Assessment of English Language Proficiency in Grade 7 Pakistan

Abstract

Standardized tests help learners fulfil their natural desire to learn English and achieve self-actualization needs. The standardized Grade 7 test measured single subject maximum performance on lexical, vocabulary, reading, and writing items. Public schools of Pakistan were the population. Test takers included in this research (n=1500, boys =733, girls =770) were randomly sampled from 56 public schools across Pakistan. However, the pilot study sample was from Lahore district. The percentage of urban schools was 55%, while the rural school percentage was 45%. The percentage of test takers from Punjab was 42.2%, the Northern Areas 24.2%, Sindh 19.1%, and Baluchistan 10.8%. The percentage of female Grade 7 learners was 50.9%, and male learners 49.1%. The sample size for males and females was achieved at 95 % confidence level, margin of error ±5%, population proportion 70%. The objectives achieved during this research were development of a reliable standardized English test (Cronbach alpha 0.888). The findings indicated urban schools had higher scores on learners’ objective items compared to rural schools while the writing tasks indicated no sig. difference in the performance of urban and rural schools suggesting memorization of English essays. This research recommends standardized testing since objective items activate schema retrieval practices.