Identifying the Existing Oral Proficiency Testing Patterns

Identifying the Existing Oral Proficiency Testing Patterns

The research aims to identify the different activities or patterns used for the teaching and testing of oral proficiency. Furthermore, the issues in the assessment of oral proficiency are also analyzed. The data was collected from the English teachers teaching in the selected Aided Kerala State Syllabus Schools in Trivandrum, Kottayam and Pathanamthitta districts from the grades 7th, 8th, 9th and 10th. The present study incorporated an exploratory research design based on a qualitative approach. The sample size consists of eleven teacher participants that were selected based on purposive sampling. The research study was divided into three phases. The phase 1, consists of open-ended questionnaire which were distributed to eleven teachers and the data obtained was categorized into different themes based on the responses from the teacher participants. Phase 2 consists of classroom observations of eleven teachers in which three teaching sessions per teacher and a total number of one thousand two hundred eighty-seven students were observed based on the classroom observation checklist. Moreover, phase 3 consists of interviews among the eleven teacher participants to gain further insights. The findings of the present research based on the analysis of the phase1, phase 2 and phase 3, indicates that the Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) approach is an effective approach to enhance the oral proficiency of the students. Moreover, the teaching and the testing patterns implemented by the school teachers are considered effective as it enables them to teach and to assess the oral proficiency of the students in a systematic manner. The research findings based on the triangulation prove that the use of reading, role play and storytelling are found to be consistent across the three phases and are commonly used by the teachers to enhance the oral proficiency of the students in the English language viii classrooms. Moreover, in the triangulation of assessment of oral proficiency, it has been observed that the activities such as reading and role play are found to be consistent across the three phases and are commonly used by the teachers. Furthermore, regarding the issues in the assessment of oral proficiency, lack of time is considered as one of the issues that is consistent across the three phases. The overall analysis of this research indicates that there is a positive or a parallel impact between the CLT approach and Theory of Knowledge (TOK) on the development of the oral proficiency of the students. The researcher suggests that there should be a standardized assessment tool to test the oral proficiency of the students in order to ensure grading consistency among the test assessors in the Kerala State Syllabus Schools.

Vivek Suresh Varghese

English