Utilizing Formative Assessment Culture in EFL teacher education programs in the Middle East

Although there is general agreement that there is a difference between assessment of learning (summative assessment), and assessment for learning (formative assessment), and that both forms of assessment have valuable roles to play, comparatively little attention is given to the latter in foreign language teacher education programmes (FLTEPs) in the Middle East, which is the major channel for training and recruiting teachers of foreign languages at pre-university levels in many Arab states. This paper claims that there is a sort of unconscious and inherent distrust in formative assessment in teacher education programmes and therefore, aims to provide a snapshot of the implicit/explicit formative classroom assessment culture in Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Libya. More precisely, the study examines a) instructors’ views about the purpose/role of FCA for themselves, as well as for students, b) instructors’ attitudes towards FCA as well as their perception of the attitudes of other parties that might be interested (including students) and c) evaluation with current FCA practice and whether or not there is a need for change. Questionnaires and interviews were used to collect data from 63 instructors. Results suggest that in practice there is a gulf between the decision-takers’ requirements that formative classroom assessment should be used and instructors’ distrust in this form of assessment. Results suggested that there is an inherent de-emphasis on the part of the education system and that leads students, instructors and the community to believe more in summative assessments as the only acknowledged assessment tool that would influence students’ careers.