Linguistics and Language Practice
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Item Open Access Developing a theoretical rationale for the attainment of greater equivalence of standard in the Grade 12 Home Language exit-level examinations(University of the Free State, 2017-02) Du Plessis, Colleen Lynne; Weideman, A. J.English: Disproportionately high pass rates and alarming discrepancies in the results of the South African National Senior Certificate (NSC) external examination for Home Language (HL) subjects have undermined the credibility of the state school curriculum and its system of assessment. This has also fuelled allegations that the same standards do not apply to all HL school subjects. Studies commissioned by the Council for Quality Assurance in General and Further Education and Training (Umalusi) to investigate the matter have confirmed that the levels of cognitive challenge do vary across HL examination papers. However, the reasons for this have not been identified and no alternatives have been proposed to improve the situation. In supplementation of the findings of Umalusi, this study seeks to develop a theoretical rationale for greater equivalence of standard in assessment across HLs. It has identified the historical lack of parity of esteem of the HLs and their continued inequitable treatment as academic languages as major factors that have constrained efforts to introduce comparability of standard and construct in the school-leaving examination. Other salient reasons for the varying standards pertain to the problematic design of the HL examination papers, a lack of conceptual clarity of constructs, and a lack of compliance with essential principles for the responsible and fair assessment of language abilities. In as much as initiatives by the former Department of Education to establish a unified national department and introduce common curricula and standards with centrally set examination papers may be laudable, they have failed to address the weak academic status of the indigenous Bantu HLs beyond the Foundation and Intermediate Phases of schooling. As a result hereof, the pivotal role that these languages could play in fostering epistemological access in other school subjects has been overlooked. The study argues that without comparable treatment of these languages to that of Afrikaans and English, it would be difficult to attain similar standards of teaching and assessment. This is a severe limitation in the quest for equality. It points to the need to raise the academic status of the indigenous Bantu HLs by exploring their use as languages of learning and teaching beyond the initial years of primary school education through bilingual pedagogies and variations of double-medium modes of instruction. A further recommendation of the study is that the HL examination papers be redesigned to accommodate a common examination component aimed at stimulating the development, inter alia, of academic vocabulary and inferential reasoning. On the basis of the prescribed curriculum, the study has identified the underlying construct of the HL examination to be the assessment of a differentiated language ability in discourse types involving typically different texts, and a generic ability incorporating task-based functional and formal aspects of language. Further to this, learners are required to display a high level of language ability as opposed to the more basic communicative kind needed for other languages offered at First Additional Language (FAL) level. Through the redesign of the exit-level HL examination papers and the introduction of a common examination component that tests generic language ability, a stimulus can be provided for the equitable advancement of the HLs. This would go hand in hand with the development of literacy materials in the HLs to strengthen skills that are needed for further study and workplace environments. At the same time, by adopting an integrated approach to language teaching and testing, the development of the crucial ability to understand, process and produce information in various formats through authentic and relevant tasks can be achieved through language instruction at school. A third major part of the study focuses on the sophisticated and specialised nature of language assessment as a branch of applied linguistics, and identifies a serious lack of compliance in the HL examination with orthodox principles that support valid and reliable assessment practices. This is particularly problematic in light of the disparities emanating from unjust educational policies in the previous political dispensation. The NSC is in need of socially just and equitable forms of assessment that are ecologically sensitive and reflect political and social accountability on the part of those tasked with overseeing the examination. Examination papers analysed for the purposes of the study show that privileged forms of literacy are still tolerated in some parts of the examination and that unacceptably high ratios of potentially subjective and unreliable scoring are allowed. By means of the proposed theoretical framework for the responsible design of the HL examination papers, a positive washback effect on language teaching is envisaged and a platform created for the eventual attainment of greater equivalence of standard and construct.