Alignment between the English language curriculum and assessment system

Abstract

In Bangladesh, English is a compulsory subject from primary to higher secondary level. The introduction of Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) has influenced the curriculum, textbooks and teaching methods of English since the 90s. New contents were included in the curriculum for practising and achieving language competence in four skill areas: listening, speaking, reading and writing. However, the aims and objectives of this communicative curriculum can never be achieved without an assessment system that assesses the communicative ability of the learners (Haider, 2008). When new contents are introduced in the curriculum, teachers often need to review their teaching and assessment procedures in order to cope with the demands of change. The current study aimed to explore - to what extent, the assessment measures used in secondary schools are being treated as means to gather evidence on the targeted learning outcomes and best meet the learners’ needs for future learning. Describing the background of the study, interview and observation data gathered from teacher and students in 38 schools will be used to discuss the gaps found in current practices with regard to the curriculum content, pedagogy and the formative and summative assessments strategies used to measure the learning outcomes