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Language Skills and Secondary Education in India

Article  in  Economic and Political Weekly · April 2018

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COMMENTARY
Language Skills and
Secondary Education in India
Sajit M Mathews
English is the primary “link
language” in India. Given the
importance of the language,
various Indian boards of
education, including the Central
Board of Secondary Education,
have adapted to global changes
in language pedagogy by using
task-based language teaching.
However, not much attention is
paid to making the process
of assessment task-based.
Moreover, little effort is put
into assessing listening and
speaking skills of students.
Sajit M Mathews (sajitsj@gmail.com) is a
research scholar at the Indian Institute of
Technology, Kanpur.
20
I
n the Indian context, English is an
important “link language” used in
almost all fields like academics, busi-
ness, science, etc, during our times. It is
a second language to most Indians, and
even first language to a few. The impor-
tance of this language is clearly visible
from the prominence given to its teaching
and learning from early childhood to
adult professional education in India.
Accepting the crucial role English plays in
the Indian context, the National Council
of Educational Research and Training
(NCERT) in its position paper on teaching
of English says: “The level of introduc-
tion of English is now a matter of political
response to people’s aspirations rather
than an academic or feasibility issue …”
(NCERT 2005: 38).
Task-based Language Teaching
Given the importance of English, Indian
boards of education—including the Cen-
tral Board of Secondary Education (CBSE)
—have adapted to the global changes in
language pedagogy by using task-based
language teaching (TBLT) in classrooms
and textbooks. According to Richards and
Rodgers (2001), TBLT is an “approach
based on the use of tasks as the core unit
of planning and instruction in language
teaching” (p 223). Here, task denotes
any pedagogic activity that involves the
meaningful use of language in a given
context. Most definitions of TBLT are
centred on its aims, which directs focus
towards communication of meaning as
opposed to grammatical form, closeness
of tasks to those of the real world,
primacy of task completion, assessment
based on task outcome, freedom to use
all the available resources (including the
use of mother tongue), presence of infor-
mation/reasoning/opinion gap, contex-
tual language use, and authentic materials
(Ellis 2003, 2009; Long 2016; Skehan
1998; Willis and Willis 2007). What is
important for our purposes is that the use
APRIL 14, 2018
of TBLT caters to language acquisition
through promotion of language use in
context, negotiation of meaning, and
focus on communication (Ellis 2003).
Thus, TBLT teaches language through its
use in meaningful contexts.
The present CBSE curriculum for English
language is skill-based, activity-based,
and learner-centred (CBSE 2017). It aims
at language development for acquisition
of knowledge through a task-based ap-
proach. This article analyses Class X
textbooks by assuming them to be repre-
sentative of CBSE textbooks in general.
Interact in English, CBSE’s three-textbook
package for Class X is task-based as per
the definitions given above. It aims to
improve learners’ communicative com-
petence to promote language skills for
professional, social, and academic needs.
They are designed to help develop read-
ing, writing, speaking and listening
skills through the use of specific tasks.
The question worth asking is whether
the assessment, a very important part of
pedagogy, is task-based and skill-bal-
anced. This question is extremely impor-
tant because if assessment is not in line
with curriculum guidelines, the whole
pedagogical exercise can become futile.
Language Assessment in CBSE
Former language assessment models
used decontextualised and discreet items
to assess knowledge of language struc-
tures in line with the pedagogy of the
times (Norris 2016; Ellis 2009). But once
TBLT was established and began to be
used widely, tasks began to be used in
language assessments as well. Thus TBLA
emerged out of a sheer need to align as-
sessment with curriculum (Norris 2016).
TBLA evaluates meaningful communi-
cative performances elicited using goal-
directed and meaning-focused language
tasks (Brindley 1994). It promotes one of
the most important virtues of a language
test, which is “validity.” This is the ability
of a test to test what it intends to test
(Ellis 2003). TBLA also positively influ-
ences teaching and learning processes
by informing the test taker about the
communicative nature of assessment,
known as the “wash-back effect.” Such
assessment can be integrated with class-
room teaching, making it less of an
vol lIiI no 15 EPW Economic & Political Weekly

anxiety-generating exercise than tradi-
tional examinations. Moreover, TBLA
tasks are taken from everyday transac-
tions with representative language be-
haviour or processing (Ellis 2003), mak-
ing it easier to elicit the best perfor-
mance out of a test taker.
Now that teaching is more meaning-
focused and communication-oriented,
assessment needs to fall in line with a
task-based approach. Therefore, this
article analyses CBSE’s Class X assess-
ment as a representative sample. This
brings up two important questions.
The first question is about the align-
ment of teaching and assessment para-
digms. Though CBSE has adopted task-
based approach in teaching English, as
is evident from its Class X textbooks, its
assessment has largely remained un-
changed. The alignment of teaching and
assessment in terms of methodology is
an important element in ensuring valid-
ity. Language is better used as a tool for
communication by integrating assessment
and learning (Brindley 1994). Nunan
(2004) states that not using tasks for as-
sessment is a violation of the key curric-
ulum principle that assessment should
reflect what has been taught. Aligning
teaching and assessment also brings
about positive wash-back influence on
teaching and learning processes.
The second question concerns the
weightage given to various language
skills during assessment. While CBSE
Class X summative assessment demar-
cates 80 marks to assess reading and
writing, listening and speaking are asses-
sed only for five marks as part of forma-
tive assessment in classroom. This is a
departure from the CBSE’s curriculum
guidelines (CBSE 2017), which lay out 18
descriptive points to assess listening and
speaking. This heavy imbalance between
the assessment of different skills can
have long-lasting effects on how well
Indian learners acquire the language. In
the long run, our students might fail to
develop listening and speaking skills to
acceptable levels. This has to be seen in
the light of the most conspicuous com-
plaint about the poor communication
skills of Indian graduates (Padmanabhan
2013). Fairer representation of all skills
in assessment can not only support skill
Economic & Political Weekly EPW APRIL 14, 2018
development but also promote positive
wash-back effect on teaching and learn-
ing processes.
It may not be practical to include oral
and aural components in summative as-
sessment. Financial and human resource-
related investments may be beyond what
India can afford at this point of time.
But it is possible to assess these skills as
part of classroom-based formative assess-
ment, giving them a fair share of marks.
Previously, CBSE implemented a similar
plan on an experimental basis, allotting
20 marks for assessing listening and
speaking skills in class, which would
later be added to the summative assess-
ment marks and grade card (CBSE 2012).
Such plans can actually work for the
betterment of language learning only if
proper planning, preparedness of teach-
ers, institutional support, and determi-
nation works hand in hand with policy
decisions. A balanced approach to as-
sessment of skills is the first step towards
this. A judicious combination of internal
and external assessments, along with
fairer representation of all skills, could
lead Indian school pedagogy to this goal.
An available option to deal with this
challenge is to teach and assess these
two skills in classes IX and XI when there
are no board examinations at the end of
these years to dictate teaching and
learning practices in the classroom. Al-
ternatively, we can also start teaching
and assessing these skills from Class V or
Class VI so that, by the time students
leave secondary school, they develop ad-
equate proficiency speaking and listen-
ing skills in English. Individual schools
and assessors may see such initiatives as
hurdles, but for language teaching and
assessment to reach its potential, such
practices need to be strictly implemented
and constantly monitored.
Assessment Framework
A general framework to classify language
assessment, as discussed in Ellis (2003)
and Nunan (2004), has two interesting
Table 1: Framework for Language Assessment
Mode System-referenced
Direct Sample of oral or written language via
interview and/or composition
Indirect Grammar and reading multiple-
choice tests
Source: Nunan (2004: 141).
vol lIiI no 15
COMMENTARY
aspects. From Table 1, we get four different
types of tests.
System-referenced tests view language
as a system of phonological, lexical,
and grammatical components. They are
construct-oriented, and draw on some
explicit theory of language proficiency.
Performance-referenced tests are content-
oriented and try to provide information
on how well a test taker can use lan-
guage in specific contexts (Ellis 2003).
Direct tests directly elicit the language
samples for assessment, while indirect
tests attempt to measure the language
ability underlying a certain specific per-
formance. All these tests then generalise
their findings to other appropriate con-
texts of use.
It is wise to have a mix of these different
kinds of tests during assessment. Both
direct system-referenced tests (such as
composition writing, interviews, infor-
mation gap tasks, etc) and indirect per-
formance-referenced tests (like identify-
ing paragraph structure, arranging sen-
tences to form meaningful paragraphs,
etc) are task-based. Direct performance-
referenced and indirect system-referenced
tests may not be task-based but, wherever
possible, they are useful in bringing
variety to the system of assessment. A
few proposals may be considered as ways
of helping assessment of listening and
speaking skills in the task-based fashion,
particularly in the classroom. Reading
and writing assessments are already
treated generously in the existing as-
sessment pattern, and hence does not
require extensive discussion.
Task-based Listening and
Speaking Assessment
In CBSE’s current model of assessment,
listening is not adequately taken into ac-
count. Listening is the ability to under-
stand and process spoken language and
take part in oral interactions. It is a
receptive skill; therefore, it can only be
assessed indirectly through observation
of the manifestations of comprehension.
Performance-referenced
Communicative simulation of target tasks,
for example, library skills, reading test
Breakdown of simulation into sub-tasks for
multipe-choice formats
21
COMMENTARY
In normal contexts, listening and speak-
ing happen together and one cannot be
separated from the other. In fact, in spoken
interactions, listening plays as impor-
tant a role as speaking itself, and most
meaningful language transactions happen
using both these skills.
Brown (2004) lists four types of listen-
ing assessment tasks: intensive (listen-
ing for specific components of speech),
responsive (listening to short stretches of
speech and responding to them), selective
(listening to longer stretches of speech
and scanning for specific information),
and extensive (listening for global under-
standing of spoken langnague). Sen (2012)
lists six types of listening on similar
lines. Brown (2004: 121–22) also lists
17 micro and macro skills involved in
listening–comprehension performance.
These task types are very useful when
designing tasks for assessment. For ex-
ample, macro skills “distinguish between
literal and implied meanings” and can be
assessed using selective listening tasks
requiring the person taking the test to
listen to a conversation and pick out in-
stances of literal and implied meanings
and explaining them to a peer.
Listening assessment could use inte-
grated tasks that involve the use of more
than one skill. Some examples of such
tasks are: taking down a message from a
phone call and transfering it orally to
another person; listening to a lecture
and noting down the most important
points; listening to an instruction and
performing the instructed action; par-
taking in a conversation to find out spe-
cific information; interviewing a peer
and filling out her/his resume.
Speaking assessment is as difficult as
assessing listening because of the time and
other resources that have to be devoted
to the process. Considering this aspect,
it would be wise to assess it as part of
formative assessment using individual,
pair, and small group tasks in the class-
room. In the current pattern of assess-
ment, there is very little scope for assessing
speaking ability. This needs to change.
Brown (2004: 142–43) outlines five
basic types of assessment tasks: imitative
(repeating an utterance); intensive (pro-
ducing very short speech segment); re-
sponsive (interaction and comprehension
22
View publication stats
in short conversations), interactive (longer
conersations); and extensive (monologue).
He also lists 16 micro and macro skills
which are very useful in developing
indirect speaking assessment tasks. For
example, the micro skill of “expressing a
particuar meaning in different gram-
matical forms” can be assessed with an
intensive speaking task requiring the
candidate to instruct someone to follow
a procedure, taking on the roles of a
friend, a parent, a police officer, and a
stranger at the mall.
Looking at speaking tasks from the
perspective of contexts of use, purpose/
goal, speaker roles, stakes involved, and
time pressure/urgency is also helpful in
bringing richness into assessment task
types. Useful descriptions of speech
characteristics of a candidate—like accu-
racy, fluency, and complexity—are avail-
able in Nitta and Nakatsuhara (2014).
Conclusions
Language curriculum is one of the most
important elements of overall education
since it is not just a subject of study in itself,
but also a tool to learn, understand, and
express other subjects. It does not, there-
fore, suffice to use task-based language
teaching alone. We need to use the same
methodology in assessment as well, in
order to maximise the effectiveness of the
pedagogic enterprise. Research in peda-
gody must also invest in bringing balance
and variety to assessment of various lan-
guage skills. A sensible and pedagogi-
cally acceptable balance of test-task types,
language skills, and formative–summative
task-based assessment can make CBSE’s
exercise more meaningful and effective.
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vol lIiI no 15 EPW Economic & Political Weekly