265 / 2018-04-16 01:06:53

An Alignment story of a High Stakes Examination in Bangladesh: A washback perspective

alignment,washback effect,examination,high stakes

全体主题 > Principles and methodology of developing standards for language assessment

The study examines the alignment of English Secondary School Certificate (SSC) examination with the national English curriculum and its associated textbook, and classroom instruction, focusing on if and how that alignment relationship produces washback effects on classroom teaching and learning. The SSC examination in Bangladesh is regarded as one of the most prestigious examinations due to its long history in the education system and culture as the first terminal school leaving examination. Among all other subjects at the SSC level, English enjoys the privileged position due to its highly-valued status in the society. English as a foreign language is taught as the compulsory subject from elementary to higher secondary level in Bangladesh. Such kind of high stakes examinations have an impact on the curriculum, positive or negative, desired or undesired, which in turn influences classroom teaching and learning. Likewise, the implementation of such assessment programs demonstrates one approach to aligning classroom instruction with the planned curriculum (Roach, Elliott, & Webb, 2005). So, here is the link between curriculum alignment and washback, since both address the same issue, that is, they influence classroom instruction. Alignment studies provide a useful window for washback researchers to identify the strengths and weaknesses of tests, in particular, and programs, in general. However, very few studies are found on curriculum alignment in language education from a washback perspective. Thus earlier washback models (Bailey, 1996; Cheng, 2002, Green, 2007; Hughes, 1993; Shih, 2007) do not provide a framework to study the alignment of tests with curriculum and instruction to inform classroom instruction. Therefore, to guide this qualitative multimethod research, the argument- and evidence-based framework proposed by Pellegrino, DiBello, and Goldman (2016) was used as the conceptual framework. Document analysis and classroom observations were employed as data collection tools. First, three major policy documents at the SSC level, such as the English National Curriculum (2012), the prescribed textbook and the English question papers from previous years were analyzed by using a content analysis approach (Elo et al., 2014) to examine the range of alignment in these documents. Second, classrooms at two schools (one high performing and one low performing school) were observed for four weeks to understand how the alignment relationship creates washback in the classrooms. After analyzing the data, the paper discusses how the alignment relationship at the policy level produces test washback in classroom teaching and learning and also describes the nature of washback in its context.