Attitudes of Greek Foreign Language Teachers Regarding the Role of Authentic Assessment in Foreign Language Teaching

: The evaluation of student performance, which is closely tied to all school functions and is a fundamental responsibility of teachers in their role as educators, has been a challenging and contentious issue in educational policy and practice in recent years. It plays a crucial role in the educational process, as it is essential for fostering creativity and human development within the school environment. Between traditional assessment based mainly on written and oral measurable tests and authentic assessment that highlights the role of the pupil through the self-evaluation or other techniques such as the materials folder, teachers are called upon to undertake a difficult task. In this article the results of a qualitative research in relation to the role of authentic assessment in foreign language teaching that took place in the Attica Region in Greece from March 10 to April 10, 2022 were presented. A total of 20 foreign language teachers (English, French, German) participated in semi-structured interviews and expressed their views on the relevant questions. The research problem posed in this study was to investigate the views and attitudes of foreign language teachers (English, French, German) regarding the framework of authentic assessment in foreign language teaching. The survey asked teachers to share their opinions on the role of authentic assessment in


Introduction
It is certain that in the modern era, the issue of student assessment is not only the subject of scientific research and study, but also the focal point of political actions, decisions, recommendations, and debates.As is well known, various learning theories recognise that learning depends on the interaction of a multitude of cognitive, emotional, and socio-cultural factors.The context in which the learning process takes place also has important effects on both learning itself and performance, as it conceptualises and defines it.The relevant theories (Bourguignon, 2003;Jopp et al., 2022;Perrenoud, 2006) of the assessment incorporate the aforementioned dimension of learning linked to the complexity of the process and dispense with the emphasis on precise measurement that has dominated education until recently.This shift in the focus of assessment has brought to the surface two important theoretical issues related to the educational assessment process: on the one hand, the notion of validity has emerged, which relates to the appropriateness of the evaluative choices that function as indicators of desired learning outputs and the appropriateness of the ways of interpreting the results as indicators of learning; on the other hand, the need has emerged for learning and assessment of learning that is meaningful to students, that is, meaningful to them and that takes place within in a familiar context (Harland, 2005;Larenas et al., 2021).

Authentic Assessment
In the early 1990 s (Wiggins, 1993;2019), the theoretical approach of authentic assessment emerged, according to which the assessment process is viewed as a collaborative effort between teachers and students, emphasising authentic teaching and learning as its fundamental foundation.Perrenoud (2006) argues that authentic assessment serves learning as it allows the learner to participate, be motivated, take responsibility, and understand that the assessment is a vital part of the educational process.It also highlights the challenging role of the teacher, who is called upon to let go of fixed tactics and move in a different direction.For Torrance (1995) and Aras (2021) an authentic assessment engages students in a process which in the past was the sole responsibility of the teacher and reflects practically and realistically their progress towards learning.According to Shapley and Bush (1999) and Middleton (2020), an authentic assessment should be a key priority in education as it can best "measure" what students are able to do at any given time in their learning journey.The attempt to assess student achievement consists of an activity that primarily involves the student's ability to integrate and use knowledge and judgement in an authentic context (Radović et al., 2023).Such an effort takes on some of the following characteristics:

•
Requirement to use knowledge and skills in a context that represents authentic, real-world situations or problems.
• Emphasis on the student's discovery of the pathway followed in order to address the given, authentic situation, without focusing solely on the end result.
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• Requirement to use complex mental skills.
• Recall of learning outcomes or skills.
• Observation of many different aspects of the learning process.
• Allowing students to choose ways of using what they have learned.
The Figure 1 below illustrates the framework of authentic assessment.

Figure 1
The Framework of the Authentic Assessment According to Perrenoud (2006) and Seifert et al. (2019) an authentic assessment is related to the real learning and for the learners the "real learning" means, first and foremost, learning that is meaningful to them.Thus, an authentic assessment a) reflects the knowledge and skills that the learner actually possesses and is able to use, b) works feedback and provides motivation for learning, c) does not simply focus on the learner's passage from one grade to the next, but focuses on the learners' growth and development, d) challenges and triggers, and e) the results in the presentation of an end product through the development of specific skills (Doyle et al., 2021;Rodić, 2020).

Use of practices that highlight creative thinking and application of knowledge in authentic everyday situations
Avoiding sterile memorisation and simple retention of information/Data-concept correlation

Monitoring and co-designing the results of the learning and assessment process
Acquiring the ability to reflect and critically analyse the learning process

Responding flexibly to the particularities of the learning process
At this point it is very important to make it clear that an authentic assessment requires authentic teaching and learning (Olasina, 2023;Tai et al., 2023).It concerns situations of everyday practice and enables students to build new knowledge in an active way, on what they have already done.The contents of learning are determined by the individual experiences of each person and the group in which they participate (Wang, 2017;Wu et al., 2021;Xiao & Yang, 2019).Thus, a holistic perception of the world is promoted through lived reality and the student is ensured the possibility to cooperate, to act on things, to formulate an opinion, to co-decide activities and to co-evaluate them (Ajjawi et al., 2023;Sakellariou, 2005;Seden et al., 2018;Varsamidou, 2016).
In conclusion, an authentic assessment in education emphasises: a) enhancing analytical skills; b) applying knowledge effectively; c) fostering teamwork and collaboration; d) improving written and oral communication skills.If attempting to answer the question of why the authentic assessment should be adopted and implemented in everyday school practice, it should be focused on the fact that through this practice, students learn to use higher-order thinking skills (higher-order thinking skills/pensée réflexive) and develop high-level cognitive processes instead of memorisation (Varsamidou & Andreadakis, 2009;Wang et al., 2023;Zhang et al., 2022).

Assessment in the Foreign Language
According to Ministerial Decision 152765/D2/2021, the assessment of the foreign language learning level in the General High School in Greece is directly linked to the teaching objectives set by the New Curriculum for Foreign Languages (Institute of Educational Policy, 2021), as it is oriented towards the achievement of the general and specific expected learning outcomes.The New Curriculum (Institute of Educational Policy, 2021) emphasises the use of formative assessment, which is dynamically integrated into teaching practice with the aim of continuously monitoring the achievement of the expected learning outcomes.Therefore, the role of assessment is formative, feedback and metacognitive, as it serves the need to inform the teacher and students about the effectiveness of learning processes and the possible need to implement interventions in order to optimise the educational process.Formal and alternative assessment activities promote the production of written and/or oral discourse, the development of critical thinking, cultural awareness, and intercultural awareness alongside the development of students' emotional and social skills.Formal assessment activities may include closed and open-ended tests.Indicatively, the category of closed tests includes: (a) choice tests, such as multiple choice, true/false, matching, sequencing and fill-in-the-blank; and (b) completion tests, such as fill-in-the-blank, short answer, fill-in-the-blank, crossword, etc.(b) Open-ended tests include tests such as the production of written or oral speech based on a stimulus in Greek or a foreign language, summaries of texts or parts of texts, etc.The wording of the questions must be clear and comprehensible, and the questions must be compatible with the perceptive ability and maturity level of the students of the General Lyceum.Alternative assessment techniques include observation, self-assessment, selfassessment, hetero-assessment, student portfolio, synthetic creative work, student diary, etc.

Problem Statement
In the year 2021, the Institute of Educational Policy and the Greek Ministry of Education presented the New Curricula for all disciplines.The New Curricula, especially those for foreign language teaching, attempt to link authentic teaching (through real-world teaching scenarios) and authentic forms of assessment (such as the portfolio, assessment rubrics, debate, concept map, self-assessment quizzes).In the teacher training that followed (May-June 2021) on alternative forms of assessment, foreign language teachers had an initial contact with the issue of authenticity in foreign language assessment.Previous research by Varsamidou (2016) among teachers of all disciplines showed that the majority were unaware of alternative forms of assessment.According to other previous research in Greece (Alexatos & Efstathiou, 2018;Georgota, 2021;Kasimati, 2020;Varsamidou, 2016), the concept of adopting alternative techniques and criteria when assessing the student seems to be important, however, teachers considered that it took a long time to change their view of student assessment and shift from traditional forms to alternative forms.The present study focused on the views of foreign language teachers and filled the gap of previous research aimed at teachers of all disciplines.

Research Aim and Research Questions
The research problem posed in this study was to investigate the views and attitudes of foreign language teachers (English, French, German) about the context of authentic assessment in foreign language teaching.To better investigate the above purpose question, the following research questions were posed: a) Do foreign language teachers consider authentic assessment in foreign language teaching important?b) Which evaluation criteria do they emphasise and prioritise in the evaluation process?c) What is the place of alternative forms of assessment in everyday teaching practice?d) What is their degree of satisfaction regarding their training on the issue of authentic assessment?

Materials and Methods
The sample consisted of 20 foreign language teachers (permanent and contractual) who were employed in public schools of secondary and primary education in the Prefecture of Attica between March 10 and April 10, 2022.The selection was accomplished with the use of the "simple" random sampling method in order to ensure equal probabilities for each member to be included in the sample.The research instrument used was the interview, namely the semi-structured in-depth interview (Paraskevopoulos, 1999), so that the teachers in the sample were able to comfortably express their views and concerns about the research questions.For these reasons the in-depth interview was chosen.With this an attempt was made to gather as much information as possible about the experiences, opinions, attitudes, and representations of the participants.Particularly, the semi-structured interview was chosen, while guiding the interviewee on important topics, it was also aimed to create space for them to share their thoughts and viewpoints without restriction.Thus, a set of predetermined questions was designed, but with flexibility in terms of their order, in terms of modifying their content according to the interviewee and in terms of adding questions and topics for discussion.During the interview mostly open-ended questions were used.The reasons that led to switch to this choice were: Open-ended questions allow respondents some degree of flexibility in their answers.Therefore, they can choose what they feel is most appropriate.Furthermore, there was an opportunity to discover something that might not be anticipated through the answers.This could provide greater depth to the investigation.In addition, it can offer stimuli as well as to ask for clarification or more information from the teacher respondents.In addition, opinion questions were designed to explore their attitudes and perceptions of the specific research questions.Finally, descriptive questions were designed to elicit specific information from respondents related to specific characteristics and knowledge, such as gender, age, specialisation, years of service, professional status (permanent/contractual), and education level.In presenting the findings of the survey, a qualitative analysis was accomplished due to the small sample size.

Demographic data
A total of 20 foreign language teachers (permanent and contractual teachers) working in the public sector in the year 2021-22 in educational units of Secondary and Primary Education in the Prefecture of Attica participated in the survey.Of these, 14 (fourteen) were women and 6 (six) were men.16 (sixteen) were permanent teachers and 4 (four) contractual teachers participated.There were 10 (ten) English language teachers, 5 (five) French language teachers and 5 (five) German language teachers (Table 1).

Figure 2
The Age Group of Participating Teachers The Figure 3 show the professional status (permanent or contractual) of the teachers in the survey.

Professional Status
The Figure 4 shows professional status in relation to years of service and discipline.

Years of Service
The Figure 5 show the level of teaching of the teachers in the survey.

a) Do foreign language teachers consider the authentic assessment important in foreign language teaching?
This question recorded responses that were examined both in terms of professional status (permanent or contractual) and years of teaching experience, but also in terms of level (secondary or primary).It was observed that permanent teachers with many years of teaching experience who taught in secondary education considered that the traditional assessment was more objective and more effective in teaching foreign languages, while, on the contrary, contractual teachers who had a few years of teaching experience and taught in primary education argued that alternative assessments are designed to engage students in their own learning process, encouraging participation and accountability.However, their objective nature can present challenges in implementation.Permanent English language teacher in secondary education (I1) reports: "...the situation in schools is, nowadays, very difficult in all subjects, not only in the foreign language subject.Especially after the pandemic and distance learning, pupils cannot adapt.It is difficult to implement something innovative and different to assess them, because there is no response.And there is also the issue of discipline.I prefer to test them with written tests and grade their performance accordingly." A view shared by a permanent French language teacher in secondary education (I3): "… I prefer to follow the Ministry's instructions and test students with a written test at the end of the semester.This way, I can justify their final grade and deal with complaints from parents.Besides, there is no time for something alternative and different and we have many students in the classroom.This year I have a class of 22 students.It is impossible to implement something different from what is institutionally foreseen." A contractual teacher of German language in primary education (I19) expresses a contrary view: "... there are self-assessment tests in our textbooks, I am also familiar with self-assessment with online tools, and I am trying to integrate them into my German language lessons, and they seem very interesting to me.But there are many difficulties.In order to use online assessment quizzes, I have to take the students to the IT lab, there are often technical problems and there is no technical support." In the same context, a contractual teacher of French (I16) who teaches in primary education replied: "... the teaching manual contains self-assessment tests and suggests alternative techniques for assessing skills in the foreign language.I prefer these forms of assessment to written tests with strict scoring.Gentle and alternative assessment helps the student to understand his weaknesses, to see what his strengths are, to love the foreign language.The foreign language becomes a joy and a pleasure".
From the teachers' answers to the first question regarding the place of authentic assessment in foreign language teaching, the differentiation according to the level (Secondary-Primary) and seniority is evident: contractual primary teachers with a few years of service recognize the important role of authentic assessment in foreign language teaching, whereas permanent secondary teachers with many years of service consider the traditional assessment based on written exams with strict grading.

b) Which evaluation criteria do foreign language teachers emphasise and prioritise during the evaluation process?
In the question on the selection and prioritisation of evaluation criteria, it is observed that permanent secondary school teachers mainly choose performance in written and oral tests, homework assignments, discipline, and classroom behaviour.On the other hand, contractual primary teachers choose student evaluation criteria such as participation in group activities, interest in the lesson, creative thinking, cooperation, critical thinking, and effort put in by the student.A permanent English language teacher in secondary education (I7) reports:

"...it is important for the student to know how his/her final grade is derived. I choose the written tests; one cannot complain because everything is measurable and objective".
The response of a permanent German language teacher in secondary education (I17) is in the same context: "...often parents of pupils complain about the final grades in the foreign language.They consider other subjects such as mathematics, physics, history more important and underestimate the foreign language subject.The grade resulting from a written test, or an oral examination is fair and gives me arguments to justify it to parents and students who are pushing for high grades." On the other hand, new teachers, especially in primary education, preferentially choose different evaluation criteria.Contractual English language teacher in primary education (I5) attests: "...I think we should take more account of participation, creativity, interest in the lesson, involvement in collaborative projects, ideas, love of the foreign language.In particular, young primary school pupils need to feel secure, not to be afraid of negative evaluations, not to have the anxiety of being compared with other pupils".
The same view is shared by a contractual teacher of French in primary education (I16).

"…I choose to give them interactive activities and then evaluate their progress using criteria such as learning motivation, participation, creative thinking, teamwork. Prioritizing and comparing creates anxiety and then students don't love the foreign language."
This question about the choice of criteria when assessing foreign language highlights the variation in the attitudes of the teachers in the study depending on their grade and also their professional status (permanent or contractual teachers).Permanent secondary teachers give more weight to the written tests, which they consider more rigorous but objective, while contractual teachers at primary level choose criteria such as participation, creative and critical thinking, teamwork, cooperation, motivation ©Copyright 2024 by the author(s) This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
to learn, love of the foreign language.The issue of subjectivity arises in this case, but teachers believe that the priority should be given to creating a safe learning environment without the stress of the final grade.

c) What is the place of alternative forms of assessment in everyday teaching practice?
The above question was answered during the interviews and the necessary clarifications were given to the teachers in the study.Particularly, a number of alternative forms/techniques of assessment were suggested, such as rubric, concept map, electronic self-assessment quizzes, material folder, discussion, observation.Permanent teachers with many years of service are aware of these alternative forms of student assessment, however, they do not seem to choose them because they feel that they do not ensure the objectivity of the process.With alternative forms of assessment, the assessment of performance is descriptive rather than numerical.This seems to influence teachers and prevents them from integrating them into the foreign language classroom.No variation by level of teaching emerged in this question.Permanent German language teacher in secondary education (I8) supports: "...although I am aware of these forms of student assessment, I choose the traditional ones that I have been using for years.The grade on a written test cannot be questioned by anyone and also indicates the teacher's authority in the classroom".
The same view is shared by a permanent French language teacher in primary education (I13): "...students do not take these forms of assessment seriously.In all subjects they are assessed by written tests and if I attempt something different, classroom management becomes difficult.For the electronic quizzes I have to move the class to the computer lab and that is not easy".
On the flip side, inexperienced teachers believe that using different types of assessments is essential to inspire students and encourage them to take ownership of their learning and evaluation.A contractual teacher of English language in primary education (I10) stresses: "...in our own assessment by school counsellors we are asked to prepare lesson plans and scripts in which we have to integrate all alternative forms of assessment, such as entry and exit cards, learner files, rubrics for skills assessment.So, I choose these forms.But not just because of my own assessment by the school counsellor, but also because I think they put the student at the center and help them take responsibility for their own learning." A permanent English language teacher in secondary education (I15) identifies with the above view:

"...I like to use alternative forms of assessment; it suits my professional profile. Often, I opt for skills assessment rubrics that are not numerical but descriptive in nature. I prefer readymade ones that I find on the internet, but I also construct my own that I adapt to my students' profiles, this of course requires a lot of preparation time".
The main problem highlighted by the teachers' answers focuses on the issue of numerical assessment.Teachers seem to prefer the grades of written tests, while they consider that alternative forms of assessment do not ensure the validity of the process.There is also the issue of assessment of newcomers to education, as they are asked to prepare their own worksheets and include alternative forms of assessment.

d) What is their level of satisfaction with their training on the issue of authentic evaluation?
Regarding the last research question concerning the degree of satisfaction of the teachers in the study with regard to their training on the issue of authentic assessment, it emerges that to a large extent the teachers are satisfied and have participated in formal workshops, trainings, symposia, seminars of school counsellors or the Ministry of Education.However, they wish to link theory to daily teaching practice.They state that there are good intentions to integrate new evaluation techniques into teaching, but in practice and in the real classroom environment this is impossible due to many obstacles and difficulties.A permanent French language teacher in primary education (I20) underlines: "...I have attended many trainings and seminars on authentic assessment and obviously I consider it important in foreign language teaching.However, I would like to see examples of implementation in real-life situations.I would like the school counsellor to come to my classroom and show me how to apply it to young students." Permanent German language teacher in secondary education (I12) continues:

"...I attended the training on the New Curriculum for High School and found the scenarios proposed very interesting, as well as the assessment techniques included in them. I don't know if I can apply them due to lack of teaching time, I have only one hour in the second grade, objectively I cannot apply all of them. But the training was very detailed and interesting. I would like to see the application in real-life situations."
Contractual teachers also feel satisfied with their training, but the issue of their mobility in many schools is an obstacle to the integration of alternative assessment techniques in foreign language teaching.English language contractual in Primary Education (I10) highlights: "...I have attended many trainings on the benefits of authentic assessment in foreign language teaching and I try to incorporate these techniques into the teaching of English to young learners.They feel secure and perform better.But I move between three schools, and I don't have much time for classroom implementation, but I try because I believe that introducing innovations in education is very important and helps prepare students for the future." Positive as it may be that teachers express satisfaction with their training in alternative and authentic assessment, it is crucial to address the practical challenges they encounter in implementing these methods in foreign language teaching.These include issues such as bridging the gap between theory and practice, limited teaching time, and transitioning between multiple schools.

Discussion
The discussion is structured around the four research questions that have been presented in the study: a) regarding the importance/necessity of authentic assessment in foreign language teaching, the debate between traditional and authentic assessment methods, seasoned secondary teachers with years of experience still uphold the belief that written tests are a reliable and unbiased form of assessment.In contrast, younger contractual teachers argue that alternative assessment supports students and provides more motivation to participate (Aarskog, 2021;Murillo & Hidalgo, 2020;Willems et al., 2021).More specifically, for younger contractual, the performance-based ranking is not an important reason for the existence of student assessment in the school, while for older contractual, hierarchical ranking of students validates the assessment process, an attitude that points to the selective role of assessment.Georgota's (2021) research in Greece converges to the same conclusion, which shows the positive attitude of primary school teachers in relation to the integration of authentic forms of assessment in teaching.Related research in Greece by Alexatos and Efstathiou (2018) concludes that secondary school teachers have more confidence in traditional forms of assessment.A similar conclusion is reached by research by Zaim et al. (2020) in the international context, where English language teachers accept authentic assessment, however they are concerned about how authentic tests are assessed, especially in oral production.Regarding to the 2nd research question related to the evaluation criteria, the permanent teachers rely more on placement tests with scoring of performance and skills, whereas for newer teachers in education, criteria such as creative thinking, participation in group activities (projects), interest, the role of students in group work, and their daily effort are widely regarded as crucial.The first view on the importance of written tests is confirmed by Dimitropoulos (2003), who, referring to evaluation criteria, stresses that the criteria in an evaluation process vary from case to case and that in the case of student evaluation, the main factor considered is how well a student performs in specific tests, which serves as an indicator of their ability to meet specific project requirements.The view of the permanent foreign language teachers in the study regarding the assessment criteria is confirmed by relevant research in the international context (Zaims et al., 2020), where English language teachers consider that teachers do not have enough knowledge to assess language skills authentically because they are accustomed to pencil and paper test method to assess the students' achievement.The pencil and paper test method can be applied to assess grammar, reading skill, and listening skill, but not suitable to assess speaking skill and writing skills.The view of the importance of individual criteria is confirmed by research by Konstantinou (2017) in Greek context.Konstantinou (2017) states that when assessing the student, teachers almost systematically ignore the pedagogical and teaching orientations of the student and, particularly, the student's progress in vital areas such as social action and communicative activation, cooperation, sensibility to the environment, individual and collective emotion resulting from play, joy, and enjoyment.Regarding to the 3 rd research question related to the issue of adopting alternative forms of assessment, their non-selection by permanent secondary school teachers is related to the issue of validity and reliability, something that is confirmed by a study conducted by Tsinas (2005).According to the findings of this study, while teachers initially declare themselves positive to the implementation of student self-assessment as an alternative form of assessment and agree that it would foster student responsibility, they subsequently disapprove of it as a practice, characterising it as subjective, inapplicable in the Greek reality and unreliable.On the other hand, new teachers, as well as several permanent teachers, welcome alternative forms of authentic assessment (rubrics, concept maps, electronic self-assessment quizzes, portfolios), as they put the student at the center of teaching and assessment.Recent research by Georgota (2021) shows that primary teachers are aware of alternative assessment techniques and believe that they can be applied in teaching in order to avoid numerical assessment and ranking of students.Similar research by Alexatos and Efstathiou (2018) in Greece showed that secondary school teachers consider the self-assessment as an alternative form of assessment important, but in practice they prefer more traditional forms.According to Varsamidou (2016), the student's portfolio is an alternative assessment technique that helps the student to understand the value of knowledge for them and to be guided, indirectly and through self-assessment, towards knowledge acquisition and personal development.Finally, regarding the 4th research question related to the training of teachers regarding the authentic assessment, it was found that the level of satisfaction of teachers was quite high, however, the question of linking theoretical knowledge with daily teaching practice arose.They are requesting solutions to address practical challenges such as mobility, limited teaching time, multiple classes, classroom management, support needs, and access to school counselors in order to effectively implement the theoretical knowledge gained from training seminars in the classroom.It is encouraging that there are now many training activities on evaluation issues, to which the training sessions organised on the New Curricula and integrating digital technologies are particularly impactful in this regard.In previous surveys in Greece, teachers expressed frustration with their training on assessment issues and asked for valid and appropriate training.Mavrogiorgos (2001) validates this view by referring to an "atypical apprenticeship" that teachers undergo, which begins in their own student years and continues until retirement.In addition, earlier studies expressed objections regarding the role of the school counsellor, who, for teachers, was absent and did not take initiatives to inform and train teachers.The teachers in the survey consider that school counsellors organise training workshops, seminars, online courses and are at their side.In a similar study in the international context (Adnan et al., 2019), it seems that the teacher does not have adequate competence in conducting authentic and integrative assessments.The teachers must improve their competence in applying authentic and integrative assessment in Indonesian language learning.In a study by Alexatos and Efstathiou (2018) in Greece, teachers are advocating for training programs that focus on integrating authentic assessment into teaching by emphasising the practical application of theoretical concepts.
It is important emphasise that this study attempted to explore the views of foreign language (English, French, German) teachers who teach in Primary and Secondary Education in Greece.Similar research in Greece refers to teachers of all disciplines, while in the international context, research focuses more on English language teachers.The current research project is considered to be small-scale due to the limited number of samples available for analysis.For this reason, it is proposed to investigate a larger sample of the number of teachers of foreign language in order to draw firm conclusions and the conduct a new research study.

Conclusions
In conclusion, the main survey findings, which included data analysis and interviews, indicate that the teachers in the sample value authentic assessment in foreign language teaching but are hesitant to implement it.They brought up concerns about the validity and objectivity, as well as difficulties in implementation (use of a computer laboratory, foreign language classroom equipment, insufficient teaching time, teaching to several schools and the need to move between them).The use of clear criteria when assessing pupils' performance is a fundamental prerequisite for the validity of the process.The teachers in the sample considered when evaluating their students: a) the performance in written and oral examinations, b) the active participation in class and group work, c) the effort made by the student, d) the student's critical, analytical, and creative thinking, e) the consistency.In terms of choosing and adopting alternative forms of assessment in foreign language learning, teachers preferred to apply more traditional forms due to the lack of time and classroom management.Finally, the teachers in the sample were satisfied with their information on students' assessment and suggested activating school counsellors and linking theoretical knowledge with real classroom conditions.The current study aimed to address the gap in research by investigating the perspectives of foreign language (English, French, German) teachers on the use of alternative and authentic forms of assessment in foreign language instruction, albeit in a limited capacity.In the Greek context, the research centered on the perspectives of teachers across various subject areas, whereas in the international context, there is a stronger emphasis on English language teaching.

Suggestions for Future Research
This study examined the perspectives of Greek foreign language (English, French, German) teachers on authentic assessment in foreign language teaching.The research focused on a sample of 20 primary and secondary education teachers, including both permanent and contractual educators.As the issue of performance assessment is very important and concerns all teacher disciplines, it was proposed to implement a quantitative survey of a large sample of teachers of all specialties in order to capture a wide range of teachers' views.An authentic assessment was included in the teaching scenarios of the New Curricula, and it was necessary to study teachers' attitudes on this issue (the degree of acceptance, possibility of adoption, obstacles, training, role of school counsellors, implementation of teaching scenarios of the New Curricula).
the author(s) This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
©Copyright 2024 by the author(s) This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Table 1
Demographic Data of Participants The age group of the participating teachers in relation to gender is shown in the Figure2.©Copyright 2024 by the author(s) This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.