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• Participation in Shadow Education in Church- and State-Maintained Schools: The Role of Cultural and Social Capital

  60-75

  Gabriella Hegedűs

  Ildikó Csépes

  Views:

  169

  Research on shadow education is often justified based on Bourdieu’s theory of capital as it is assumed to contribute to social inequalities. This paper focuses on the role of cultural and social capital and on the differences between state- and church-maintained schools in the North-Eastern parts of Hungary. Using a convenience sample and our own constructed measurement tool, a quantitative survey of secondary school language learners (N=711) was conducted to explore the relationship between the effectiveness of supplementary private language tutoring as well as the cultural and social capital of language learners in cross-sectoral comparisons. Our results highlight the positive correlation between the highest educational attainment of the mother, the participation rate in shadow education and language learners’ achievement.  In our study, language learners whose mothers had a higher education level demonstrated greater efficiency, in terms of academic achievements. Despite being less successful in passing language examinations as a result of a lower social composition in denominational grammar schools, language learners could count on a higher level of support both from their language teachers - who were better able to support their students to progress at their own pace - and from their classmates and families, demonstrating that social capital had a compensating effect on their learning trajectories.

• The Evolving Concept of (Language) Assessment Literacy. Implications for Teacher Education

  120-130

  Ildikó Csépes

  Views:

  709

  Language teachers’ assessment knowledge and skills have received considerable attention from language assessment researchers over the past few decades (Davison & Leung, 2009; Hill & McNamara, 2012; Rea-Dickins, 2001; Taylor, 2013). This seems to be linked to the increased professionalism expected of them in classroom-based assessments. However, teachers seem to face a number of challenges, including how large-scale standardized language exams influence their classroom assessment practices. Teachers’ assessment literacy, therefore, needs to be examined in order to explain their assessment decisions. In this paper, we review the concept of (language) assessment literacy, how it has evolved and how it is conceptualized currently. Recent interpretations seem to reflect a multidimensional, dynamic and situated view of (language) assessment literacy. Implications for teacher education are also highlighted by presenting research findings from studies that explored teachers’ and teacher candidates’ assessment literacy in various educational contexts. As a result, we can identify some common patterns in classroom assessment practices as well as context-specific training needs. Finally, we make a recommendation for tackling some of the challenges language teachers are facing in relation to classroom-based assessment in the Hungarian context.