Exploring teachers’ experiences of conducting oral assessment in grade 10 in the Curriculum and Assessment Policy statement.

Abstract

Oral assessment in education is a worldwide phenomenon, which is faced with a number of challenges. Studies conducted internationally and locally reveal that teachers experience problems/and or challenges when conducting oral assessment to second language learners or foreign language speakers. Therefore, this study explored teachers‟ experiences of conducting oral assessment in Grade 10 in the Curriculum and Policy Statement (CAPS). The study was located within the interpretive paradigm and employed a qualitative case study approach to explore. Four teachers were purposively selected from two township high schools in Pinetown District in the Province of KwaZulu Natal because of their qualifications, and experiences of conducting oral assessment. Spider web by Van den Akker (2009) was used as a Conceptual framework for this study. Data generation methods for the study were reflective activity, one-on-one semi structured interviews and focus group discussions. The researcher observed all ethical issues. This study found that teachers were conducting oral assessment using a “synergy “of rationales. This suggests that teachers were uncertain of the rationale for assessing orals. Furthermore, the findings revealed that teachers lacked understanding of oral assessment goals. They showed varying degrees of understanding oral assessment goals (aims, objectives and outcomes). It is recommended that subject specialist must ensure that cluster meetings as well as workshop are organised on a regular basis in order to improve teachers‟ oral assessment practices.