Preservice and In-Service EFL Teachers' Assessment Preferences: Can Digitized Formative Assessment Make a Difference?

In an authentic class experience, preservice (N = 54) and in-service (N = 65) EFL teachers were assigned digitized formative assessment tasks, and their preferences were assessed using an assessment preferences questionnaire, with both open- and closed-ended questions. Following the pretest-posttest mixed-method design, data were collected and analyzed both qualitatively and quantitatively. Quantitative findings revealed that, though the variety of their preferences increased, both groups had similar preferences after the intervention. Thematic analysis of their responses showed that most preservice and in-service teachers preferred online assessment methods to traditional and formative ones. With respect to the reasons they mentioned for selecting or avoiding a particular method, in-service teachers tended to be more practical and time-oriented than preservice ones, who were more precautious about the intricacies of preparing, responding, and reviewing the assessment task. Both groups also shared a number of emotional reasons and even prioritized them over all the other reasons.