Evaluating Benin EFL Learners Writing Composition during Final Exam

Abstract

Evaluating EFL learners in Benin, specifically, the case of the upper-sixth grade requires a certain number of competencies. Writing is not an easy task for learners particularly when they do not have the appropriate vocabulary. The present article aims at analyzing the way students’ papers were corrected; attention was focused on learners of the upper sixth grade during the school year and their final exam period. The researcher establishes a comparison between the two types of correcting learners ‘writing, how students’ were evaluated, and how feedback was turned in class. The evaluation took into account the writing composition only more specifically how EFL teachers evaluate learners for the final exam, how did it occur in class during the year and the conditions of these types of evaluation. A total number of 59 EFL teachers took part in this study. Among them, 50 EFL teachers were involved regarding the national exam and 09 other EFL teachers participated in this study in their classroom and out of exam context. The findings of this research indicate that there is a significant difference between the way the correction is undertaken in class and during the final. The results will then enable curriculum specialists in Benin to reexamine the concept of evaluation and more importantly the feedback on writing in class, and specifically for the national exam.