Abstract:
The University Entrance Exam (UEE) in Iran, a high-stakes test in a multiple-choice form, has a significant effect on its stakeholders. This mixed-methods study investigates how freshman TEFL pupils experienced this nation-wide type of assessment and its (dis)empowerment role-taking advantage of Messick’s framework. One-hundred freshmen university TEFL students as participants of this study were conveniently and purposefully selected from Isfahan, Shiraz, and Tehran state universities. A validated questionnaire and group interviews were utilized to collect the data of this study. The data was analyzed and described through descriptive statistical procedures. Based on the results, Freshmen TEFL students considered the UEE mainly unreliable, while they held positive views towards its validity based on the modules of Messick’s framework. The overall analysis of the results pointed to the disempowerment role of the test. Furthermore, the obtained results underscored the necessity of more performance-based modes of assessment, such as using portfolios to be included in UEE. The results of the study bear useful implications for high-stake test constructors and policymakers.
Machine summary:
Disempowerment Role of Assessment in English Section of Iranian University Entrance Exam: EFL University Students Perspective in Focus Mahbubeh Mahmoodi-Nasrabadi1, Omid Tabatabaei1,*, Hadi Salehi1, Mahmud Mehrabi1 1English Department, Najafabad Branch, Islamic Azad University, Najafabad, Iran Submission date: 22 October, 2020 Acceptance date: 6 February, 2021 Abstract The University Entrance Exam (UEE) in Iran, a high-stakes test in a multiple-choice form, has a significant effect on its stakeholders.
It attempted to find out Iranian TEFL students' point of view about the validity and reliability of high-stake tests regardless of many types of research investigating the testing impact on teaching EFL and learning it within various settings.
As a research gap, the empirical study did not focus on the perceptions of the UEE stakeholders about the impact of this high-stakes test on teaching and learning English in Iran.
The participants were qualitatively interviewed to draw their perceptions of high-stakes tests which in this study is, the Iranian Nation-Wide University Entrance Exam’s validity and reliability, the appropriateness of this exam to measure all English skills and their overall experience of university English Entrance Exam, the determining factors in the prediction of disempowerment in University English Entrance Exam assessment, and how assessment disempowerment manifests itself.
Results for the First Research Question It might be recalled from previous sections that the first research question of the study was: Do EFL students consider the UEE a valid way and also a reliable way of assessing their English skills?