EFL Learner Assessment: Principles and Implications in the Competency-based Approach Used in Some Secondary Schools in Benin

Abstract

The present exploratory mixed-methods research seeks to investigate learner assessment experiences within the Competency-based Approach. It first highlighted the implications of this assessment in the English Language Education (ELE) process. It then identified how this assessment is carried out in some secondary schools in the Republic of Benin. A literature search, semi-structured interview questionnaires, and classroom observations were used to gather quantitative and qualitative data for this study to achieve its objectives. 120 junior high school English as Foreign Language (EFL) learners of 9th grade and 15 of their teachers were then interviewed on their perceptions and beliefs of the educational value of the assessment techniques adopted in the context of the Competency-based Approach (CBA). The findings have shown that assessment is, in general, a critical component of teaching and learning a foreign language. In particular, it requires some techniques that seem not to be well adopted by EFL teachers in the Competency-based Approach. They also indicated that Beninese EFL teachers and learners consider Competency-based Approach Education as not appropriate for their educational system due to the cost of its requirements. This issue would be the reason why the implementation of its evaluation techniques would be problematic. However, some relevant suggestions and recommendations were made to solve the various problems that hamper its performance.