DEVELOPING READING SKILLS: A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF [2013a-2020] WASSCE ENGLISH LANGUAGE COMPREHENSION

Authors

  • Benjamin Sennie University of Education, Winneba

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.37301/culingua.v3i3.125

Keywords:

Language Assessment, Reading Comprehension, Senior High School, Ghana

Abstract

The paper is a study aimed at scrutinizing the levels of thinking the West African Examination Council adopted in their previous English Language comprehension test items. It is observed that the examination body’s adoption of largely lower thinking levels of reading comprehension questions has resulted in limiting the cognitive abilities of language learners with regard to understanding what is read in school or out of school.  Using Potts’ (1976) three main levels of questioning, this qualitative study analyzed eight reading comprehension passages with their questions from 2013 to 2020. The analysis results showed that the levels of thinking questions in comprehension were low and do not challenge the cognitive abilities of learners at the senior high school level. This study is crucial because it helps examination bodies to have a clear picture of the language assessment situation in the subregion of Africa.

References

Amua-Sekyi, T. E. (2016). Assessment, Student Learning and Classroom Practice: A Review. Journal of Education and Practice, 7(21), 1–6. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eric&AN=EJ1109385&site=ehost-live

Bachman, L. F. (2013). Ongoing Challenges in Language Assessment. The Companion to Language Assessment, 1586–1604. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118411360.wbcla128

Giraldo, F. (2019). The Designing Language Assessments in Context: Theoretical, Technical, and Institutional Considerations. How, 26(2), 123–143. https://doi.org/10.19183/how.26.2.512

MoE. (2018). Ministry of education Republic of Ghana national pre-tertiary education curriculum framework. 101.

Owu-Ewie, C. & Eshun, E. S. (2019). Language representation in the Ghanaian lower primary classroom and its implications: the case of selected schools in the Central and Western Regions of Ghana. Current Issues in Language Planning, 20(4), 365–388. https://doi.org/10.1080/14664208.2019.1585159

Pellegrino, J. W. Chudowsky, N. & Glaser, R. (2001). [Committee_on_the_Foundations_of_Assessment,_Board_Knowing what students know(z-lib.org).pdf.

Salmani Nodoushan, M. A. (2020). Language assessment: Lessons learnt from the existing literature. International Journal of Language Studies, 14(2), 135–146.

Shohamy, E. & Menken, K. (2015). Language Assessment. The Handbook of Bilingual and Multilingual Education, 253–269. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118533406.ch15

WAEC & KBSL (2019). Past Questions and Chief Examiners' Report WASSCE 2013-2018. Kingdoms Books & Stationery Ltd, ISBN: 978-9988-54-400-3

WAEC & KBSL (2021). Past Questions and Chief Examiners' Report WASSCE 2015-2020. Kingdoms Books & Stationery Ltd, ISBN: 978-9988-3-1679-2

WASSCE School - The West African Examinations Council - Ghana (waecgh.org)

Yambi, T. A. C. (2018). Assessment and Evaluation in Education. https://www.Researchgate.Net/Publication/342918149, July, 1–9.

Downloads

Published

2022-09-30