Alternative assessment in English language teacher education: a systematic review of pre-service and in-service contexts

Alternative assessment has attracted growing interest in English language teaching as a tool to facilitate formative, authentic, and learner-centered learning. Despite the growing number of empirical studies on alternative assessment practices, evidence relevant to English language teacher education remains fragmented across contexts and levels of teacher development. To fill this gap, the current study presents a PRISMA-driven systematic literature review that synthesizes results from 37 empirical studies published between 2015 and 2025 on alternative assessment practices in pre-service and in-service teacher education in English. Based on the theoretical frameworks of Assessment for Learning (AfL), Assessment as Learning (AaL) and Language Assessment Literacy (LAL), the review analyses (a) the reported types of alternative assessment practices, (b) how the alternative assessment practices are being integrated in the context of teacher education, (c) the reported benefits and challenges of the alternative assessment practices, and (d) the pedagogical, institutional and contextual conditions under which the practices are implemented. The results show that the most common assessment approaches are portfolio assessment, performance-based and competency-based assessment, peer and self-assessment, and reflective practice. Whereas pre-service programs are likely to incorporate alternative assessment through systematic, curriculum-fit approaches, in-service application is usually selective, time-limited, workload-based, and exam-culture-based. The reported improvements include reflective practice, teacher agency, and assessment literacy, as well as ongoing challenges related to reliability, institutional inconsistencies, and belief-practice disparities. The review identifies the key importance of assessment literacy and systemic alignment to maintaining alternative assessment practices and provides implications for teacher education, professional development, and assessment policy reform

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