Show, don’t tell - Developing and Validating a Role-Play-Based Simulation (RobS) for the Assessment of Pre-Service EFL Teachers’ Feedback Competence on Writing

raditional assessment formats in university-based EFL teacher education programs usually focus on cognitive dispositions rather than on the actual performance of pre-service EFL teachers in everyday teaching situations. This assessment gap is addressed in this thesis by developing and validating a role-play-based simulation (RobS) designed for the summative assessment of pre-service EFL teachers' feedback competence on writing. Drawing on theories from multiple disciplines, such as higher education, medical education, teacher education, educational psychology, and EFL-specific didactics, the RobS is developed as a performance-oriented assessment format. In the RobS, pre-service EFL teachers engage in a feedback conversation with trained actors who portray a standardized learner. Following an argument-based approach to validation, the extent to which the RobS can be considered valid is investigated. Data from multiple studies, focusing on aspects such as authenticity, fairness, reliability, and external validity, are presented. The discussion in the validity argument indicates that the RobS can elicit and assess the performative facet of feedback competence on writing with sufficient confidence. This work contributes a novel, empirically supported assessment framework to teacher education research. Moreover, it presents an approach to address the assessment gap, enabling pre-service EFL teachers to show how they provide feedback, rather than just tell their lecturers about it.