15-Social and Educational Impact of Language Assessment in Nigeria..pdf (original) (raw)
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2015
Language assessment serves many purposes in society, such as a means for achieving national language policy goals. It is a tool in language teaching; can motivate learning; and supports the connections between language learning, literacy development and cognitive development. In Nigeria, poor exam performance and low level English proficiency indicate that language teaching and assessment have not sufficiently engendered effective language use. Summative language assessment is practised in ways that hold learners responsible for not learning what is not taught or is improperly taught. Thus, since local languages play little or no role in personal advancement, the society is unable to utilize potential manpower sidelined by poor achievement in English language tests. It is therefore now imperative that the examining bodies and curricula designers appraise their philosophies and practice with a view to aligning language teaching and assessment with national development goals and inter...
Journal of Education and Practice, 2014
The much emphasis laid on Continuous Assessment (C.A) in the current system of education in Nigeria has made C.A. to be important in the evaluation of students’ performance and even certification. Teachers give one form of test or the other for the continuous assessment exercise. It is therefore important that teacher-made tests are not just means of gathering grades but evidence capturing device that should be carefully designed to ensure high level of validity and reliability. This study therefore investigated how language teachers in secondary schools in Ekiti State plan, construct administer and score their tests. The research design for the study was the descriptive design of the survey type. The population for the study comprised all language teachers that teach English language, Yoruba language, French language and Arabic language in all the secondary schools in Ekiti State. Eighty respondents out of the population were purposively selected as sample for the study. A self-des...
Assessing EFL Students’ Language Proficiency in Secondary School Classes in Benin
European Journal of Education and Pedagogy
This paper presents a study on assessing English as a Foreign Language (EFL) students’ language proficiency in Benin secondary schools. Assessment and evaluation are indispensable components of English language teaching. Assessing students is crucial to both learners and teachers themselves in the sense that its basic function is to improve learning. However, much awareness has not been raised on the key roles of assessment in Benin secondary schools. This study aims at investigating how effective teachers’ assessment of their learners’ language abilities is in EFL classroom and to explore EFL learners’ attitude towards assessment. Using qualitative and quantitative methods, 56 EFL teachers and 458 lower intermediate and upper EFL learners in the Atlantic region in Benin participated in this study. The field study revealed that many teachers wrongly mistake assessment for test and thus use both terms to mean the same thing. Teachers have not been able to see tests as a way of assess...
IMPROVING LEARNER PERFORMANCE IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE EXAMINATIONS IN NIGERIA: SOME RADICAL IMPERATIVES
International Journal of Arts, Culture and Sustainable Development, 2013
As a result of condemnable woeful performances of students in Certificate examinations, quite a large body of research works has devoted attention to tackling the perennial problem of poor academic performances of students in both internal and public examinations. These works have therefore identified a number of causes and proposed solutions to the problem. However, the symptomatic problem of poor academic performances, especially with respect to English language, is still unabated. This paper, therefore, proposed some imperatives separating Literature-in-English from English language in the JSS, making the teachers responsible for their students' performances in examinations, and maintaining discipline in schools for improving learner performances in English language in both internal and public examinations. The paper called on the governments at all levels, ministries of education, educational administrators, private school owners, proprietors and teachers to adopt the proposed radical imperatives for the overall improved performances of students in English language and other school subjects.
Managing Language Testing in Nigerian Large Classes: Processes and Prospects
2015
The demand for literacy in a developing country like Nigeria has multiple results such as the expansion, by leaps and bounds, of the average Nigerian classroom. This paper highlights the reasons for large classes in Nigerian secondary schools, the educational and psychological dimensions of language testing in large classes, the challenges of such classes and how they affect achievement and in the long run, the standard of education. It also tasks the proficiency levels of English Language teachers especially in the area of testing and points out new paradigms in language testing, particularly in large classes from the two perspectives of human and infrastructural development, and teacher empowerment and initiatives. The study suggests methods of improving language testing in large classes through pragmatic techniques.
Current Issues in Language Assessment and Language Assessment Research and its Implication
2019
Language is a very abstract phenomenon and that abstract nature of language makes it more complex. As we know that how much the thing will be abstract that much it will be complex for measurement so language is also abstract that is why it is complex for measurement. There are several issues which are faced in this broad field of language assessment. While highlighting all the challenges that were faced in the broad area of language assessment in the 21 st century, we know that many of these challenges are persisted since early years. As this field is becoming more advanced and more researches are being conducted in this field new challenges are also emerging in this field of language assessment, we are facing challenges in the educational, economic and social context of the 21 st century, it makes us sure that this field can be more vibrant and exciting for this who truly wants to work on it. We know that so many researches are conducted in this field and have addressed multiple numbers of issues and is also addressing the issues but still there are gaps and some questions which are waiting for to be answered by someone. Such as, the ability of language is of which nature? How can we be assured of the interpretations of those who are taking tests? To what degree we can assure the validity of assessment held for the specific purpose? Some new challenge have also aroused I this vast field of language assessment form increased universal demand for those people who possess a very good levels in language ability. These demands have two parts, one is the large number of those students whose first language is not used as their medium of instruction and they need to learn the standard or official language to become a functioning and beneficial members of their society, second part is globalization and emerging demands for those employees who can make themselves functioning in bilingual or multilingual workplaces. There is also one emerging demand in this field which is accountability of the language teachers in language teaching along with the increasing demand from the high level users of language. Government, from local schools to school districts to state and nation, is in need of such educational institutions and such teachers which should make themselves accountable for the levels of language ability attained by learners of languages, about the resources which are given to them of the money, time, space and human as well. And that government should demand from universities, colleges and schools to produce such employees whose language ability is polished and sufficient for them to perform their duties in bilingual or multilingual workplaces. Such demands of accountability will bolster the normal interest of teachers and schools and will provide the students with such instructions which will be in according and beneficial for boosting the learning of their students. In all such situations, the tools for collecting information that will inform us about decisions both accountability decisions and instructional decisions are language assessments. The increasing number of the language learners in schools is creating great challenges in high stake accountability assessment as well as for classroom language assessment. The challenge in classroom language assessment is that how we will practically use or apply the knowledge that we have learned. For that firstly, we will have to develop such kind of assessments which will fulfill the purposes of instruction and learning. Secondly we will have to train all the teachers who are teaching in language learning classrooms. While the challenge for
Assessment is an integral, critical element in language education. It is a product of reflection, instruction, and innovation. It is supposed to provide valid, reliable, and relevant information about learners' progress. It ought to be used to inform course evaluation and instructional design with the view to meeting the needs of language learners and facilitators who serve the former. Assessment comes out of testing. It should be a learning experience for both learners and teachers. In the present scenario, teachers' and learners' attitude toward testing and assessment is material rather than ideal. Besides, the attitudes of parents and administrators can also positively influence language assessment of learners by teachers. The present paper purports to quantify their attitudes toward what they think language assessment and tests are about.