D.Litt.et Phil. (African Languages) / 1. The aim of the study The primary aim of this study was to ascertain whether or not a multiple-choice test can effectively assess English mother-tongue competence. Because the testing of language is at issue, the study was approached from an applied linguistic perspective. 2. The method of investigation 2.1. Uterature study. A review of the literature relating to the following topics was performed: (i) mother-tongue competence; (ii) language skills and in particular, the skills inherent in reading; (iii) the communicative approach to language teaching and testing; (iv) multiple-choice testing; and (v) test validity. 2.2. Empirical research work. Each of the four South African provincial education departments within the Department of Education and Culture: House of Assembly was called upon to compile three traditional English First Language papers for the trial matriculation examinations. A single item bank test of one hundred and fifty pretested multiple-choice questions was compiled for the same examination period. Pupils from the four provinces wrote the traditional papers which were set for their provinces. In other words, the pupils from each province wrote a separate set of traditional papers. In contrast, the same item bank test was written by all 9456 matriculants involved in the project. . 3. Findings The study revealed that the skills inherent in the four language modes of reading, writing, speaking and listening overlap each other to such an extent that it is virtually impossible to separate them for testing purposes. The validity coefficients of the combined scores of the three traditional papers and the total scores of the item bank test were consistently satisfactory for all four education
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:uj/uj:3670 |
| Date | 05 February 2014 |
| Creators | Haussmann, Norah Catherine |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Rights | University of Johannesburg |
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