India has a peculiarly unique multilingual and multicultural societal setup which has not been put to optimum use for promoting English language education in the country. Certain socially disadvantaged linguistic and cultural communities still do not have access to quality English education. The instructional and testing practices in language classrooms have never been favorable to their social background, class, caste, belief systems, etc though national policy documents on testing (e.g. NCERT sourcebook on secondary level assessment, 2011) often emphasize on democratizing testing so that it accommodates students from different backgrounds and with different learning styles. The rat race for scoring marks and making students pass in the English (as a subject) has also detrimental impact on language teaching practices and learning. I have seen it all in the past. My own experience with examinations both as a student and a teacher has been disappointing. I had to undergo memory-based tests in my school, college, university, and even in pre-service teacher training days. I was humiliated over and again by my teachers in classroom when I questioned such practices. Even some of the teacher trainers in my B. Ed. (Bachelor of Education) course forced me to take tests based on rote memorization. There are millions of students like me in the country who are suffering at the hands of tests which have proved to be more inhuman than human; more discouraging than motivating; and more a tool for measuring failure than promoting success.
In India, what is commonly practiced in English classes is testing, not assessment. Such tests are very formal in nature and aim at assessing students with numbers and grades using question papers that demand a lot of memorization and only written production. Speaking, listening, and pragmatic and strategic competence (Bachman, 1990) are rarely tested. This process is further handicapped by the absence of a stable English teacher training program which could help teachers understand basic ELT concepts like language proficiency, competence, performance, assessment, etc. Recently, central educational boards like CBSE (Central Board of Secondary Education) have made extensive changes in assessment. Guided by the suggestions mentioned in National Curriculum Framework (2005), policy makers have tried to make assessment school-based, continuous, comprehensive and student-friendly. However, expecting sweeping changes to happen in all educational institutes within a year or two will be unrealistic. But these changes should be supported by positive changes in language teacher education programs. In my opinion, a program like the EFL Assessment offered by RELO could be of immense help to English teachers in India. From what I have observed and learnt during the last one week, I can confirm that English teachers may develop a solid base in Language Assessment through this. Apart from the quality study material and enriching peer-interaction sessions, the timely valuable feedback and guidance of the Course Tutor make this course an invaluable one, more so for any English teacher in India.
Though I have had some courses on Language Testing in my B. Ed. and M. Phil., I never had such an international platform for discussing Assessment in detail. The discussions on the Discussion Board, especially some of the peer responses that were perhaps the result of some extra research and reading have broadened my thinking and made me re-examine my beliefs regarding Language Assessment. I hope to familiarize myself with some unfamiliar territories in Assessment like Computer-Based Testing, Alternative assessment, etc in the coming weeks, and disseminate the same knowledge among teachers and researchers around me so that assessment practices in the country improve and help the cause of language learning.
References
Bachman, L. F. (1990). Fundamental considerations in language testing. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
National Curriculum Framework (2005), New Delhi: NCERT. NCERT Source Book on Secondary level Assessment. (2011). Retrieved from http://schooleducationharyana.gov.in/downloads_pdf/Circullers/sourcebook.pdf
Friday, February 7, 2020
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