Admasu, Abera

2 Publications in AERD

Author Publications

University teachers’ underlying assumptions about assessment in English as a foreign language context in Ethiopia

By Endale, Dagim

This study investigated EFL teachers’ underlying assumptions about assessment and how these assumptions are congruent with current perspectives in assessment. Informed by interpretivist philosophical underpinnings, the study adopted qualitative research approach. Nine teachers from three universities located in western Ethiopia participated in the semi-structured interviews, and the data were analyzed using thematic and content analysis approaches. Generally, the findings revealed complexity and diversity in teachers’ assumptions, which centered on four emergent themes: knowledge/content, valid approach to assessing knowledge, values and judgements, and power relations. Most of the teachers’ assumptions are contradictory with current perspectives and the expectations of the recent reforms on classroom assessment. A few modernist assumptions that teachers held even could not always translate into practice, suggesting the influences of contextual and institutional factors that should be further studied. The need to help EFL teachers develop contemporary assumptions in foreign language assessment is the primary implication of the study. Findings of this study can be considered as one of the necessary steps towards developing a new measure of assumptions about assessment that can be used to assess the underlying assumptions embedded in EFL teachers views and practices of assessment. © 2024 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

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Unpacking the Perceived Personal and Contextual Conditions Shaping English Language Teachers' Professional Identity Formation in Secondary Schools

By Mulu, Yaregal

It is crucial for teachers to become aware of and understand their professional identity as this has implications for their day-to-day professional practices. Teachers who are more aware of their professional identities are more willing to endure thwarting contextual conditions by adjusting their identities. However, presently most teachers seem to overlook their professional identity while they often tend to associate the poor quality education with a lack of external resources alone. The aim of this study was thus to create this awareness in teachers by unveiling how the perceived personal and contextual conditions constitute the professional identities of experienced EFL teachers working in secondary schools. In this study, teacher professional identity is conceptualized and understood within the theory of symbolic interactionism. Data were generated through a one-on-one semi-structured in-depth interview with two EFL teachers (Fazi and Tare). Thematic analysis was used across participants within a qualitative hermeneutic phenomenological frame. The findings revealed that the participating teachers' professional identity is a multidimensional and dynamic reality shaped by personal agency and daunting contextual conditions that were represented through two pertinent themes: challenges and teacher emotions. Challenges and emotions that the participating teachers have experienced are found to be the constituents that come into play in the formation of their professional identity. The findings also revealed that the experienced teachers' professional identity is both a coconstructed and negotiated process, which unveils itself not only by compliance to external pressures (e.g., tolerating student misbehaviors) but also by repelling and adapting the external demands that are made available to them (e.g., politics-oriented assignment of school principals, inappropriate curriculum contents). This article thus suggests that more attention should be paid to the implicit messages (revealed through challenges) that all stakeholders convey to the teaching personnel.

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