Primary School Teachers’ Classroom-based Assessment Feedback Culture in English Language

Year 2018, Volume: 3 Issue: 4, 32 - 47, 19.05.2018

Achu Charles Tante

https://doi.org/10.24331/ijere.425151

Cited By: 3

Abstract

Classroom-based assessment feedback is considered pivotal for language learning especially for ESL, where it is used for instruction and daily chores. It is important for Communicative Language Teaching curriculum, where the emphasis is to engage the learner in an interactive fashion. Through classroom-based assessment feedback learners are scaffolded to new knowledge and skill in English language. As a result, teachers’ classroom feedback could be important in enhancing the language of a learner, although the question of relevant and appropriacy looms up. It would be difficult for learners to process classroom-based assessment feedback that develops and improves their English, if there is no alignment between the objective of a lesson and feedback from the teaching input.This article is concerned with the culture of primary school teachers’ practice of classroom-based assessment feedback in English-speaking Cameroon where the language is a school subject as well as it is used across the curriculum. The researcher sat through 30 different lessons as a non-participant observer. In addition, 100 pages of photocopies from children’s English language exercise books of lessons observed were collected. A semi-structured interview was also conducted with teachers observed. From the analysis of data, it was shown that teachers most of the times made classroom-based assessment feedback culture of learning, not for learning. It was also indicated that teachers conflated the notions of assessment feedback, evaluation, and test. While teachers were aware of feedback but it was only on the surface, just like Continual Professional Development (CPD). Several factors appear to work against effective classroom-based assessment feedback culture feedback such as government policy on school assessment, inadequate teacher professional development support, difficult working conditions, and lack of knowledge base for different domains of feedback. The findings are discussed and implications drawn regarding appropriate classroom-assessment feedback culture both in national and similar international contexts for teachers, teacher trainers, school supervisors, and researchers.

Keywords

Classroom-baes assessment, feedback, assessment culture, language development, scaffolding

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