SRI LESTARI (UNIVERSITAS PENDIDIKAN INDONESIA)

INVESTIGATING THE ALIGNMENT BETWEEN THE ASSESSMENT PRACTICES AND LEARNING OBJECTIVES IN EFL CLASSROOMS : LANGUAGE ASSESSMENT AND EVALUATION

This study is aimed at investigating the alignment between assessment practices and learning objectives in English classrooms at a public senior high school in Jakarta, Indonesia. The alignment of assessment practice and learning objectives is crucial for evaluating the effective language teaching and learning process, especially under the new national curriculum. The investigation is grounded in the constructive alignment framework (Biggs, 1996), emphasising the critical connection between learning objectives, teaching methods, and assessment practices. Constructive alignment starts with setting the learning objectives, which are graded from lower to higher levels of knowledge. A qualitative case study collected data using documents such as teachers’ lesson plans and assessment instruments, classroom observation, and semi-structured interviews with three English teachers. The findings indicate that the assessment tasks stated in the lesson plans mostly align with the learning objectives. The learning objectives are represented in most of the assessment tasks. However, a misalignment between assessment and learning objectives is found in this study. Time constraints and difficulties in designing assessment tasks and rubrics hinder the alignment. It implies that not all teachers know how to align the assessment with the learning objectives. Some teachers require more professional development programs on assessment literacy and lesson planning to maintain alignment. This study contributes to the existing research on constructive alignment in English classroom assessments and curriculum development. It provides insights into how alignment can improve student learning in English classrooms.

Sri Lestari is a doctoral student at the English Language Education department, Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia. Her research interests are in curriculum design, language assessment, teacher education and teacher professional development. She is also a teacher educator at the English teacher education program in a private university in Jakarta.