ABSTRACT
Assessment of Arabic as a first language in different settings in the Arab countries, especially in the Egyptian context, has been dominated by practices endorsing the accountability functions of assessment. Many of the Arabic tests use assessment tasks that are not authentic and do not reflect everyday activities, or what is called "target language use tasks". The chapter presents the term "assessment for learning" to refer to tasks that endorse a formative and improvement-oriented approach to assessment. It investigates how the level of assessment literacy among teachers can affect their conceptions of assessment. The chapter attempts to investigate the conceptions teachers hold about assessment and their relationship with assessment literacy, with specific focus on the improvement and accountability functions of assessment. It investigates the teachers' perception of the effectiveness of assessment policies used in Egyptian schools.
