Objectives of teaching English skills and their assessment in Indian schools: A study on the divergence
Abstract
Listening and speaking are active language skills, and need special attention in English language pedagogy, especially in ESL/EFL contexts. In India, where English is taught as a second language in majority of Indian states, the secondary education boards stipulate the teaching of all the four language skills as the objective of teaching English, yet teaching and assessment system is only read-write intensive, and the active language skills, i.e., listening and speaking, are neglected in teaching as well as in assessment. The present paper is the result of a survey of the language teaching objectives, learning outcomes and assessment policies of two secondary education boards in India to investigate whether there exists any divergence between the stated objectives regarding teaching English language skills, and the testing pattern followed. The findings of the study suggest that there exists a divergence between the objectives stated by state level secondary education boards and their assessment patterns set for English language. The study recommends there should be a uniform standard of teaching and assessment of English for secondary school students in India, and there should be more research studies on the potential negative impact of the neglect of teaching and assessment of speaking and listening skills.
Keywords
Full Text:
PDFReferences
Agnihotri, R. K. (2001). English in Indian education. In C. J. Daswani (Ed.), Language education in multi-lingual India (pp. 186–209). New Delhi: UNESCO
Ahmad, K., & Agarwal, P. (2018). The role of CBSE ASL in enhancing the speaking and listening skills of students. In A. Keedwell (Ed.), Explorations: Teaching and Learning English in India, Issue 8: Assessing learning (2) (pp. 13-28). Kolkata: British Council
Bloomfield, A., Wayland, S. C., Rhoades, E., Blodgett, A., Linck, J., & Ross, S. (2010). What makes listening difficult? Factors affecting second language listening comprehension (Technical Report TTO 81434 E.3.1). College Park, MD: University of Maryland Center for Advanced Study of Language. Retrieved on February 22, 2021 from: https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/pdfs/ADA550176.pdf
Boyle, J. P. (1984). Factors affecting listening comprehension. ELT Journal, 38(1), 34-38. DOI: 10.1093/elt/38.1.34
Bozorgian, H. (2012). The relationship between listening and other language skills in International English Language Testing System. Theory and Practice in Language Studies, 2(4), 657-663. DOI: 10.4304/tpls.2.4.657-663
Brown, G., & Yule, G. (1983). Teaching the spoken language (Vol 2). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Buck, G. (2001). Assessing listening (Cambridge Language Assessment). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI: 10.1017/CBO9780511732959
CBSE. (2013). Assessment of speaking and listening skills: Guide for teachers. Retrieved on February 22, 2021 from: http://cbseacademic.nic.in/web_material/ASL/2013/2.%20ASL%20Guide%20for%20Teachers.pdf
CBSE. (n.d.). CBSE ASL corner. Retrieved on February 22, 2021 from: http://cbseacademic.nic.in/aslcorner.html
CBSE. (2020). CBSE Secondary Curriculum 2020-21 (Volume I Main Subjects). Retrieved on February 22, 2021 from: http://cbseacademic.in/web_material/Curriculum16/Secondary/Secondary%20School%20Curriculum%20Vol%201.pdf
Chikkala, S. (2018). Current oral language assessment in professional colleges and its impact on student performance. In A. Keedwell (Ed.), Explorations: Teaching and learning English in India. Issue 8: Assessing learning (2) (pp. 6-14). Kolkata: British Council.
Council of Europe. (n.d.). Common European framework of reference for languages: Learning, teaching, assessment (CEFR). Retrieved on February 22, 2021 from: https://rm.coe.int/16802fc1bf
Dahlman, C. J. (2010). Education and growth of services. In E. Ghani (Ed.), The service revolution in South Asia (pp. 261–312). New Delhi: Oxford University Press.
Daswani, C. J. (Ed.). (2001). Language education in multi-lingual India. New Delhi: UNESCO.
Dirven, R., & Oakeshott-Taylor, J. (1984). Listening comprehension (Part I). Language Teaching, 17(4), 326-343. DOI: 10.1017/S026144480001082X
Endow, T. (2018). Inferior outcomes: Learning in low-cost English-medium private schools — A survey in Delhi and National Capital Region. Indian Journal of Human Development, 12(1), 1-19. DOI: 10.1177/0973703018779725
Eraslan, S. (2018). The impact of sentence length and complexity on fluency in Turkish-English simultaneous interpreting. Journal of Language and Linguistic Studies, 14(3), 145-153. Retrieved on March 13, 2021 from: https://www.jlls.org/index.php/jlls/article/view/914/396
Fulcher, G. (2003). Testing second language speaking. New York: Routledge.
Graham, S. (2006). Listening comprehension: The learners’ perspective. System, 34(2), 165-182. DOI: 10.1016/j.system.2005.11.001
Hamouda, A. (2013). An investigation of listening comprehension problems encountered by Saudi students in the EL listening classroom. International Journal of Academic Research in Progressive Education and Development, 2(2), 113-155.
Hasan, A. (2000). Learners’ perceptions of listening comprehension problems. Language, Culture and Curriculum, 13(2), 137-153. DOI: 10.1080/07908310008666595
Hunsaker, R. A. (1990). Understanding and developing the skills of oral communication: Speaking and listening (2nd ed.). Englewood, CO: J. Morton Press.
Meganathan, R. (2011). Language policy in education and the role of English in India: From library language to language of empowerment. In H. Coleman (Ed.), Dreams and realities: Developing countries and the English language (pp. 57-86). London: British Council. Retrieved on February 22, 2021 from: https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/sites/teacheng/files/Z413%20EDB%20Section04_0.pdf
Morley, J. (2001). Aural comprehension instruction: Principles and practices. In M. Celce-Murcia (Ed.), Teaching English as a second or foreign language (pp. 69-85). Boston: Heinle and Heinle.
Morris, T., & Leavey, G. (2006). Promoting phonological awareness in nursery-aged children through a Sure Start Early Listening programme. International Journal of Early Years Education, 14(2), 155-168. DOI: 10.1080/09669760600661559
Munro, M. J. & Derwing, T. M. (1999). Foreign accent, comprehensibility and intelligibility in the speech of second language learners. Language Learning, 49(1), 285-310. DOI: 10.1111/0023-8333.49.s1.8
Nadig, A. (2013). Listening comprehension. In F. R. Volkmar (Ed.), Encyclopedia of autism spectrum disorders. New York: Springer. DOI: 10.1007/978-1-4419-1698-3_349
NCERT. (2019). Learning outcomes at the secondary stage. New Delhi: Publication Division, NCERT. Retrieved on February 22, 2021 from: https://www.ncert.nic.in/pdf/notice/learning_outcomes.pdf
Olfaz, A. (2019). The foreign language anxiety in learning German and the effects of total physical response method on students’ speaking skill. Journal of Language and Linguistic Studies, 15(1), 70-82. Retrieved on March 13, 2021 from: https://www.jlls.org/index.php/jlls/article/view/992/446
Osada, N. (2004). Listening comprehension research: A brief review of the last thirty years. Dialogue, 3, 53-66.
Plough, I. (2018). Revisiting the speaking construct: The question of instructional competence. Language Testing, 35(3), 325-329. DOI: 10.1177/0265532218772322
Ramanathan, H. (2007). Testing of English in India: A developing concept. Language Testing, 25(1), 111-126. DOI: 10.1177/0265532207083747
Rost, M. (2001). Listening. In R. Carter & D. Nunan (Eds.), The Cambridge Guide to Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (pp. 7-13). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI: 10.1017/CBO9780511667206.002
Rost, M. (2002). Teaching and researching: Listening (2nd edn.). New York: Routledge.
Rubin, J. (1994). A review of second language listening comprehension research. Modern Language Journal, 78(2), 199-221. DOI: 10.1111/j.1540-4781.1994.tb02034.x
Underwood, M. (1989). Teaching listening. London: Longman.
Vandergrift, L. (2007). Recent development in second language listening comprehension research. Language Teaching, 40(3), 191-210. DOI: 10.1017/S0261444807004338
Vandergrift, L., & Goh, C. C. M. (2009). Teaching and testing listening comprehension. In M. Long & C. Doughty (Eds.), The Handbook of Language Teaching (pp. 395-411). Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell.
Walker, N. (2014). Listening: the most difficult skill to teach. Encuentro, 23, 167-175.
Yagang, F. (1994). Listening: Problems and solutions. In T. Kral (Ed.), Teacher development: Making the right moves (pp. 1-7). Washington, DC: English Language Programs Division, USIA.
Zhang, Y. (2009). An experimental study of the effects of listening on speaking for College Students. English Language Teaching, 2(3), 194-204. Retrieved on February 22, 2021 from: https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1083054.pdf
Refbacks
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
ISSN 1305-578X (Online)
Copyright © 2005-2022 by Journal of Language and Linguistic Studies