Assessing the Writing Assessment The Perception of Saudi Graduate EFL Learners: A Case Study

Abstract

This research study followed a qualitatively based research design utilizing semi-structured interviews to investigate the perception and beliefs of Saudi graduate students registered on a Master of Arts (M.A) Applied Linguistics program at a major Saudi government university with regards to the writing assessment practices at the graduate level. The participants who volunteered to take part in this study, were ten male, Saudi MA Applied Linguistics students in their first year of the two-year MA Applied Linguistics course. The collected data, in the form of audio recordings of the participants’ interviews, were transcribed verbatim and thematically analyzed. The analysis of the gathered primary data led to the emergence of four overall themes pertaining to the perceptions of the students of the writing assessments in the M.A. Applied Linguistics course. The study concludes with some pedagogical implications for the EFL graduate context. It also offers some recommendations for current EFL assessment practices and several directions for future research.