Objectivity vs subjectivity in testing EFL students' speaking skills
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Date
2014
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university of Oum-El-Bouaghi
Abstract
The assessment of the learners' performance was and remains a crucial part in the teaching/ learning process. In order to achieve the desired aims of testing, the instructors have to be objective in scoring their students' achievement and this cannot happen only if tests are established on clear and systematic criteria. Therefore, the study aims at scrutinizing the
situation of oral tests by examining both teachers' and students' experiences from conducting/taking oral tests and checking the degree of oral teachers' objectivity in assessing their learners' performance. The study sample consists of seventy (70) first year master students and fourteen (14) teachers who have been teaching or still teaching the oral expression module at english department, at Larbi Ben M'Hidi university. The study is descriptive and the data were gathered through questionnaires administered to both learners and instructors. These questionnaires were designed to collect as much information as possible about the way the oral exams are implemented. The analysis of the data showed the presence of several deficiencies in oral testing process either at the level of designing or at the stage of implementation and scoring. Inevitably, these imperfections impact negatively on the objectivity of the oral test results. Thus, future studies should stress experimentally the feasibility of relying on systematic criteria in conducting the oral examinations and show how this can ensure the objectivity of the oral examination results.
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Enseignement : (langue) anglais