Grades and grade inflation: exploring teachers’ grading practices in Indonesian EFL secondary school classrooms

Teachers’ grading in secondary education has been recognised as a ‘hodgepodge’ practice that incorporates both cognitive and non-cognitive factors (e.g. effort, participation, and attendance) to determine students’ final grades. Consequently, students’ grades are perceived to be an inaccurate representation of their academic knowledge. Hodgepodge grading could also create the potential for grade inflation. Reporting on English teachers’ grading practices in secondary education in Indonesia, this paper identifies the factors teachers considered important when awarding final grades and explores teachers’ justifications for such practices. Factors contributing to grades included performance and cognition, learning process and effort, and external contributing factors. The nature, reasons, and implications of grade inflation are elaborated upon. The study argues that grade inflation is related to a hodgepodge grading and the top-down implementation of the competency-based assessment policies in Indonesia. Moreover, grade inflation can lead to unintended but potentially devastating consequences for the internal attribution of students and teachers, social interaction among classroom stakeholders, and educational practices and outcomes.