Background and Goals - part 8
- Was there any progress in the way the children reacted to the tests from the first Unit of tests (each unit 6 tests) to the second, as reflected by answers in the teachers' questionnaires?
- Was there any progress in the way the children actually learnt the material, as reflected by the test results?
- To what degree are the test results reliable? We could answer this according to a) how the teachers judge their own objectivity in the questionnaire, b) how different teachers grade parallel classes in the same school / area c) how the same teachers grade in different schools. b) and c) are beyond the scope of this study and could be seen as part of a wider study and deeper analysis of the data.
3. Sample
All of the test takers were children from first to fourth grades. All the children were in their first year of learning English. As far as we know, none of them had any previous knowledge of English. If there were a few children who learnt English in extra-curriculum classes, these were few in number and we did not take this into account.
We will examine how all the pupils reacted to the tests themselves and anxiety caused by the idea of a test.
The number of teachers taking part in the questionnaire survey were 12. The number of pupils that were tested in this program were 440.
4. Research Means
The instruments used were:
- EFL test batteries for the first two units of English For All Children - a course for first year spoken English. There are 6 tests for each unit. So we have a battery of 12 progress tests which were given according to the stage in the learning. The tests were given, in most cases, over the scholastic year.
- questionnaires filled in by the teachers participating in this research. These questionnaires checked how the teachers evaluate the ease of giving each test and the way in which the pupils cooperated with this - on a scale of 1 - 4.
- English for Children - Background and Goals - Part 1
- English for Children - Background and Goals - Part 2
- English for Children - Background and Goals - Part 3
- English for Children - Background and Goals - Part 4
- English for Children - Background and Goals - Part 5
- English for Children - Background and Goals - Part 6
- English for Children - Background and Goals - Part 7
- English for Children - Background and Goals - Part 8
- English for Children - Background and Goals - Part 9
- English for Children - Background and Goals - Part 10
- English for Children - Background and Goals - Part 11
- English for Children - Background and Goals - Part 12
- English for Children - Background and Goals - Part 13
- English for Children - Background and Goals - Part 14
- English for Children - Background and Goals - Part 15