ASSESSMENT PRACTICES IN IMPROVING THE STUDENTS' COMMUNICATIVE COMPETENCE IN ENGLISH 7

Assessment practices have been associated with students’ academic achievement. However, assessing students’ learning and progress in the new normal that comes with various learning delivery modalities alarms the academe. Aligned with this, this study aims to investigate on the relationship between classroom assessment practices and students’ communicative competence based on the Most Essential Learning Competencies (MELCs)in English 7 during the DepEd’s Learning Continuity Plan amidst pandemic. To test the hypothesis, an online survey and Communicative Competence Test were administered to 136 Grade 7 students in Calamba City Science Integrated School. The first instrument surveyed the respondents’ perception on their teacher’s assessment practices. Meanwhile, the second questionnaire is based on the MELCs covered during the second quarter. Responses were analyzed using mean-frequency scale and Pearson’s correlation coefficient. The results indicated that traditional and alternative assessment tools are both utilized, and the teacher prepares and administers well-planned and appropriate assessments. Additionally, the respondents strongly agreed that their performances were rated objectively focusing on quality, creativity, and timeliness, while providing accurate results and constructive feedbacks. On one hand, the results also showed that the respondents are communicatively proficient. Finally, the study revealed that the null hypothesis is sustained – there is no significant relationship between the two main variables of the study. Hence, in the new normal, teachers’ assessment practices alone do not guarantee communicative competence success nor failure. There are other factors that greatly affect students’ performance such as their motivation, schema, environment, and personal inclinations. More so, limited class interactions, minimal teacher-made tests in the distributed modules, varying learning delivery modalities with diverse assessments, had a crucial impact on the results. Accordingly, exploring on impact of types of assessments, namely, assessment of learning, assessment for learning, and assessment as learning and on assessment practices in all offered learning modalities are recommended