LEARNERS' NEEDS FOR CEFR-INFORMED INTEGRATIVE ENGLISH ASSESSMENT: A MIXED-METHODS NEEDS ANALYSIS ACROSS SECONDARY AND UNIVERSITY LEVELS IN INDONESIA

Abstract

This study aimed to identify learners’ and educators’ needs for CEFR-informed integrative English assessment across secondary and university levels in Indonesia as an initial stage of a larger design-based research project. Adopting a mixed-methods needs-analysis design, the study involved 105 students,  comprising forty secondary and sixty-five university students. Data were collected through a questionnaire, interviews with ten students and seven English educators, supported by classroom observations and document analysis. Quantitative responses were examined using descriptive statistics, whereas qualitative evidence was thematically coded and triangulated across data sources. The results indicated that 95.2% of students regarded English proficiency as important for their academic goals, while 91.4% favoured assessment integrating reading, listening, vocabulary, and grammar. Both students and educators called for more contextualized, meaningful, and integrated assessment practices. Five principles emerged to guide future assessment design: academic relevance, functional integration, differentiated task design, contextualized linguistic resources, and transparent CEFR-informed criteria. These findings establish an empirical foundation for designing integrative assessment prototypes, which require further field testing, refinement, and validation before performance can be meaningfully interpreted in relation to CEFR levels.