Teachers have been charged to be very aware that effective classroom assessment and evaluation require a deep understanding of the role of evaluation in the teaching-learning process.
A Professor of Language Education and Educational Evaluation, Professor Joseph Abiodun Adegbile gave the charge while delivering the 536th Inaugural Lecture of the University of Ibadan on behalf of the Institute of Education.
The lecture was entitled “A Mat of Interwoven Fibres: Language Education and Educational Evaluation – A Language Educator/Evaluator’s Experiences.””
Professor Adegbile submitted that assessment and measurement, which are critical elements of evaluation, are found in all schools throughout the world.
He said these are the parameters for establishing how well a learner has been able to have a firm grasp of what is taught, in other words, they help the teacher to find out how well the instructional objectives set out have been achieved.
He said evaluation also helps in identifying and analysing relevant data on which decisions can be made about a teaching learning activity.
However, Professor Adegbile cautioned that the teacher should not be so much preoccupied with classroom activities that he fails to maintain a comprehensive perspective of the flow of the language learning sequence.
This he said, is the stage at which priority can be given to evaluation over tests, in the sense that the primary aim of evaluation in the classroom is to judge the achievement of both students and the teacher.
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Professor Adegbile also submitted that for various forms of language assessment to be useful for educational evaluation practices, they should be properly linked to behavioural objectives and designed to enhance student performance.
He also advised that given the interrelatedness of language and evaluation, language educators should have at their fingertips the rudiments of educational evaluation practices and how effectively they can be carried out and used to develop the language curriculum.
The inaugural lecturer further recommended that the English Language curriculum should be planned in such a way that various linguistic structures are sufficiently reflected, and the evaluation scheme, which is an integral aspect of the curriculum, should not be relegated.
He added that modern teaching strategies should be encouraged in schools for effective teaching and learning of English language and other school subjects
