Insights into the Actual EFL Teachers’ Practices, Criteria and Methodology Adopted in Assessing the Undergraduate Learners’ Spoken Output: The Case of the Oral Skills Teachers at the Department of English, Frères Mentouri University, Constantine 1
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Abstract
Oral assessment, being a multifaceted and demanding task, poses major challenges to oral skills university teachers. Within the context of English as a foreign language pedagogy at the university level, considerable attention has been devoted to the teaching and learning of oral skills. However, there has been a notable lack of investigation into the teachers’ actual assessment practices, criteria and methodology. The current paper aims to gain insights into the actual practices, criteria and methodology adopted by a sample of oral skills teachers at the Department of English, Constantine 1 Frères Mentouri University, in assessing the undergraduate students’ spoken output. A descriptive quantitative method was adopted using a teacher questionnaire as a tool for collecting data. Twenty-nine oral skills teachers at the aforementioned department participated in the present investigation. The results have demonstrated that the teachers’ actual oral assessment practices are inconsistent. They have revealed that there is a gap between the teachers’ actual oral assessment practices and the theoretical frameworks as well as procedural constructs of oral assessment. In addition, it has been found that the participants lack competence in developing systematic oral assessment criteria and methodology. Such lack runs the risk of undertaking inaccurate assessment, which ultimately hinders the entire pedagogical process. On the basis of such results, teacher training and collaboration are recommended in order to remedy the teachers’ inconsistent oral assessment practices. Furthermore, fostering the teachers’ competence in developing systematic oral assessment criteria and methodology can help ensure a more effective and homogeneous oral assessment system at the university level.
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