English teachers’ perceptions of feedback practices under emergency remote teaching conditions: Insights for future use

The purpose of this paper was to investigate how English teachers employed formative assessment practices in emergency remote teaching (ERT) during the COVID-19 pandemic, and their perceived training needs in formative assessment. The data were collected from a questionnaire and interviews with teachers from Finland (n = 33) and Germany (n = 91). The results suggest that the teachers employed feedback, self-assessment and peer assessment in diverse ways, such as using them along with portfolios and online presentations. However, many teachers faced challenges with the technical aspects of providing feedback. The teachers also mentioned several areas in which they needed further training, such as identifying students’ needs and learning new techniques and formats of formative assessment. The results pave the way for reshaping formative assessment practices in post-pandemic language education.