Developing prospective teachers’ language assessment literacy through courses: a comparative case study in Chinese as a second language teaching environment

Abstract Language assessment literacy (LAL) ensures the appropriate design, implementation, and utilization of various language assessments (Taylor 2009). Taking language assessment courses (LACs) is a common approach to foster LAL, particularly among prospective language teachers, as previous research has explored. However, limited studies have compared LACs with different focuses. This study addresses this question by examining two cases of LACs for post-graduate students in a Chinese university preparing to become Chinese as a second language (CSL) teachers. These two courses, differing in purpose and target audience (teaching-oriented and research-oriented), are both introductory courses for beginners learning about language assessment. Drawing on Taylor’s (2013) model and Kremmel and Harding’s (2020) questionnaire, we investigated graduate students’ perceptions regarding their development of LAL in the respective courses, combining observation, questionnaires, and interviews. The findings reveal that students perceived a comprehensive improvement in their LAL levels, with the item-writing session regarded as particularly beneficial and applicable. Despite the challenges posed by theoretical concepts and the involvement of statistics, the students considered that a general LAC was insufficient and further learning opportunities were needed. The study emphasizes updating the need analysis and practice-based design of LACs.