Authentic Assessment in Action:

Strengthening Teaching Self-efficacy among Pre-service Science Teachers

Abstract

This study examines the influence of implementing selected authentic assessment tasks on pre-service science student teachers level of teaching self-efficacy. A non-equivalent pre-test and post-test control group quasi-experimental design was employed to answer the research question. 60 pre-service science teachers from two intact groups who enrolled in general methods of teaching course were participated in the study. The two groups were assigned into experimental group (N=30) and control group (N=30) based on their existing groups randomly (as group- A control and B experimental group). Participants in the experimental group were assessed with three authentic assessment strategies for six weeks, while those in control group were assessed with conventional strategies. Pre and post Ohio State Teacher Efficacy Scale were used to gather data to examine whether there was a significant difference between the two groups. The quantitative data were analyzed using descriptive statistics (mean and standard deviation) and inferential statistics (independent sample t-test, paired sample t-test and One- Way Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA). Semi-structured interviews were also conducted with experimental group students to complement the quantitative data. The results indicated that authentic assessment strategies significantly enhanced student teachers’ teaching self- efficacy. The interview results also revealed that exposing student teachers authentic assessment strategies was motivating and contributed to enhancing participants’ teaching self-efficacy. Therefore, it is recommended that authentic assessment strategies should be integrated into the teacher education curriculum and embedded in to courses to enhance student teachers’ teaching self- efficacy.