Introducing Socrative as a Tool for Formative Assessment in Saudi EFL Classrooms

As one of the most popular Online Student Response Systems (OSRSs), Socrative is defined as a web-based platform that can be accessed using any browser that is connected to the Internet (Mork, 2014). In an attempt to guide EFL teachers on their journey towards transforming their traditional paper-based formative assessment into using electronic tools, this study seeks to present the expectations and attitudes of Saudi female learners towards the use of mobile-based formative assessment. The study aims to investigate the attitudes of EFL learners towards the use of mobile-based tests in English classes using Socrative as a model for assessment. For this purpose, 35 female students completed all three stages of the experiment; initial survey, Socrative quiz, post-experiment survey. The participants are enrolled in one of the courses of English for Specific Purposes (ESP) offered by the Preparatory Year Program at a Saudi state university. The findings of the study indicate that almost half of the participants preferred paper-based over mobile-based tests in the pre-experiment survey; after the experiment, however, the students changed their preferences in favor of mobile-based tests. The study also highlighted different advantages, reported by the participants, of using Socrative as a tool for formative assessment in EFL classrooms. The study recommends that teachers implement the use of (OSRSs) in their classrooms as they have many pedagogical benefits for language learners.