Teachers' assessment literacy and their classroom practices

A natural part of teaching and learning includes assessment which is considered as an essential part of language teachers’ professional responsibilities. In response to the expanding development and importance of assessment and testing Taylor (2013) pointed to the better understanding of growth and maturation of assessment literacy for the purpose of revealing the principles underlying assessment practices. In fact language testers and test developers need to be sensitive to different facts of assessment. Teachers mostly know little about educational assessments; they need to thinking about assessment prior to instruction so that instruction is developed toward specific learning goals or targets which have been articulated in advance of instruction (Popham 2009). The use of assessment literacy is not limited just to reporting achievement and grading students. Literate teachers also identify and measure instructional strategies professional behaviors and perform content knowledge that improves students learning.