English Writing Assessment in EFL Classrooms at Junior High Schools: What are Teachers’ Perceptions?

Abstract

This study was conducted to investigate more about how Salatiga junior high school teachers perceived the EFL writing assessment. This study was focused on teachers’ perceptions of objectives for writing assessments and their procedures. This research was conducted using the qualitative research method. The subject for this research is 40 English teachers with above 4 years of experience and over twenty-five years of experience. They were chosen by using a purposive sampling technique. The data were collected by distributing the online questionnaire using Google Forms. The data were analyzed by describing the result of the questionnaire. The research findings showed that the assessment process was carried out to enhance the learning process, according to all the teachers. Most teachers did not agree that writing assessments were just to rank the students. The teachers mostly agreed about the purposes of assessing writing for students, defining the construct when assessing writing, establishing standards to evaluate students' writing, informing students of their progress, giving comments rather than marks, giving diagnostic feedback for students, align feedback with the assessment criteria, use different methods, use alternatives for assessing writing, and use writing tests to obtain a good estimate of students’ writing ability. The study suggests that teachers should evaluate all elements for a good writing assessment, whether in the objective or procedure comprehensively, especially for junior high school students. Teachers' professional development in assessment must be examined to strengthen teachers' abilities to improve their writing assessment practice and ensure that written assessments are effective.