Evaluation of Secondary School Students' English speaking skills in the light of Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: A Diagnostic and Remedial Study

Abstract

The study investigated the current situation of first secondary students’ spoken production and interaction in light of the illustrative descriptors of level B2 of the Common European Framework of References for Languages (CEFR). The study followed the mixed approach, where it was divided into two parts: a diagnostic and evaluative analysis, based on analyzing both the EFL national Curriculum speaking standards and the student’s book using CEFR scale and the other part; designing a remedial framework to develop students’ productive and interactive skills. Participants were 60 female students first secondary students from a governmental school in Cairo who were divided into two equal groups: experimental and control. The suggested framework was implemented on the experimental group in the second term of the academic year 2019/2020 while the control group were enrolled in the regular teaching. Instruments were quantitative and qualitative where the quantitative ones were represented through statistical analysis of pre-post spoken production and interaction tests implemented on both groups. The qualitative on-going assessment tools were used during the implementation of the framework on the experimental group only. These on-going qualitative analysis tools were: productive and interactive peer assessment checklists, teacher observation production and interaction sheets, teacher reflection log, students’ t-charts reflections, students’ self-assessment questionnaire and students’ post-satisfaction questionnaire. Results of the quantitative and qualitative analysis were in favour of the experimental group and these results reflect the effectiveness of the suggested framework. Keywords: Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR),