Assessment is considered as an important aspect in teaching and learning process.
Through the assessment, it will be easy for the teachers to help students to achieve the
learning goals. Indonesia minister of education has modified previous curricula with a
new curricula namely 2013 curriculum. There are some changes of 2013 curriculum
including its assessment system. 2013 curriculum proposes authentic assessment
(AA) as a way to assess students’ progress and achievement. This study aimed at
knowing English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers’ perceptions towards the
concept of authentic assessment in terms of its characteristics, kinds, techniques,
strengths, and weaknesses and to know the teachers’ problems in performing this
assessment. The method used in this research was descriptive survey. Nine senior
high school (SHS) EFL teachers of Purwokerto were involved as respondents. The
data was obtained by using questionnaire and interview. The result of this study
shows that senior high school EFL teachers established having positive perception
towards the concept of authentic assessment. The teachers basically supported the use
of this assessment in EFL teaching. However, the limited time in EFL classroom
brought an obstacle for the teachers. The teachers perceived that they need more time
to apply this assessment since the scoring system is not practical and the number of
the students is large. Therefore the teachers also claimed that they need a technique to
teach a large number of students and they need more training about the
implementation of authentic assessment in English language teaching (ELT).