An Evaluation of Achievement Tests in Secondary School Education

Abstract

The present study aims at evaluating the overall usefulness of achievement tests of English in the Algerian secondary schools. In precise terms, it seeks to investigate whether achievement tests reflect the students’ actual performance in relation to the context of the syllabus and their subsequent instructional objectives. For the purpose of verifying the validity of the research hypothesis, which states that achievement tests would fit the requirements of a useful test if they were well designed and developed, a descriptive research method was employed for data collection and interpretation. This investigation was carried out by the administration of a questionnaire to twenty teachers of English in different secondary schools at the district of El-Milia in Jijle. The results obtained revealed that achievement tests for EFL classes in El-Milia region do not fit the requirements of a useful test. In addition, it was found that the achievement tests are not appropriate to the CBA. At the end, the study proposes some pedagogical recommendations relevant to the design, score, and development of the achievement tests in secondary school education