Analysis of English language test tasks for seventh and eighth-graders in Serbia according to Bloom's Taxonomy

Abstract

Cognitive processes are the foundation of the cognitive domain of critical thinking. Even though developing these processes is an educational priority in many countries, including Serbia, the concept itself and the ways in which these cognitive actions can be assessed are left to teachers to discover. The aim of this paper is to investigate what cognitive processes are required of seventh-and eighth-graders in Serbia in order to complete the tasks included in English language tests. The authors collected 14 tests, designed by 14 English language teachers, for each grade. The authors analyzed the tasks and determined the levels of cognitive complexity required for completing them according to Bloom's Taxonomy for the cognitive domain while relying on the descriptions of these levels and the instructions for task classification. Generally speaking, very few tasks target higher-order thinking levels. Moreover, the teachers seem to include more cognitively demanding tasks in tests for seventh-graders. The findings raise several questions that would be worth considering in the immediate future: To what degree are English language teachers acquainted with cognitive processes and their implementation in teaching practice? Do they possess the requisite knowledge and skills for constructing tests that would successfully assess the students' ability to perform at different levels of cognitive complexity in the foreign language? teaching English as a foreign language, cognitive processes, critical thinking, tests, Bloom's Taxonomy.

Analysis of English language test tasks for fifth and sixth graders in Serbia according to Bloom's Taxonomy

“…Hence, we must not jump to the conclusion that the participant teachers never require, or offer opportunities to, their students to use the language for communicative purposes. Still, these results, as well as those obtained by Glušac, Pilipović, and Marčićev (2019) relating to a nearly identical analysis of the subsequent two grades, clearly indicate that there is a tendency among English language teachers in Serbia towards a structuralist approach. The results necessitate familiarizing Serbian English language teachers with the notion, teachability, and testing principles of CT, as well as informing them about the benefits and pitfalls of the predominant testing approach they seem to have adopted in order to ensure quality teaching of CT and quality foreign language testing.…”

“…When these results are compared with those obtained by Glušac, Pilipović, and Marčićev (2019), who investigated the levels of cognitive capacity required in English language tests for seventh and eighth graders, it is obvious that there is a tendency among English language teachers in Serbia to design tests that are comprised predominantly of low-level thinking tasks. In the analyzed tests for the seventh and the eighth grade there was also a paucity of tasks requiring higher levels of cognitive operation.…”

“…All in all, what becomes evident from these examinations is that instead of an increase in levels of cognitive complexity with age there appears to be a rather random selection of levels, which is not aligned with the students' cognitive maturity or linguistic proficiency. As pointed out by Glušac, Pilipović, and Marčićev (2019), this might be a result of English language teachers' unfamiliarity with the concept of CT and a predominantly structuralist approach to language teaching and testing. Further investigation into the origin of this situation would be beneficial and could reveal whether or not such results might also be attributed to a mismatch between the teachers' teaching and testing practice, which they might be unaware of and which, as pointed out by Anderson et al (2001), could be detrimental to successful test performance.…”

Critical Thinking Skills of Third Grade Secondary School Students as a Component of Their Functional Literacy

“…However, the results of a study conducted by Mirkov and Gutvajn (2014) indicated that Serbian eighth-graders were dissatisfied with the number of opportunities for developing their CT skills. Along the same lines, Glušac, Pilipović and Marĉićev (2019) discovered that English language teachers in Serbia did not seem to possess adequate skills for assessing their students' progress in the acquisition of domain-specific CT skills, which is an important prerequisite for successful teaching and learning.…”