The Teach-to-the-Test Approach: Doing Harm to the Lifelong Educational Paradigm of Algerian EFL Learners

Abstract

The present paper is a plea for a reconsideration of the boundaries of EFL teaching and testing within the framework of the lifelong educational paradigm. Today the educational arena dictates a new paradigm in which lifelong learning becomes indispensable. Learning is no more confined to a specific physical context: the classroom; it goes beyond the school gates. The traditional limits on where and when organized knowledge could be imparted as part of a pre-service or inservice training no longer apply. Lifelong learning has become a sine qua non condition for the establishment of a learning society. Yet, as for English Language Education, two antagonistic approaches arise. The first in which parents would most probably argue about what is best to be taught to their children as well as about the most appropriate and effective learning path leading to their offspring success in an increasingly complex world, whereas the second, in which teachers strive to cope with a delicate intertwined questioning of how to strike the balance between an effective teaching and an efficient testing. True, EFL learners in Algeria are in most need of a well-rounded education. An English Language Education geared by the "learning-how-to-learn" principle paving therefore the way for a lifelong educational paradigm.

Perception of EFL Among Stalk Holders: Four Selected Government Primary Schools of Wolaita and Dawro Zone in Focus, SNNPR, South West Ethiopia

“…According to Creswell (2012: 145), "In availability sampling (i.e, the researcher selects individuals because they are available, convenient, and represent some characteristic the investigator seeks to study. "In the other way, four primary schools found in Wolaita and Dawro zone were purposefully selected as representative research setting [3].…”

“…As mainly stated recently, perhaps assumed to continue in the future, English is the language of the globe. But the changes that English Language Education has witnessed, from a teacher-centered pedagogy to a more learner-centered education, from a textbook-based teaching to a task-based approach, from a summative assessment to a formative assessment reflect educators commitment and teachers concern in an effort to find an appropriate methodology, but teachers and learners of foreign languages may or may not share similar perceptions toward English language pedagogy [2][3]. This change has also been practiced for many decades as the researcher referred different documents related to this paper.…”

Students’ Perceptions towards M-Learning Activities within the Algerian Context

“…This deficiency is the natural outcome of traditional non-native classroom environment that suffers an acute lack of interpersonal interactions in the target language and no exposure to authentic environments, which are two basic elements in the acquisition of a foreign language. This has been justified by Benmoussat and Benmoussat (2018) who argued that the teach-to-the-test is acknowledged to negatively impact the teaching/learning process, consequently, calls into question the credibility of the educational system as a whole. According to social constructivist, learning takes place through language and dialogue between two or more learners (Pritchard and Wool lard, 2010).…”

Students’ Perceptions of M-Learning Activities within the Algerian Context

“…This deficiency is the natural outcome of traditional non-native classroom environment that suffers an acute lack of interpersonal interactions in the target language and no exposure to authentic environments, which are two basic elements in the acquisition of a foreign language. This has been justified by Benmoussat and Benmoussat (2018) who argued that the teach-to-the-test is acknowledged to impact the teaching/learning process negatively, consequently, calls into question the credibility of the educational system as a whole. According to social constructivist, learning takes place through language and dialogue between two or more learners (Pritchard and Woollard, 2010).…”