1.1
Background of the study:
The
importance of test cannot be denied in language teaching-learning process as it
helps teachers get the overall picture of a student’s language ability- both strengths
and weaknesses. It becomes even more crucial when it comes to evaluating the
learners and giving each of them an appropriate rank based on his or her merit
during and at the end of the course. More importantly, it can assist educators
or administration in planning and designing the language programs. So, it is
clear that a perfect test can help a learner to become proficient in a
particular language.
The
primary level of education, including both teachers and students, in Bengali
medium has been chosen as sample. The main concern of this research paper is
English question papers of both first and second parts from class one to five,
especially English question papers of Primary School Certificate (PSC)
examination. However, class five will be given more priority because it is the
last stage of the primary level and students belong to this grade are
considered mature enough to undergo this study. It should be mentioned here
that the period of primary level of education is from class one to class five.
This level of education plays the most vital role in building up the foundation
of formal education for the students. If students are not given primary
education properly, they will be unable to get higher studies, causing a total
collapse of the entire education system.
1.2 Literary review:
Related
to the background given above, the researcher has tried his best to make an
intensive review of similar kind of literature. Several researches on the
similar type of topic have been carried out both at home and abroad.
Researchers in the developing as well as developed countries have shown several
factors of testing that affect English language teaching and learning at the
primary level education. In Bangladesh, very few studies related to this topic
have been conducted, and thus, requiring further investigation to find out the
deficiencies of the whole testing process. The problems are as follows-
An
English language test is considered incomplete because it does not seek to know
the level of expertise a student has in speaking and listening, and it is true
for both classroom testing and public examinations. Therefore, it does not
provide any assistance in improving the basic knowledge of students, thus
leading them not to become communicatively competent (Khan 2010).
Because
there is no formal examination for speaking and listening skills, both teachers
and students do not take these language skills seriously. As a result, teachers
have to face the challenge in involving students in various classroom
activities, like peer work, group work, demonstration, role play, debate etc.
(Ali 2011).
Inadequacy
of teaching aids acts as a barrier in implementing the primary English
curriculum, thus influencing the English language teaching and learning process
in the classroom. Deficiency in English language test becomes more decisive
because of the unavailability of language lab facility. For this reason,
students cannot practice listening, one of the key and authentic sources of
learning English language (Hossain, Nessa & Kafi 2015).
Another
problem that affects testing in English language teaching and learning at the
primary level is the lack of skill and inexperience of test setters. Because of
this, they cannot design test items based on the testing candidate’s
communicative competence. Test items, set by them for both the school tests and
public examinations such as the Primary School certificate (PSC) examination,
contain very little communicative content (Haider and Chowdhury 2012).
English
question papers cannot test the reading skill of a learner properly. Students
do not feel the need for reading the entire reading passage to answer the
questions. Moreover, a lot of emphasis is given on grammar. That is why
examination papers include a lot of questions based on grammar which are not
quite necessary to enable them to communicate in English (Haque 2017).
1.3
Statement of Research Question:
Based
on the background given above, the researcher prepares the research questions
as follows:
1. Is the current
testing system appropriate for testing all skills of English language?
2. What are the main
lacking of a test and how it affects in English teaching-learning process?
3. What initiatives
can be taken to develop the test?
1.4
Objectives of the Research:
The
main purpose of this study is to find answers of the above stated research
questions and to investigate them in order to find out the solutions. In
addition, this thesis has also its objectives which are as follows:
·
To
demonstrate the testing technique used in English language teaching and
learning at the primary level schools in Bangladesh.
·
To
find out the problems of Test in English language teaching and learning process
at the primary schools in Bangladesh.
·
To
find out the solutions to develop the test taking place at the primary level in
Bangladesh.
1.5
Hypothesis:
Students
generally focus on those sections that they expect to be evaluated on during
the tests. From that point of view, it can be said that tests can play the most
important role in assessing and measuring all four skills of a language in
teaching-learning process. Despite learning English from primary level to
tertiary level of education, we cannot acquire the language totally. For this
reason, most of the teachers and students blame the testing techniques. The
research is based on the hypothesis that if all language skills are equally
examined in a test, students will be able to communicate successfully in the
language and there will be no shortage in their skills. Teaching and learning
of English will become easier after solving the problem.
1.6
Significance of the study:
The
significance of this study is to make authority related to education sector
aware about the shortage of language test at the primary level education in
Bangladesh. It is expected that this study will be helpful for the teachers,
students, teacher-trainers, educational administrators, policy makers and
researchers in Bangladesh, for it will help them understand that the shortage
of tests for the language learners has become a major stumbling block in
English language teaching-learning process. Moreover, this study will try to
reveal several areas where important steps must be taken to develop the ways of
taking tests in English language teaching and learning at the primary level in
Bangladesh.
1.7 Limitations of
the study:
While
doing the research, the researcher may face several potential problems. Lack of
cooperation from educational institutions is perhaps the first thing he will
have to deal with because he may not be permitted by them to do investigation
and survey though he will try his level best to make them realize. Collecting
English question papers from educational institutions will be very difficult
job because concerned authority, citing internal issues, may not provide
questions to the researcher. Secondly, due to inadequate amount of instruments,
the researcher will find it hard to collect data from the field, questioning
the accuracy, validity and reliability of the research. Another problem is the
allocation of time. Because of the very limited time, data will have to be
collected quickly which might have negative impact on the output or result of
the survey. The small size of sample cannot be described as the result of the
whole population. It also may not be hundred percent accurate.
1.8 Definitions of
key terms:
While
going through the research, readers may come across some difficult terms.
Operational definitions of these terms are provided so that readers can
understand the terms and can relate them with the study. These terms with
adequate explanations are given below-
Test: It is a method
aimed at assessing a person’s depth of knowledge or ability in a particular
subject or skill.
Assessment: Synonyms of this
word are “evaluation”, “measurement”, “judgment” etc. So, it can be defined as
one kind of act that is used to determine the value, amount or number of something.
Focus Group
Discussion (FGD):
It is one of the data collection methods of qualitative research. It is a group
discussion conducted by a moderator in several groups of 6 to 12 members each
with similar backgrounds and experiences. The researcher will select the FGD
members keeping in mind the aim of the research. The group of participants will
share their ideas, knowledge and opinions about specific topics or issues
presented before them by the moderator. Duration of each FGD session is around
1.5-2 hours.
2. Research Design:
In
this chapter, design and ways of data collection for this research will be
narrated. Though the primary purpose of this study is to demonstrate the
weaknesses of ‘testing’ both teachers and students face while learning English
language at the primary level in Bangladesh, its importance in planning and
designing language programs is also the key issue of this study. In the first
section of this chapter, methods applied in this study will be discussed, while
in the second section, researcher will talk about the participants of the
study. A list of instructions will be given in the third section and the fourth
section will give an elaborate description of how all the important information
will be gathered and time spent on each segment by following specific
procedures of data collection and timeline. The fifth and final section will demonstrate
in details how the collected data will be analyzed.
2.1 Methodology of
the research:
Qualitative
research method will be applied by the researcher for gaining in-depth
knowledge of the problem. This type of research is more descriptive because it
allows the researcher to investigate small number of sample and later
generalize the findings to the whole population. In this research, three survey
techniques- survey study, interview and observation of L2 classes, will be used
by the researcher. Therefore, to collect data, this study will make use of
different types of methods which will be designed as follows-
1)
Students’ survey questionnaire survey, 2) Teachers’ survey questionnaire, 3)
Students’ interview, 4) Teachers’ interview, 4) Classroom observation.
By
following the aforementioned methods, the researcher can be directly connected
with his source of information, and thus, leading him to produce ideas for this
study.
2.2 Participants:
This
study will take place in five schools in Dhaka, Bangladesh. English language
teachers and students at the primary level are the participants of this study.
Five English language teachers at the primary level in Bengali medium schools
will be interviewed. Related to the research topic, the interview questionnaire
for the teachers will be made. The questionnaire is expected to have 15
questions, including 10 closed and 5 open ended. Three FGDs (Focus Group
Discussion) with each having around 10 students will be conducted based on 10
questions regarding topic. A total of 30 students from English language classes
will take part in these FGD sessions. At least 10 question papers, including
first and second parts, from five primary schools, will be collected by the
researcher. Then, in order to write down the overall classroom activities, five
English language classes will be carefully observed. An observation check list
with nine criteria will be used to collect all data in details during classroom
observations. Because this study is aimed at finding the errors of testing in
English language teaching and learning at the primary level of education in
Bengali medium schools, question papers will be the main cause of concern for
this study.
2.3
Instruments:
In
this research, both primary and secondary data will be used. To collect primary
data, three instruments- 1) interviews of English language teachers, 2) FGDs of
the primary level students and 3) classroom observations- will be used by the
researcher. Structured questionnaire for teacher interview having 15 questions
will be used for survey. Then, relevant data will be collected through FGDs and
classroom observations. Each of the FGDs will have 10 questions while classroom
observation will follow a checklist consisting of nine criteria. Using FGDs,
the researcher will be able to get information directly from the students,
especially answers of the questions: why students cannot become competent in
English, what are the factors that affect the testing in English language
teaching and learning, and how this problem can be solved. Through open
discussion on the relevant issues it will be possible to get almost all the
information. During the classroom observation, an observation sheet will be
maintained by the researcher for his future use.
The
instruments mentioned above will help the researcher identify the factors
restricting the students from reaching their desired goals and the testing
techniques that can effectively enhance the English language skills of the
students. Overall, the lack of testing for the English language students will
be apparently visible upon completion of the study, and the secondary data,
similarly collected, will only strengthen the findings.
2.4 Procedure and
Timeline:
All
three instruments will be used to collect the necessary data- teacher
interviews, 3 FGDs with the students of English classes and 5 classroom
observations. English language teachers from Bengali medium schools in Dhaka
city will be interviewed at their suitable time. Either survey questionnaire or
recording device will be used to record all the answers given by the teachers.
Then,
three FGD sessions will be organized in three English language classrooms of
the selected schools. Both male and female students will take part in it and
they will be encouraged to participate spontaneously in the discussions. During
FGDs, students will be asked 10 questions one after another and their responses
will be recorded by using recording devices and important notes will be written
down. Finally, classrooms will be observed and data will be collected following
the checklist featuring nine criteria.
It
will take 10 days for the researcher to take interviews of the teachers and 5
days to analyze the data. Because of the time constraint, only 10 to15 minutes
will be allotted for interviewing each teacher. However, 3 FGDs will be
conducted on 3 different days with three distinct groups of students consisting
of both male and female students. All of their responses will be recorded by
audio devices and noted down as well. It will take around 20 minutes to complete
each FGD. Afterwards, total 5 classes will be observed on the basis of the
checklist in five days. To collect data, the procedure described above will be
followed by the researcher.
In
this study, all the above mentioned instruments will be used to collect data.
All instruments are very useful and important to collect all the possible
information. Instead of relying on only one instrument, three instruments will
be equally utilized to analyze the data and reach to the possible solutions.
2.5
Data Analysis:
In
the methodology section, it has already been mentioned that qualitative
research method will be employed to analyze the data. Firstly, three
instruments- interviews, FGDs and classroom observations- will be carried out
in Bengali medium schools by using audio recording aids as well as survey
questionnaire and taking notes. Secondly, the data collected through several
instruments will be gathered. Every note-taking and audio recording will be
analyzed and presented in the form of charts and tables. While conducting
teacher interviews and FGDs, the answers appearing frequently will be noted
down. Similarly, the regularly noticed classroom activities will be noted down
following nine criteria of the observation checklist. As a result, some
interesting responses or activities, which may seem relevant as well, would be
highly emphasized. Because this research will be conducted using the
qualitative method, the emphasis will be given to the participants’ responses
instead of the number of participants. Finally, all the findings collected from
different instruments will be thoroughly analyzed, leading the researcher to
come down to the conclusions upon completion of the study.
References:
Ali,
M. (2011). Teachers and students perspectives on English language
assessment in the secondary English language teaching (ELT) curriculum in
Bangladesh: EDEM 691, a thesis submitted to the College of Education of the
University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand in partial fulfilment of
the requirements of the degree of Master of Education (Unpublished
master's thesis).
Haider,
M. Z., & Chowdhury, T. A. (2012). Repositioning of CLT from Curriculum to
Classroom: A Review of the English Language Instructions at Bangladeshi
Secondary Schools. International Journal of English
Linguistics, 2(4). doi:10.5539/ijel.v2n4p12
Haque,
S. R. (2017, November 2). Problems of learning and teaching English in
Bangladesh. Retrieved January 10, 2018, from http://www.daily-sun.com/printversion/details/265627/Problems-of-learning-and-teaching-English-in-Bangladesh
Hossain,
M. A., Nessa, M., & Kafi, M. A. (April 2015). Challenges of Teaching
English Language at the Primary Level Schools in Bangladesh.
Banglavision, 15. Retrieved January 10, 2018, from http://bv-f.org/VOL-15/01.%20BV%20Final.pdf
Khan,
R. 2010. “English Language Assessment in Bangladesh: Developments and
Challenges”. In Moon, Y-in and Spolsky, B. Language Assessment in Asia: Local,
Regional or Global. Seoul, South Korea. Asia TEFL. Pp.121-157.
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