Diglossic Language Assessment

DIGLOSSIC TEST: AN ALTERNATIVE METHOD IN ASSESSING STUDENT PERFORMANCE IN BIOLOGY

Author: Palmes, Harry R.

ABSTRACT

This quantitative, quasi-experimental research aimed to investigate the effects of using diglossic language as an assessment tool in assessing student performance in Biology. This involves 40 students divided into control and experimental groups. The participants were assigned to either pure English type of examination (control) or diglossic type of examination (experimental) by matched-pairing according to their mean grades on English and Science and Technology in the first grading quarter. The teacher-made achievement tests were of two types, one uses a pure English language and the other uses diglossic language. Both groups

That is why incorporation of mother tongue is encouraged. Given that the inclusion of mother tongue in the instruction was now adopted by teachers and may have a positive effect on learning, still assessments/tests are still in the English format. If they got low on the assessment will it justify that there was no learning occurred?

Reality tells us that there are still students who have weak foundations/ very low in reading and comprehending English Language. What if students have already the understanding of the concepts in a specific topic, but they could not express themselves or could not communicate effectively in English language? Are we depriving them of their ideas just because of a language barrier? If the teacher is incorporating mother tongue in their instruction, is it appropriate that they assess the student in different language? Are we really assessing the value of learning?

This research aimed to find out the incorporation mother tongue as a form of assessment as an alternative method for measuring student achievement in Science subject, to be more specific in Biology. Thus, the researcher use the term “Diglossic Test” (Diglossic or Diglossia is when the language used if of two varieties classified as low and high) as the intervention for this action

Knowing the rules of science communication is crucial to understanding science concepts. It is because scientific goals and thought processes are closely interlinked with the language. This study implies that the use of diglossic (two varieties of language) language as a form of assessment has an effect and could be use an alternative way in measuring student performance in Biology. Many studies support this idea, but the actual use of this method is still discourage for it has been always in English language assessment in the Philippines has been patterned. The results agree with Tan and Soong (2006) that the crucial problem lies in the language used to communicate science concepts and that many students are put off by so-called scientific “jargon” and the seemingly complex sentence constructions. According to them the same kind of complexities also confuses students in learning science in English, like Chinese, French and German. Many of them might not be confused by the complexity of science concepts, but by the way, they are communicated. According to Duran (1988) for a student who has never spoken a foreign language, only a little perspective information was yield by standardized aptitude and achievement tests and this test only shows little or no