes assessments, the significance of students’ perceptions, and the role of computer literacy in relation to fairness and justice in technologyenhanced classroom assessment were debated. To operationalize their knowledge and beliefs, the researchers inspected their assessment practices during and following COVID-19. They agreed that fairness was distinct from justice in that the former pertained to test internal characteristics and its administration procedures while the latter referred to test external consequences at a broader social level. They believed that fairness and justice were equally important in high-stakes and lowstakes assessments, and students’ perceptions were valuable sources of feedback regarding fair and just classroom assessments. Moreover, the teachers argued that computer literacy cannot yet be considered an aspect of language ability. Finally, it was revealed that although their practice regarding fairness and justice was affected by the pandemic, they learned valuable lessons (e.g., combining online and paper assessment modalities and giving oral exams) in this respect for the future. The findings imply that language teachers should theoretically adopt a clear conception of fairness and justice while being practically prepared for future developments (e.g., technological advances) and unexpected circumstances (e.g., a pandemic).

Keywords

Iranian Journal of Language Teaching Research
Volume 11, 3 (Special Issue)
December 2023
Pages 31-52

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History

  • Receive Date: 06 December 2023
  • Accept Date: 06 December 2023

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