The present study focuses on the assessment of oral skills during lifelike situations in normal classrooms in Beninese secondary schools. Quantitative data (questionnaire) was collected from 20 EFL teachers from two schools.
The results show that teachers felt that it is difficult to assess oral skills, and the most common reason for this was the lack of time, which again was the cause of big class sizes and tight schedule. It also seemed that the assessment they do is not consistent, and that there are a lot of personal differences between teachers, and these differences influence their classrooms massively. When they did find time for assessment, teachers focused mostly on aspects of oral language such as vocabulary and pronunciation.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction
2. Problem statement
3. Purpose and Significance
4. Literature Review
5. Methodology
6. Findings
7. Discussions
8. Recommendations
9. Conclusion
Research Objectives and Key Topics
This study investigates how English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers in Beninese secondary schools perceive and implement the assessment of oral skills. It explores the challenges, decision-making processes, and classroom practices that influence how speaking abilities are evaluated in an environment often characterized by limited resources and time constraints.
- Teacher beliefs regarding the assessment of oral speaking skills.
- Barriers to effective oral assessment in overcrowded classrooms.
- The discrepancy between pedagogical ideals and practical classroom implementation.
- The focus of assessment (grammar, vocabulary, fluency, pronunciation, content).
- Recommendations for improving oral skill assessment in secondary education.
Excerpt from the Book
Nature of oral skills
Producing oral language combines and requires different kind of skills, and one usually has to come up with whatever one wants to say quite quickly. Time is one of the main differences between oral skills and written skills, where one usually has time to think and rewrite. Valkonen (2008) describes speaking skill as personal, socially gradable and sensitive to situations. So, it is always highly important to think about the speaking situation and the persons in it, while assessing speaking skills. Also, such considerations may be source of difficulties in overcrowded classrooms and complex social settings, which are not always visible for a teacher. Luoma (2004) points out several reasons why spoken language is different from written language, for instance the sound of speech, grammar, words and phrases. Spoken language also differs greatly in different situations, depending on whether the situation and the speech are planned or unplanned, formal or informal.
Another interesting point about the nature of oral language is slips and errors people make. Luoma (2004) mentions few of the errors only non-native speakers make, like changing simple word order rules, but still all language users make mistakes and slips while talking. While assessing speech, the difficulty is to separate simple slips (mispronunciations), where the speaker knows how to express him/herself correctly, from actual mistakes, where the learner does not know that s/he has done a mistake, or s/he does not know how to correct that mistake (language interferences). One also has to take into consideration the social pressure some students, especially shy ones, might feel in a classroom, and how that pressure might influence his/her output. They might be more influenced by simple slips. Luoma (2004) mentions that speech is subject to contextual variations.
Summary of Chapters
1. Introduction: Outlines the lack of emphasis on oral skills in Beninese schools and identifies the need for research into how these skills are currently assessed.
2. Problem statement: Discusses how teacher beliefs, shaped by personal experience and background, significantly influence their assessment practices, noting the absence of prior research in this specific context.
3. Purpose and Significance: Defines the core research questions, specifically focusing on teacher perceptions, frequency of evaluation, and the content focus of oral assessments in normal classroom settings.
4. Literature Review: Provides a theoretical framework on testing and oral skills, covering the distinction between holistic and analytic assessment and the challenges of classroom-based evaluation.
5. Methodology: Details the quantitative approach, describing the questionnaire sent to 20 EFL teachers at two specific schools in Abomey-Calavi.
6. Findings: Presents the statistical results from the teacher survey, highlighting that most teachers find assessment problematic due to time constraints and large class sizes.
7. Discussions: Analyzes the findings, exploring the gap between teachers' stated beliefs about the importance of oral skills and their limited practical application of assessment techniques.
8. Recommendations: Offers suggestions for the government and educators, including improving classroom infrastructure, providing clearer assessment guidelines, and encouraging regular oral practice.
9. Conclusion: Summarizes that teachers struggle with oral assessment due to logistical barriers and a lack of clear, actionable assessment criteria.
Keywords
Oral skills assessment, EFL teachers, Beninese secondary schools, classroom assessment, teacher perceptions, speaking skills, language testing, educational barriers, teaching practices, pedagogical beliefs, oral language, communicative effectiveness, classroom management.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the core subject of this research paper?
The paper examines the perceptions and practices of EFL teachers regarding the assessment of oral speaking skills within secondary school classrooms in Benin.
What are the primary thematic areas covered?
The study covers the influence of teacher beliefs, the practical challenges of classroom assessment (such as time and class size), and the specific linguistic aspects teachers prioritize when evaluating speech.
What is the central research question?
The study aims to understand how teachers feel about oral assessment, how frequently they perform these assessments, and which specific oral language components they focus on during their lessons.
What scientific methodology was utilized?
The researcher employed a quantitative methodology by distributing a questionnaire consisting of multiple-choice and open-ended questions to 20 EFL teachers in two public secondary schools.
What does the main body of the work address?
It covers existing literature on language testing, presents the gathered survey data regarding current teacher habits, and discusses the implications of these findings in the context of the Beninese educational system.
Which keywords best characterize this work?
Key terms include oral skills assessment, teacher perceptions, EFL instruction, classroom dynamics, and Beninese secondary education.
Why do teachers in this study find oral assessment difficult?
The primary obstacles identified are overcrowded classrooms, severe time limitations, and a lack of clear, detailed guidelines from the current syllabus.
What is the "dichotomy" mentioned by the author?
It refers to the contradiction where teachers acknowledge the high importance of teaching oral skills but fail to implement consistent assessment strategies in their daily classroom practice.
How does classroom size affect the evaluation of students?
Large classes make it nearly impossible for teachers to provide individual attention, lead to shorter speech opportunities for students, and force teachers to focus only on easily assessable, narrow language elements.
What is the recommended approach for assessing oral language?
The author suggests using an analytic way of assessing, which focuses on predetermined points like pronunciation and coherence, supported by better resources and clearer institutional guidelines.
- Quote paper
- Jean-Marc Gnonlonfoun (Author), Ida Tchibozo (Author), Regis Johnson (Author), 2016, Exploring Bebines EFL Teacher's Perceptions of the Assessment of Speaking Skills in Two Public Schools of Abomey-Calavi, Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/352330
