Why Should the Assessment of Literacy in Morocco Be Revisited?
This chapter surveys the assessment of reading and writing in Morocco. Despite the scarcity of research in these domains, some interesting findings and suggestions are analyzed. The assessment has been found to be mostly unfair and to harm students both d
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Abstract This chapter surveys the assessment of reading and writing in Morocco. Despite the scarcity of research in these domains, some interesting findings and suggestions are analyzed. The assessment has been found to be mostly unfair and to harm students both during and after school. Also, teachers are only fairly satisfied with the types of assessment in place. In reading, the studies show that high-order questions are less frequent and that such shortage has negative effect on students’ performance in this skill. In writing, the findings of research reported in this chapter show varying degrees of inconsistencies in scoring essays. Instead, the suggestions include adding objective tests to free composition format at lower levels, adopting the analytic method, pre-determining the features to be scored (i.e., setting scales), describing the scales as clearly as possible, considering the appropriate weight for scales in accordance with the students’ level and the purpose of evaluation. Alternatively, some recommendations are put forward, such as boosting research in different areas of language education, teacher training at all levels in how to design, administer, and interpret tests’ outcomes pedagogically and statistically.
Keywords Assessment literacy Reading Writing ELT Teacher training Research Morocco
Rating inconsistency
1 Introduction Assessment has always been an essential component of the teaching process. Teachers are generally not only involved in designing, administering, and scoring tests but also in interpreting outcomes, albeit they may not be always reasonably
A. Bouziane (&) Faculty of Letters and Humanities Ben Msik, Hassan II University of Casablanca, Casablanca, Morocco e-mail: [email protected] © Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2017 S. Hidri and C. Coombe (eds.), Evaluation in Foreign Language Education in the Middle East and North Africa, Second Language Learning and Teaching, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-43234-2_18
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knowledgeable about all these matters. The ways testing is carried out have been criticized everywhere (cf., Linn, 2000 on testing in the US). In Morocco, voices have articulated their dissatisfaction regarding testing and have suggested revisiting it. Testimonials to such dissatisfactions are reported in this paper which focuses on assessing reading and writing. The paper also provides recommendations in an attempt to remedy some of the flaws.
2 Theoretical Background 2.1
Overview of Assessment System in Morocco
In the primary and secondary levels, Morocco has three high-stake exams. The first one takes place in the last year of the primary level in which young learners sit for an exam in the core subjects of languages (Arabic and French), literacy and numeracy. The second is in the end of middle school during which only a quota of students that high schools can accommodate passes. The third one is the Baccalaureate which is based on a pass/fail system regardless of the quota. Students who score a mean of 10/20
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