Examining the Existence of “Teaching to the Test” at SSC Level in Bangladesh

Abstract

The paper aims at examining the influence of Secondary School Certificate (SSC) English language test on teaching in the existing CLT-based teaching context in Bangladesh. It is a fact that SSC test results continue to influence the total educational career of a student including his admission into Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) level and subsequently at tertiary level study. Later on, SSC result is one of the vital determinants of his employment. As a result, the washback effect i.e. effect of test (SSC EFL tests) on teaching and learning of this high stakes test cannot be ruled out. The overwhelming use of test results in different academic and professional affairs in the context of Bangladesh has made the effect of washback a distinctive educational phenomenon. This study presents preliminary research findings on the SSC EFL test's influence on teaching in Bangladesh by applying various methodological techniques such as classroom observation and teacher interview in sampled schools located in Chittagong, Bangladesh. The analysed data revealed that SSC EFL test technique is one of the driving forces that shape teaching. Teachers' teaching is confined to only those tasks and activities which are commonly set in the tests. Now it is difficult to deny that that teaching to the test is a harsh reality at SSC level classrooms in Bangladesh.

Impediments to the Implementation of CLT Principles at the SSC Level in Bangladesh: A Case Study

“…Instead, the standards of English have degraded over the last few years rather than showing evidence of improvement. Some studies (Jamila & Kabir 2020;Islam, 2015;Rahman, 2015) have suggested a strong presence of teaching to the test in teachers' classroom practices. Classroom English teachers are responsible for designing various internal examinations, and a few of them even serve on examination boards as question setters.…”

“…It was expected that post CLT era of English language teaching and learning outcome would be better in terms of developing language proficiency among the learners. Host of studies (Hamid & Baldauf, 2008;Kabir, 2008;Kabir, 2009;Jamila & Kabir, 2020) show that CLT is not as effective as it was thought of in the context of Bangladesh. The quality of English language teaching and testing at Primary, Secondary and Higher Secondary levels is questioned by a host of researchers (Kabir, 2015a(Kabir, , 2015bBillah, 2015;Mariyam et al, 2015).…”

Examining the Existence of “Teaching to the Test” at SSC Level in Bangladesh

“…For the sake of greater validity and reliability of this research, we used classroom teaching observation and teacher interview to investigate the ways how (SSC) test influences teaching Cheng, 2005;Wall, 2005. and Yi-Ching Pan 2013 suggest that it is crucial to combine asking which in-questionnaires, and watching i.e.…”