A Landscape of EFL Teachers’ Formative Assessment Literacy: An Insight from Indonesia

Abstract

Although there have been studies on formative assessment (FA) for decades, research on teachers’ formative assessment literacy (FAL) remains scarce, particularly in contexts where assessment reform is still emerging. Using a survey design and an Indonesian-adapted version of the Teacher Formative Assessment Literacy Scale (TFALS), comprising conceptual, practical, and socio-emotional dimensions, this study examined the self-reported FAL of 96 EFL teachers across junior high, senior high, and vocational secondary schools in East Java, Indonesia. Four multiple-choice items were added to gather complementary evidence of teachers’ knowledge of FA methods and feedback. Data were analyzed descriptively, and Spearman’s correlation was used to examine the associations among the three dimensions of the scale. Teachers reported a perceived high FAL across all three dimensions, with particularly strong confidence in aligning assessment with learning objectives and socio-emotional awareness of students’ needs. However, teachers reported comparatively lower confidence in providing actionable feedback and facilitating peer and self-assessment, and a subset raised concerns about the ethical dimensions of assessment, including fairness and privacy. Notably, despite strong self-reported conceptual understanding, teachers’ reported use of feedback in practice was dominated by summative formats such as scores, revealing a discrepancy between conceptual knowledge and reported classroom practice. The three FAL dimensions were significantly and positively associated with each other (all p < .001). These findings suggest that Indonesian EFL teachers’ professional development should center on strengthening actionable feedback practices, structured peer and self-assessment, and the ethical and socio-emotional dimensions of assessment.