Skill-Specific Language Assessment Literacy of English Teachers: Evidence from South Punjab Pakistan

Abstract

Teachers' Language Assessment Literacy (henceforth LAL) is considered a critical dimension of the teaching profession.  Assessment-literate teachers can perform various tasks more efficiently and precisely, and a lack of assessment literacy can lead to educational decisions that directly affect language students’ learning. However, the exploration of teachers' LAL levels and differences between public and private school teachers remains under-researched in South Punjab, Pakistan. The present study aims to investigate literacy levels and differences in LAL among public- and private-sector English-language school teachers in South Punjab, Pakistan. This study employs a quantitative research design and uses an adapted version of the Language Assessment Knowledge Scale (LAKS) to collect data from school English teachers. The results of the study reveal that English teachers in public and private schools possess moderate literacy. Further, it reveals a marginal but non-significant difference in LAL levels between the two sectors. These results call for immediate attention to localized and targeted professional development programmes to enhance teachers' LAL. A primary limitation of this is that it is geographically confined to South Punjab, a region of Pakistan. Future studies could be conducted on a larger scale to make the results more generalizable.