Assessing the Validity of the 12th Grade Ministerial Exam of English Language in Kurdistan
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.25007/ajnu.v11n1a1259Abstract
It has been almost a decade that the format of 12th grade ministerial exam questions has been changed to Multiple Choice Questions (MCQ). It has been claimed that language tests have to reflect what learners study in the class during the process of learning. It is the aim of this study to investigate the validity of the 12th ministerial exanimation in the light of the communicative language approach (CLA). For this purpose, the researchers designed a questionnaire for 100 freshly graduates of the 12th grade learners from Kurdistan Region schools. The overall results show that the test doesn’t follow the CLA testing principles. In addition, more than %85 of the learners reported that they had learned little English during their study year, and they mostly study on their teachers’ pamphlets rather than the course book. Nevertheless, the 12th grade learners are generally satisfied with the format of the ministerial examination of English and think that question items are easy to answer.
Downloads
References
Azis, A. (2012). Teachers’ conceptions and use of assessment in student learning. Indonesian Journal of Applied Linguistics 2 (1), 41-51.
Bailey, K. M. (1998). Learning about language assessment: Dilemmas' decisions, and directions. Pacific Grove, CA: Heinle.
Beale, J. (2002). Is communicative language teaching a thing of the past?. TESOL, 37 (1), 12-16.
Brown, H. D. (2000). Principles of Language Learning and Teaching. (4th ed.). NewYork: Pearson Education.
Brown, H.D. (2001). Teaching by Principles: An interactive Approach to Language Pedagogy (2nd Ed.). New York: Pearson Education.
Brown, H. D. (2003). Language assessment: Principles and classroom practices. White Plains, NY: Longman. 6th International Visible Conference on Educational Studies and Applied Linguistics - 2015 (373)
Brown, H. D. (2004). Language assessment: principles and classroom practices. New York: Pearson Education
Brown, J. D. (2005). Testing in language program. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Bruner, D. A., Sinwongsuwat, K., & Radic-Bojanic, B. (2015). EFL Oral Communication Teaching Practices: A Close Look at University Teachers and A2 Students' Perspectives in Thailand and a Critical Eye from Serbia. English Language Teaching, 8 (1), 11-20.
Canale, M., & Swain, M. (1980). Theoretical bases of communicative approaches to second language teaching and learning. Applied Linguistics, 1(1), 1-47.
Carroll, B. J. (1983). Communicative language tests: Tasks, enabling skills, formats, and measurement criteria. World Language English, 2(1), 37-39.
Fulcher, G and Davison, F. (2007) Language Testing and Assessment: An advanced resource book. Britain: Routledge. Heinle & Heinle Publishers.
Harris, M. & McCann, P. (1994). Assessment (Handbook for the English classroom). Oxford: Heinemann Publishers.
Jeyasala, V. R. (2014). A prelude to practice: Interactive activities for effective communication in English. Alternative pedagogies in the English language & communication classroom, 164-170.
Katsumasa, S. (1997). Communicative language testing. [Principles and problems]. English Review, 12, 3-24. Retrieved from http://ci.nii.ac.jp/naid/110004 693443/en/
Larsen-Freeman, D. (2000). Techniques and Principles in Language Teaching (2nd ed.). UK: Oxford University Press.
Leung, C. (2005). Convivial communication: recontextualizing communicative competence. International Journal of Applied Linguistic, 15 (2), 119-143.
Littlewood, W. (2000). Communicative language teaching (20th ed.). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Marsh, C. (2004). Key Concepts for Understanding Curriculum (3rd ed.). Routledge Falmer: London and New York.
Moss, D., & Ross-Feldman, L. (2003). Second language acquisition in adults: From research to practice. Retrieved from http://www.cal.org/CAELA/esl_resources/digests/SLA.html
Nunan, D. (1999). Second Language Teaching & Learning. Massachusetts.
Power, T. (2003). The Appeal and Poverty of CLT. Retrieved from http://www.btinternet.com/~ted.power/ esl0404.html
Richards, J. C., & Rodgers, T. S. (2014). Approaches and methods in language teaching. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Sabah, R. (2015). Assessing Sunrise 12 Ministerial Exam. 6th International Visible Conference on Educational Studies and Applied Linguistics.
Weir, C. J. (1990). Communicative language testing. New York: Prentice Hall.
Wesche, M. B. (1983). Communicative testing in a second language. The Modern Language Journal, 67(1), 41-55.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2022 Awat Mustafa, Nadhim Azeez, Rawand Ahmad
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Authors retain copyright
The use of a Creative Commons License enables authors/editors to retain copyright to their work. Publications can be reused and redistributed as long as the original author is correctly attributed.
- Copyright
- The researcher(s), whether a single or joint research paper, must sell and transfer to the publisher (the Academic Journal of Nawroz University) through all the duration of the publication which starts from the date of entering this Agreement into force, the exclusive rights of the research paper/article. These rights include the translation, reuse of papers/articles, transmit or distribute, or use the material or parts(s) contained therein to be published in scientific, academic, technical, professional journals or any other periodicals including any other works derived from them, all over the world, in English and Arabic, whether in print or in electronic edition of such journals and periodicals in all types of media or formats now or that may exist in the future. Rights also include giving license (or granting permission) to a third party to use the materials and any other works derived from them and publish them in such journals and periodicals all over the world. Transfer right under this Agreement includes the right to modify such materials to be used with computer systems and software, or to reproduce or publish it in e-formats and also to incorporate them into retrieval systems.
- Reproduction, reference, transmission, distribution or any other use of the content, or any parts of the subjects included in that content in any manner permitted by this Agreement, must be accompanied by mentioning the source which is (the Academic Journal of Nawroz University) and the publisher in addition to the title of the article, the name of the author (or co-authors), journal’s name, volume or issue, publisher's copyright, and publication year.
- The Academic Journal of Nawroz University reserves all rights to publish research papers/articles issued under a “Creative Commons License (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction of the paper/article by any means, provided that the original work is correctly cited.
- Reservation of Rights
The researcher(s) preserves all intellectual property rights (except for the one transferred to the publisher under this Agreement).
- Researcher’s guarantee
The researcher(s) hereby guarantees that the content of the paper/article is original. It has been submitted only to the Academic Journal of Nawroz University and has not been previously published by any other party.
In the event that the paper/article is written jointly with other researchers, the researcher guarantees that he/she has informed the other co-authors about the terms of this agreement, as well as obtaining their signature or written permission to sign on their behalf.
The author further guarantees:
- The research paper/article does not contain any defamatory statements or illegal comments.
- The research paper/article does not violate other's rights (including but not limited to copyright, patent, and trademark rights).
This research paper/article does not contain any facts or instructions that could cause damages or harm to others, and publishing it does not lead to disclosure of any confidential information.
