Analysis of the Alignment of Primary Education Completion English Examinations with the Textbooks in Oromia Regional State
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.20372/star.v7i1.05Keywords:
Alignmen, Content, Textbook, Primary Education, Completion ExaminationAbstract
Concerned with the high rate of students’ repetition at grate eight in Primary Education Completion Examination (PECE) in Oromia Regional State, this study was conducted to analyse the alignment of PECE in Oromia Regional State (from 2006 to 2009 E.C) with the content and objectives of the textbooks of grade 5 to 8 in English language. To achieve this objective, document/content analysis was employed to gather the data from the textbooks and the examinations. Besides, to substantiate this tool, unstructured interview was held with five individuals, who were selected on the bases of available and snowball sampling techniques because they were constructing the examination during different times for Oromia Regional State Education Bureau. To analyse the data, multistep document analyses were employed. First, contents of the textbooks were thematically organised into six major themes: Listening, Speaking, Reading, Writing, Grammar and Vocabulary. Second, the contents of the examinations’ questions were also organized thematically. Then, the frequencies of the content in each six themes of the examination and the textbooks were analysed using frequencies percentages, and the extent of alignment between the frequencies of the contents of the textbooks and examination has been determined using Siegel and Spearman Contingency Correlation Coefficient. The amount of time allotted for contents of the textbooks was also analysed against the number of questions in each theme of the examination using the same statistics to test the level of alignment between text books and examination questions. The result of the study showed that alignment between the textbooks and the examination content has been found to be relatively very low since the overall Correlation Coefficient between the two observations within the last four years is 0.08, which shows a problem of mismatch, disproportionate or distorted distribution between the content of the textbooks and the examination questions. The straight forward to the questions is to base on the curriculum material (textbook) to minimize negative wash back effects of the examination and as a result, the students could pass the examination.
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