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This study focuses on the assessment practices of EFL teachers in the upper secondary level in Turkey and explores how teachers' assessment practices and the assessment dimension of English language curriculum (for grades 9 - 12) match. In the study, teachers' purposes of assessing learners, which aspects of language they assess, and how they carry out assessment are examined by comparing the findings to the recommended assessment practices in the curriculum. Additionally, how EFL teachers feel themselves in their assessment practices is explored. The study employs qualitative design by using document analysis, an open-ended questionnaire, and semi-structured interview. The participants are teachers of English who work at upper secondary schools in Turkey. The findings of the study reveal that (1) some of the teacher practices match with the assessment dimension of the curriculum while there is a mismatch between some of them; (2) teachers have misconceptions about authentic assessment and there is a lack of use of authentic assessment, (3) teachers are the only feedback providers in the classroom, and (4) teachers are divided into three groups of feelings about assessment practices as positive, negative, and neutral. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the worldwide curriculum innovations to teach English through meaning-focused communicative approaches over the years, studies report that most language teachers still follow transmission-based grammar-oriented approaches. It is known that the success of any curriculum innovation is dependent on teachers. Therefore, given that teaching grammar has always been a central, but problematic domain for language teachers, what teachers believe and do regarding grammar instruction is an important issue that needs to be investigated. However, studies that research teachers and their grammar teaching are rare, and almost non-existent at the elementary-level English teaching contexts. Therefore, through a questionnaire given to 108 teachers and a focus-group interview, the present study investigated Turkish primary-level English language teachers' beliefs and practice patterns of teaching grammar, and the reasons behind these patterns. The results revealed that teachers predominantly prefer the traditional focus-on-formS approach, which indicates a serious clash with teachers and curriculum goals, on the one hand, and theoretical suggestions on the other. The paper ends with discussions and suggestions for teacher education and language policy-making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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