Changes Of English Syllabuses And Textbooks In High Schools Vis-a-vis Assessment The Case Of Grade Eleven English Tests

In the last three decades there have been lots of changes in the languagernteaching profession. These changes are mainly the results of the broadening ofrnviews about the nature of language and language learning. This worldwidernphenomenon is also reflected in our country in that new English syllabuses andrntextbooks are now in use.rnIn this study, an attempt was made to explore whether testing has also changedrnin accordance with changes of the syllabuses. To investigate this, contents ofrnthe new Grade 11 English textbooks were compared with contents of the 1992rnE.C. test papers of four sample high schools in Addis Ababa. The comparisonrnwas made in terms of grammatical components, communicative functions,rnskills/sub-skills included, and test formats employed. Additionally, two sets ofrnquestionnaire were distributed to 208 students and 20 teachers to gatherrninformation regarding the skills/sub-skills and test formats emphasized inrnclassroom teaching and testing.rnThe study revealed that contents of the syllabus/textbooks and the test papersrnvary greatly. Moreover, it was found out that grammar, vocabulary, and readingrncomprehension are the most emphasized language areas in classroom lessonsrnand classroom tests; multiple choice is the most dominant test format employedrnin testing. In sum, changes in the syllabus do not seem to have beenrnaccompanied by innovations in testing.

Get Full Work

Report copyright infringement or plagiarism