Validity of objective type test questions for the examination of General Certificate of Education (ordinary level) science in English medium

Abstract

English is the fastest and the most widely spreading language in the world today. Students of government schools in Sri Lanka have been given the opportunity to follow their studies in the English medium since 2001. The bilingual programme started in 2002 for grade 6 and upwards and has been continued to the advanced level classes in science and mathematics streams. The first batch under this programme sat for the General Certificate of Education ( Ordinary Level) in the English medium in 2007.

This study was carried out to test the validity of multiple choice questions to measure the objectives of the grade 10 English medium science syllabus and to measure the language comprehension ability of the students. Also, one aim of this study was to understand whether the given length of time is adequate to answer the paper. It also aimed to obtain an idea of the science teachers’ point of view about the validity of multiple choice questions to measure the objectives of grade 10 English medium science syllabus.

A questionnaire based survey was carried out in 42 schools comprising 50 English medium Science teachers, expecting answers to identify the view and the level of the English medium Science teaching in Grades 10 and 11. hundred students of iv the grade 11 classes of 5 national schools and 5 provincial schools were taken as the study population. Two question papers were given to them to determine whether the objective type questions could be used to measure the objectives of the grade 10 syllabus. A student questionnaire was used to obtain an idea about difficulties and willingness of students for English medium science education.

There was no significant difference ( p = 0.05 ) between the achievement levels of the two MCQ papers, but the level of achievement in biology and chemistry were higher than that of physics in both papers. According to the teachers’ questionnaire the level of teaching in physics section is lower than the other two sections.

The government should provide necessary facilities to improve the level of English medium science education. Teachers also should make an extra effort to develop scientific concepts in students’ minds. Special attention by both teachers and students will lead to improvement in the teaching/learning process of the physics section of the ordinary level science syllabus.