International Journal of Research in English Education

en Exploring Iranian ESP Teachers’ Assessment Practices in Online Specialized English Courses Exploring Iranian ESP Teachers’ Assessment Practices in Online Specialized English Courses تخصصي Special پژوهشي Research As an integral dimension of instruction, assessment determines whether or not the educational goals are being fulfilled. The present study was an attempt to investigate Iranian ESP instructors’ common classroom assessment practices. To this end, based on convenience sampling, eight different ESP teachers teaching BA students from a variety of departments at Rasht Islamic Azad University, Iran were selected. An observation checklist containing 31 items was used as the only data-gathering instrument of this study. The results of the descriptive statistics revealed that some assessment practices including using portfolio to assess student progress, assessing group class participation, conducting item analysis for teacher-made tests, and writing matching questions were applied less frequently in the ESP classes. However, some assessment practices such as incorporating attendance in the calculation of grades and recognizing unethical, illegal, or inappropriate uses of assessment information were more likely to be used in the observed ESP classes. The instructors were also more likely to incorporate classroom behavior in the calculation of grades, incorporate extra credit activities in the calculation of grades, recognize unethical, illegal, or inappropriate assessment methods, and inform students how grades are to be assigned. It is concluded that ESP teachers utilize both traditional testing and alternative assessment for achieving a complementary process of assessment, and they call for an integration of them due to their importance in assessing both the process and product of learning.  The results of this study may hopefully be beneficial for curriculum developers, materials developers, course and syllabus designers, teachers and teacher trainers, and the other stakeholders in the fields of language teaching and learning as well.   <div>As an integral dimension of instruction, assessment determines whether or not the educational goals are being fulfilled. The present study was an attempt to investigate Iranian ESP instructors’ common classroom assessment practices. To this end, based on convenience sampling, eight different ESP teachers teaching BA students from a variety of departments at Rasht Islamic Azad University, Iran were selected. An observation checklist containing 31 items was used as the only data-gathering instrument of this study. The results of the descriptive statistics revealed that some assessment practices including using portfolio to assess student progress, assessing group class participation, conducting item analysis for teacher-made tests, and writing matching questions were applied less frequently in the ESP classes. However, some assessment practices such as incorporating attendance in the calculation of grades and recognizing unethical, illegal, or inappropriate uses of assessment information were more likely to be used in the observed ESP classes. The instructors were also more likely to incorporate classroom behavior in the calculation of grades, incorporate extra credit activities in the calculation of grades, recognize unethical, illegal, or inappropriate assessment methods, and inform students how grades are to be assigned. It is concluded that ESP teachers utilize both traditional testing and alternative assessment for achieving a complementary process of assessment, and they call for an integration of them due to their importance in assessing both the process and product of learning.  The results of this study may hopefully be beneficial for curriculum developers, materials developers, course and syllabus designers, teachers and teacher trainers, and the other stakeholders in the fields of language teaching and learning as well.  </div> classroom assessment practices, Iranian ESP teachers, online specialized English courses classroom assessment practices, Iranian ESP teachers, online specialized English courses 51 60 http://ijreeonline.com/browse.php?a_code=A-10-938-3&slc_lang=en&sid=1 Mohadeseh Safarzadeh Mohadeseh Safarzadeh farida.safarzadeh@yahoo.com 10031947532846003167 10031947532846003167 No Department of English Language, Rasht Branch, Islamic Azad University, Rasht, Guilan, Iran Department of English Language, Rasht Branch, Islamic Azad University, Rasht, Guilan, Iran Davood Taghipour Bazargani Davood Taghipour Bazargani bazargani@iaurasht.ac.ir 10031947532846003168 10031947532846003168 Yes Assistant professor in Applied Linguistics, Department of English Language, Rasht Branch, Islamic Azad University, Rasht, Guilan, Iran Assistant professor in Applied Linguistics, Department of English Language, Rasht Branch, Islamic Azad University, Rasht, Guilan, Iran