CLASSROOM ASSESSMENT PRACTICES AND STUDENTS’ ACHIEVEMENT IN ENGLISH GRAMMAR IN SELECTED SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN KENYA

MacDonald Omuse Omuna

Abstract


This study investigated the impact of assessment methods used in internal evaluation on students’ achievement in English grammar in secondary schools in Kenya. This study was anchored on Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory. A pragmatic paradigm was adopted using exploratory sequential mixed methods. A quasi-experimental, pre-test, and post-test design was adopted. The target population comprised of all the form two students and teachers of English in Teso North Sub-County. Stratified and simple random sampling was used to select 10 schools. Simple random sampling was used to select 509 students. Purposive and simple random were used to select 10 teachers. Data was generated using an interview schedule, observation schedule, questionnaire, and English Grammar Achievement Tests. Quantitative data was analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Qualitative data was analyzed using the narrative analysis technique and presented through narration and direct quotes. Findings revealed that grammar was predominantly assessed through gap-filling as well as question and answer method. Assessing grammar through cloze test and composition writing had a more positive influence (M = 16.02; SD = 3.51) than where it was not used (M = 14.12; SD = 3.33). Pearson Correlation revealed that assessment had a statistically significant relationship of r = .643, n = 509, p = .006 with students’ achievement in English grammar. The study concluded that cloze tests and composition writing are effective methods of assessing English grammar. It was recommended that the Ministry of Education should in-service teachers on the importance of assessing English grammar through these methods. This study recommends that teachers should assess English grammar using cloze tests and composition writing.

 

Article visualizations:

Hit counter


Keywords


assessment, achievement, grammar, methods, instruction, influence, practices

Full Text:

PDF

References


Alvarez, L., Ananda, S., Walqui, A., Sato, E., & Rabinowitz, S. (2014). Focusing formative assessment on the needs of English language learners. San Francisco: WestEd, 1-35

Anwar, S. (2017). ESL/EFL learners’ poor performance in English: the factors. Journal of Asian and African Social Science and Humanities, 3(1): 18-26.

Astrid, A., Amrina, A. D., Desvitasari, D., Fitriani, U. & Shahab, A. (2019). The power of questioning: teacher’s questioning strategies in the EFL classrooms. Indonesian Journal Research in Education. 3(1), 91-106.

Bayat, A., Jamshidipour, A. & Hashemi, M. (2017). The beneficial impacts of applying formative assessment on Iranian University students’ anxiety reduction and listening efficacy. International Journal of Languages Education and Teaching, 5 (2), 1-11. Retrieved November 18, 2019 from doi:10.18298/ijlet.1740

Bukenya. A., Kioko, A., Njeng’re, D., & Njue, J. (2003). Head Start Secondary English Form 2: Teacher’s book. Nairobi: Oxford

Chin, B. A. (2005). The role of grammar in improving students’ writing. Sadlier-Oxford. Retrieved July 15, 2019 from http://www.sadlier-oxford.com/docs/language/paper_chin.cfm.

Dutta, U. and Bala, N. (2012). Teaching of English at primary level in government schools. National Council of Educational Research & Training (NCERT), New Delhi. India.

Ellis, R. (2006). Current issues in the teaching of grammar: An SLA perspective. TESOL Quarterly, 40(1). 83-107. Retrieved October 24, 2018 from http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.2307/40264512/abstract

Farhady, H. (1996). Varieties of cloze procedure in EFL education. Roshd Foreign Language Teaching Journal, 12 (44), 217-229.

Fries-Gaither, J. (2008). Questioning techniques: research-based strategies teachers. Retrieved May 23, 2009 from http://thesecondprinciple.com/teaching-essentials/five-basic-types-questions

Goodrum, D., Hackling, M, & Rennie, L. (2001). The status and quality of teaching and learning in Australian schools. Canberra, Australia: Department of Education, Training and Youth Affairs.

Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development. (2006). Secondary English teachers’ handbook. KICD. Nairobi: Kenya.

Khan, B. (2012). Relationship between assessment and students’ learning. International Journal of Social Sciences and Education, 2 (1), 576-588. Retrieved May 8, 2018 from http://ecommons.aku.edu/pakistan_ied_pdcn/1

Kitao, S. K. & Kitao, K. (1996). Testing grammar. The Internet TESL Journal, 2 (6) Retrieved June 28, 2020 from http://iteslj.org/Articles/Kitao-TestingGrammar.html

Knaeble, J. (2020). Workshop review: “Re-thinking gap filling exercises” Webinar with Leo Selvan. ELTABB Journal. Retrieved June 26, 2020 from http://leoxicon.blogspot.com/.

Larsen-Freeman, D. (2009). Teaching and testing grammar. In Long, M. H. & Catherine, J. Doughty (Ed.). The Handbook of Language Teaching. (pp.518-542), Malde, M A: Wiley Blackwell.

Mart, C. T. (2013). Teaching grammar in context: Why and how? Theory and practice in language studies, 3 (1), 124-129. Retrieved July 26, 2018 from doi:10.4304/tpls.3.1.124-129

Mashhadi, F. & Bagheri, A. (2015). The effect of cloze test practice on grammatical accuracy: Cooperative versus individual perspective in focus, Journal of Applied Linguistics and Language Research, 2 (5), 74-83. Retrieved May 9, 2020, from www.jallr.ir

Muth’im, A. (2016). Does student self-assessment assess as valid and reliable as teacher assessment? Arab World English Journal (AWEJ), 7 (1), 123-139. Retrieved November 18, 2018 from www.awej.org

Nicol, D. J. & Macfarlane-Dick, D. (2006). Formative assessment and self-regulated earning: a model and seven principles of good feedback practice, Journal Studies in Higher Education, 31, 199-218.

Nurhayati (2017). Improving students’ achievement in writing recount text through jumbled sentences technique for eighth-grade students of MTS Muhammadiyah 01 Medan. Unpublished bachelor’s thesis, The State Islamic University, Medan.

Richards, J. C., & Reppen, R. (2014). Towards a pedagogy of grammar instruction. RELC Journal, 45 (1), 5-25. DOI: 10.1177/0033688214522622

Sahebkheir, F., & Assadi, N. (2014). The role of explicit instruction on using conjunctions in Sahebkheir, F, and Davatgari, H. (2014). The role of input enhancement on using conjunctions in Iranian EFL learner’s written performance. International Journal of Language and Linguistics, 2 (2), 115-120.

Scott, M. C. & Nelson, N. W. (2009). Sentence combining: assessment and intervention applications. American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA). 14-20.

Sewagegn, A. A. (2016). Student empowerment through instructors’ assessment practices at a University in Ethiopia (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). University of South Africa, South Africa.

Šipošová, M. (2019). On some selected aspects of teaching and testing English grammar in Slovak upper secondary education. International Conference on Innovations in Science and Education, pp. 642-649.

Sujariati, Qashas Rahman Q., & Mahmud, M. (2016). English teacher’s questioning strategies in EFL classroom at SMAN 1 Bontomarannu. ELT Worldwide, 3 (1), 107-121.

Sumardi, N. S. (2017). Performance-based assessment as a current trend in ELT: investigating its washback effects on secondary-school students learning. Proceedings of the May 29-30, 2016. International Conference on Educational Research and Evaluation at Yogyakarta State University, 2 (1), 1-11.

Toprak, T. E. (2019). Teaching grammar is not my main responsibility. Exploring EFL teachers’ beliefs about grammar teaching. International Online Journal of Education and Teaching (IOJET), 6 (1), 205-221.

Tsagari, D. & Vogt, K. (2017). Assessment literacy of foreign language teachers around Europe: Research, challenges, and future prospects. Papers in Language Testing and Assessment, 6 (1), 18-40.

Ugodulunwa, C. A & Okolo, P. U. (2015). Effect of formative assessment on mathematics test anxiety and performance of senior secondary school students in Jos, Nigeria: Journal of Research & Method in Education, 5 (2), 38-47. Retrieved October 13, 2018 from www.iosrjournals.org DOI: 10.9790/7388-05223847

Ur, P. (1996). Grammar practice activities. Cambridge University Press.

Utami, F. S., Pabbajah, M., & Juhansar, J. (2018). The implementation of jumbled sentences toward students’ skill in writing report text. English Review: Journal of English Education, 7(1), 115-124. doi: 10.25134/erjee.v7i1.1501.

Vahid, N. and Hussin, N. I. S. M. (2018). Postgraduate students’ conception of language assessment. Language Testing in Asia. Retrieved March 29, 2019 from https://doi.org/10.1186/s40468-018-0066-3

Van Gelderen, E. (2010). An introduction to the grammar of English (Rev. ed.). Amsterdam, The Netherlands: John Benjamins.

Vygostsky, L. S. (1978). The mind and society: The development of higher psychological processes. Cambridge: Havard University Press.

Wagner, D. A., Lockheed, M., Mullis, I., Martin, M. O., Kanjee, A., Gove, A. & Dowd, A. J. (2012). The debate on learning assessments in developing countries, Compare. A Journal of Comparative and International Education, 42(3): 509-545.

Widdowson, H. G. (1988). Grammar, and nonsense, and learning. Grammar and second language teaching: A book of readings. (ed.). William Rutherford and Michael Sharwood Smith. New York: Newbury House.




DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.46827/ejes.v11i2.5203

Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


Copyright (c) 2024 MacDonald Omuse Omuna

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Copyright © 2015-2023. European Journal of Education Studies (ISSN 2501 - 1111) is a registered trademark of Open Access Publishing Group. All rights reserved.

This journal is a serial publication uniquely identified by an International Standard Serial Number (ISSN) serial number certificate issued by Romanian National Library (Biblioteca Nationala a Romaniei). All the research works are uniquely identified by a CrossRef DOI digital object identifier supplied by indexing and repository platforms. All authors who send their manuscripts to this journal and whose articles are published on this journal retain full copyright of their articles. All the research works published on this journal are meeting the Open Access Publishing requirements and can be freely accessed, shared, modified, distributed and used in educational, commercial and non-commercial purposes under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).