EFL teacher assessment identity development in the use of GenAI tools: A case study

Teacher assessment identity is a subset of teacher professional identity, showcasing how teachers actively construct their roles as assessment writers, invigilators, and adjudicators in multiple work contexts while continuously evolving to encompass new identities in response to changing educational landscapes. Although teacher identity construction has been researched theoretically and empirically in the English as a Foreign Language (EFL) context, there is limited research diving deep into teacher assessment identity development, particularly after the prevalent use of GenAI tools. This study aims to examine a case of how an EFL teacher developed her assessment identity with the use of GenAI tools in a Chinese university. Employing a qualitative research design, we collected data from two in-depth interviews with an experienced EFL teacher (one at the beginning of the first semester of Academic Year 2024-2025 and one half a year later, each lasting for about 90 minutes), teaching materials (lesson plans, PowerPoint slides, self-designed assessment rubrics), assessment documents retrieved from a learning management system (Xuexitong), and the excerpted AI chat logs provided by the teacher informant. In-depth interviews were analysed thematically, while content analysis was conducted for teaching materials, assessment documents, and AI chat logs. Findings revealed that the teacher informant developed evolving identities, beginning as a veteran summative assessor, then, with increasing engagement in using GenAI for assessment purposes, concurrently developing roles as a novice AI-empowered assessment designer, a critical AI feedback mediator, and a gatekeeper for students’ academic integrity. Her identity construction was influenced by her negotiation of assessment choices between institutional requirements and students’ differences within the classroom, the reflection on her assessment practices and students’ learning outcomes, and the innovative formative assessment attempts mediated by AI. The study outlined the developmental trajectory of EFL teacher assessment identity in using GenAI tools in teaching, revealing two polarising identities near the end of this study: a ‘conventional psychometric assessor’ and an ‘emerging AI-mediated assessment expert’. This study also provides implications for institutions and teacher professional development programmes on how to effectively leverage AI tools in empowering teaching and assessment practices.