English teachers’ writing assessment literacy: Surveying teachers’ knowledge, beliefs, and practises in China

Abstract

Writing assessment literacy (WAL) constitutes an integral part of language teach-ers’ professional competence, and yet insufficient attention has been paid to the WAL of English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers from non-English-speaking countries. This study surveyed the knowledge, beliefs, and practises in writing assessment of 219 tertiary EFL teachers from China. Data were collected through a Likert-scale WAL Survey and analysed quantitatively with a focus on the WAL level of tertiary EFL teachers in China and the influence of their demographic characteristics. This was the first study exploring the relationship among different dimensions of WAL, namely, teachers’ levels of knowledge, beliefs, and practises in writing assessment. The findings indicated that Chinese tertiary EFL teachers’ WAL depicted a relatively positive picture. Teachers’ training experiences, as well as academic degrees, had significant effects on teachers’ WAL. Furthermore, teachers’ writing assessment knowledge, as well as teachers’ beliefs were two significant predictors of their writing assessment practises.