Inconsistencies and Biases in English Language Testing in Bangladesh Civil Service Preliminary Examination.
Bias and unfairness of test items in language proficiency tests have been an issue of scholarly investigation. Unfair test items and cultural biases in international English language proficiency tests such as TOEFL and IELTS have received considerable attention. However, such unfairness and biases i...
| Published in: | Pertanika Journal of Social Sciences & Humanities Vol. 28; no. S2; pp. 247 - 263 |
|---|---|
| Main Authors: | , , |
| Format: | Article |
| Published: |
Universiti Putra Malaysia
2020
|
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | View this record in EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=hlh&AN=143433823&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: hlh uiTerm: 143433823 longDbName: Humanities International Complete uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 01287702 TKQ jtl: Pertanika Journal of Social Sciences & Humanities issn: 01287702 maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: 2020 vid: 28 iid: S2 pid: 20751 pub: Universiti Putra Malaysia artinfo: ui: 143433823 ppf: 247 ppct: 16 formats: fmt: @attributes: type: P size: 2.1MB tig: atl: Inconsistencies and Biases in English Language Testing in Bangladesh Civil Service Preliminary Examination. aug: au: Ahmed, Zohur Sultana, Shahin Manjet, Kaur affil: School of Languages, Literacies and Translation, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 11800 USM, Penang, Malaysia Department of English, East West University, 1212 Dhaka, Bangladesh Department of English, Goa University, 403206 Goa, India su: English language ability testing Cultural prejudices English as a foreign language Civil service examinations Semi-structured interviews Fluency (Language learning) sug: subj: English language ability testing Cultural prejudices English as a foreign language Civil service examinations Semi-structured interviews Fluency (Language learning) keyword: Bangladesh civil service bias English proficiency test validity ab: Bias and unfairness of test items in language proficiency tests have been an issue of scholarly investigation. Unfair test items and cultural biases in international English language proficiency tests such as TOEFL and IELTS have received considerable attention. However, such unfairness and biases in proficiency tests conducted at the national level such as Bangladesh Civil Service examination (henceforth referred to as BCS) have not been investigated. This paper attempts to examine item biases and inconsistencies in English language testing of BCS preliminary examination. Qualitative data has been collected from stakeholders using a semi-structured interview technique. A detailed content analysis of the English section of the BCS examination is conducted. Most test items have been found to be biased towards testing knowledge of English literature which is inconsistent with validity constructs of the language proficiency test. Stakeholders have been found to perceive the test as ineffective in measuring their English language proficiency. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: Y custom: Copyright of Pertanika Journal of Social Sciences & Humanities is the property of Universiti Putra Malaysia and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. item: Pertanika Journal of Social Sciences & Humanities holder: Universiti Putra Malaysia dt: @attributes: year: 2020 holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
|---|