English Language Assessment Policies and Pedagogical Realities in Bangladeshi Secondary Education

Abstract

Assessment plays a critical role in educational systems, serving as a source of information on the achievement of learning goals and as a basis for important decisions on student evaluation, curriculum, and teaching methods. This study investigates the alignment between declared policies and actual practices of English language assessment in secondary schools of Dhaka, Bangladesh. The findings reveal a great discrepancy between the recommended assessment policies, which call for a comprehensive assessment of the four language skills (reading, writing, listening and speaking) and the common classroom practices where the assessment primarily centers around reading and writing, largely ignoring listening and speaking skills. This difference is further aggravated by such factors as large class size, insufficient training of teachers in communicative assessment techniques, and limited availability of multimedia resources. The paper concludes with strategic recommendations to bridge this policy-practice gap, including increased teacher professional development, integration of all four skills into formal assessment frameworks, and provision of essential technological infrastructure to foster a more holistic and effective English language learning environment in Bangladesh.