Appraisal of the Extent Tanzanian EFL Testing Complies to Ideals of Test Construction: A Case of 2012 Certificate of Secondary Education English Language Examination

Abstract

This study seeks to show the extent to which EFL testing at Certificate of Secondary Education Examination level is at par with ideals of examination construction, notably in the area of content areas. To achieve this content analysis was employed to 2012 paper as a single case study. The major aspects in are those given by Harris (1969;) namely determining course objectives, dividing the general course objectives into their components, the time factor for the examination and the speediness, and writing examination directions.

The findings revealed that the testing content is more biased towards literate skills of writing and reading at the expense of oral skills, even though the objectives include speaking skills. The Skill that is totally omitted, both in the instructional objectives and examination content areas, is listening. It is recommended that more language experts be involved in all procedures of examination setting.