Attitude of English Language Teachers Towards Authentic Assessment in Senior Secondary Schools in Delta State

This study investigated the Attitude of English Language Teachers towards the use of Authentic Assessments methods in selected Senior Secondary Schools in Delta State. To achieve this, two research questions were raised, and one hypothesis was formulated and tested at .05 level of significance. Descriptive Survey design was adopted. Population for the study comprised four hundred and forty nine (449) English Language teachers from one hundred and sixty one (161) Senior Secondary Schools in Delta Central Senatorial District. Stratified and purposive Sampling techniques were used to select the sample size of ninety – nine (99) English language teachers. Test of Attitude of English Language Teachers to Authentic Assessment (TAETAA) was developed by the researchers and used to collect data for the study. Literature was reviewed appropriately and the instrument validated by experts of English Language. The instrument was pilot tested on a sample of twenty English Language teachers who were not part of the main study. A reliability coefficient of 0.86 on attitude was obtained using Cronbach Alpha correlation coefficient statistics. The data obtained from the respondents were analyzed using descriptive statistics to answer research questions one and two, while t-test was used for the only hypothesis at the 0.05 significance. From the results, the researchers found that English language teachers were favourably disposed to authentic assessment and that with good mastery of the subject matter, teachers gain and retain their students’ attention. The study concluded that if given the opportunity to use it in their language classes, they would efficiently utilize it to enhance students’ performance in the subject area. It was recommended that with the positive attitude towards authentic assessment, teachers should be encouraged to assess and evaluate students’ English language abilities and competencies, using authentic assessment in their language classrooms to improve learning