Teaching Testing Nexus: Teachers’ Perceptions and Practices at the Tertiary Level in Bangladesh

Abstract

This study aims at demonstrating the nexus between teaching and testing. It investigates how tertiary-level teachers perceive and practice the nexus between English language teaching and testing in Bangladesh. It analyzes the variables influencing this nexus putting an emphasis on how much teachers align English language teaching and testing approaches. In this mixed-methods research, ninety-one public university, private university, and government college English language teachers were surveyed and five expert teachers were interviewed by five structured questions. The findings demonstrate that though English language teachers at the tertiary level in Bangladesh consider the nexus between instruction and evaluation crucial, many challenges hinder its uniform application. Because of outdated curricula and insufficient funding, government college teachers practice the least degree of alignment. Trained ELT teachers, on the contrary, align assessment and instruction on a greater scale. The challenges that obstruct teachers’ practice of teaching and testing nexus are large classes, inadequate professional development opportunities for teachers, and a traditional evaluation system that prioritizes measuring reading and writing skills. The study proposes curricula development focusing on a communicative approach in language instruction, more funding for evaluation, and professional development programs to enhance teachers’ assessment literacy to resolve these problems. The nexus between teaching and testing can be promoted by adopting various testing techniques comprising formative assessment and peer assessment.