Academic major as a variable in EFL instructors’ speaking assessment preferences in preparatory programs

Five departments in Turkiye train English language teachers and EFL instructors at universities. The variation in educational background might affect their assessment practices. This descriptive study investigates whether such differences exist by examining the speaking assessment preferences of 82 EFL instructors working in university preparatory programs. Data were collected via an electronic questionnaire featuring statements on different CEFR-based assessment types. The Kruskal-Wallis test revealed two statistically significant differences in the participants’ assessment preferences based on their academic majors. Overall, instructors favor speaking assessments that use language in authentic contexts, apply continuous and formative evaluation, remain objective, and utilize external assessment over self-assessment. They believe such methods foster more reliable and comprehensive measures of language ability. Statistically significant differences were found in criterion-referencing and guided judgment, suggesting a heightened focus on these types in pre-service and in-service teacher education programs to equip instructors with diversified assessment strategies.