Bahrain's secondary EFL teachers' beliefs of english language national examination: 'How it made teaching different?'

Abstract

Due to the spread of applying standardized national examinations in addition to the normal centralized formal exams in English language teaching, EFL teachers have been urged to reshape their teaching pedagogies to respond to the demands and competencies which EFL students are required to fulfil in these exams. This study sheds light on this phenomenon by investigating the influence of applying the standardized English national exam policy in a non-native English-speaking context on the teaching practices and beliefs of EFL teachers in secondary schools. A mixed research method was employed to identify the aspects of the teaching learning process of English as an EFL that were affected by the application of the standardized testing as well as exploring the teachers' beliefs of these effects on their teaching as EFL teachers in a none-native speaking context. The quantitative data was gathered using questionnaires and the results revealed a high effect of the application of the standardized national English exam on students' learning and welfare with a mean of (4.164) but with an average effect on the aspects of language competence and implementation of innovative teaching pedagogies.