The Implications of Classroom Testing on English Language Teaching/Learning at Government Degree Colleges in Telangana, India: An Impact Study

Abstract

The study proposes to assess the influence of classroom testing and assessment on the teaching and learning of English at the tertiary level at Government Degree Colleges in Telangana, India. Using 33 Government Degree Colleges in Telangana, the study attempts to evaluate the Continuous Internal Evaluation (CIE), and its washback on the teaching and learning of English. The profile of the learners of the college mirrors in microcosm the undergraduate learner profile of the 135 Government Degree Colleges (GDCs) in the 33 districts in Telangana to include rural, semi-rural, semi-urban, and urban undergraduate learners. The study period is four years from 2016- 2017 to 2019- 2020, i.e., the fours semesters of the General English Course of undergraduate study. Internal Assessment Question Papers and Assignments were reviewed, and teachers and students from 33 Government Degree Colleges were included in this study to represent the 135 GDCs in the 33 Districts of Telengana, India.Using Bloom's learning taxonomy as a theoretical framework, items in the CIE is analyzed to determine the cognitive complexities required by the students to respond to the test items. The study highlights the patterns in which the high and low order learning are prioritized in the classroom assessments. The findings reveal a strong relationship between classroom assessment, teaching practices and students' learning of English and washback is a predominant phenomenon in teaching /learning English at the tertiary level in GDCs in Telangana.