Diversifying theoretical and methodological approaches to language assessment: the use of narrative inquiry and Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory in an investigation into teacher assessment literacy development

The language assessment literature remains heavily dominated by the post-positivist epistemology, cognitive learning theories, and associated quantitative research methods (Elwood & Murphy, 2015; Poehner & Inbar-Lourie, 2020). However, there have been increasing calls to diversify the methodological approaches and theoretical frameworks of language assessment studies in recent time (Baker & Germaine, 2020; Harding & Brunfaut, 2020). In response to these calls, I will demonstrate how I have adopted narrative inquiry and Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory (SCT) in my PhD project on teacher assessment literacy. I will start by briefly introducing my research project, particularly the narrative design and the theoretical framework (i.e., SCT). I will then explain the rationale behind my choice of narrative inquiry and the SCT, both of which are seldom used in the language assessment literature. Following that, I will showcase the benefits of my alternative theoretical and methodological approaches by presenting some preliminary findings from the project. Finally, I will discuss some possible problems stemming from my attempt to diversify theoretical and methodological approaches to language assessment including but not limited to the challenges in responding to post-positivist criteria of research quality and applying a theoretical framework with multiple and at times contested interpretations.