English Assessment Course as Meaningful Learning for the Construction of Teacher Identity

Abstract

This case study research aimed to determine the contribution of the English assessment course, in terms of the meaningful learning it generated, to the identity construction of pre-service teachers from the English teaching program at Universidad Católica Luis Amigó in Medellin. Two pre- service teachers were selected after they had taken the English assessment course. However, they took this course at different moments and with different teachers. Besides, it is important to mention that one of the researchers also played the role of a participant. Participant (1) narrated his experiences during and after the course; on the other hand, participant (2) answered six questions related to the methodology implemented by the teacher, lessons and experiences in the course, and changes experienced in his teaching identity. This was made through an interview. The data analysis led to identify that previous knowledge about assessment was widely linked to the experiences lived in school and college by the pre-service teachers, where their teachers implemented assessment only for summative purposes and sometimes their design lacked reliability and validity. Nevertheless, once the pre-service teachers acquired the new theories about assessment, a cognitive change occurred, which allowed the pre-service teachers to rethink the concept of assessment and therefore to apply appropriate assessments in their classrooms.