Treść książki

Przejdź do opcji czytnikaPrzejdź do nawigacjiPrzejdź do informacjiPrzejdź do stopki
partofthediscussionofethicalissuesconnectedwithtesting.Another
aspectofthisiswhetheratestcanbeconsideredfair.Thisdealswiththe
notionofequityandunderlinestheimportancethatatestshouldnotad-
vantageanygroupoftest-takersaboveanyothers.Thefinalsectionsofthe
chapterdiscusstheuseofexaminationresultsinaccountabilitysystems
forevaluatingthequalityofeducation.Thisisinvestigatedatdepthwith
examplesfromtheUSA,andEngland.Thechaptercloseswithanintro-
ductiontotheroleofexaminationsintheeducationalsysteminPoland.It
explainshowexaminationresultsareusedasoneelementintheprocessof
evaluationofqualityinschoolsandasasolemeasureoftheeffectiveness
ofeducationaloutcomes.
ChapterThreetracestherecenthistoryofnationalexaminationsin
Poland,placingthemwithinthecontextofreformoforganizationofthe
schoolsystemandimplementationofanewnationalcorecurriculum.The
situationthatprevailedatthattimeinforeignlanguageeducationinschools
ispresented,withtheaimofclarifyingcertainpolicydecisionswhichwere
made.Next,theoriginsoftheforeignlanguagecomponentofthenational
examinationattheendoflowersecondaryschoolaretraced.Thisis
followedbyadescriptionofthecorecurriculumforforeignlanguagesand
ananalysisofthethinkingbehindit.WethenturntothetestinEnglish
whichformspartofthenationalexaminationattheendoflowersecondary
schoolandanalyzeitsconstructinanattempttodiscernanddescribe
themodeloflanguageinherentinitsdesign.Thecontentofthetestis
scrutinizedandcomparedwiththecorecurriculumwhichrevealsapparent
difficultieswithcontentunder-representationintermsofthetestingof
speaking.Analysisofthedescriptionofthetestintheexaminationsyllabus
alsoshowsthatreadingisweightedmoreheavilythanotherskills.The
chapterthenmoveschronologicallythroughthehistoryoftheexamination
inEnglish,explainingtheresultsofthefirstthreeyears,andthendetailing
therevisionsmadetothetestin2012inresponsetofurthereducational
reforms.Thischapterprovidesthebackgroundfortheresearchstudyofthe
impactofthisexaminationwhichisdescribedinthesecondpartofthebook.
PartTwoofthebookpresentsalongitudinalstudyoftheimpactofthe
newnationalexaminationinEnglishattheendoflowersecondaryschool.
ChapterFourexplainstherationalebehindthestudy,andtracesthe
methodologyusedtoinvestigatewashbackandimpact.Chengetal.(2015:
463)sumupwhatcouldbedescribedastheapproachtakeninthisresearch:
Futureresearchneedstoinvestigatewashbackasadimensionofimpactand
exploretherelationshipbetweenwashbackandotherforcesoperativeinthe
educationalcontext.
Asalargepartofthedataisqualitativefrominterviews,thespecific
challengesthisposesareconsidered.Thedesignofthestudyisthen
explainedandadescriptiongivenofitsthreephasesandtherelationships
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