MEDICIÓN Y PAGO

Excerpt 6 provides insight into the centrality of the testbook in classroom practice. In classroom A, the testbook was prescribed as part of the manifested curriculum, and together with the textbook, was pivotal in shaping classroom discourse. Excerpt 6 is presented in three episodes. Episode 1 highlights the importance that teachers and students accord the testbook. Episode 2 examines the impact of the curricular dominance of the testbook on pedagogical practice. Episode 3 in turn provides glimpses into students’ resistance to the dominance of the testbook and the teachers’ response to such resistance. Excerpt 7 provides further example of student resistance to the dominant test-taking pedagogy occurred in a test practice session in classroom. Excerpt 8 also underscores and highlights the central role of the testbook in classroom B as reflected in (a) the close alignment between the questions in the testbooks and the actual high-stakes (b) alluding to anecdotal evidence to highlight how the testbook can act as catalyst for the students’ success in the examination. Excerpts 9 and 10 provide two examples of shunting, back and forth between banking and critical pedagogy in classroom B interactions.

(a) Episode 1: Establishing the Ground Rules: The Role of the Testbook

A close analysis of the classroom interactions between the teacher and students reveals the paramount importance of the testbook in classroom A as revealed below: Episode 1 is a spin-off from a previous reading passage where the teacher, Mr. Shayan, takes a quotation in direct speech from a character in the reading comprehension passage. He asked the class to transform it into direct speech. To underscore the importance of such

an exercise, Mr. Shayan resorted to a follow-up grammar activity from the testbook, which is reported in episode 1 (See Table 5.10):

Table 5.10: Excerpt 6, Episode 1

Transcription of interactions : (Translated from Persian)

Pedagogical stance as mediated by the testbook

Mr. Shayan: Ok boys in the passage we

read, there is a lot of grammar test hints

which are important for your

examinations. Now, have a look at the test samples in your testbook which I will read for you. In your final examination, the questions are taken from these testbooks.

The teacher frequently drew the

students’ attention to the importance of the examinations and the testbooks through:

a) referring to the testbook b) examination question formats c) test hints

d) highlighting importance of final

examinations

Iman: Sir, all questions are taken from

our textbook or these test books?

The student expressed examination

performance as his major concern.

Mr. Shayan: Not all questions but many

of them

The teacher repeated the important role of the testbooks.

Students: How good! So we can get a

good score!

The students endorsed and affirmed the

importance of examinations through

referring to examination scores/marks

In episode 1, Mr. Shayan frequently drew the students’ attention to the importance of the national high-stakes examination and test books (as seen in “there are a lot of

grammar test hints which are important for your examinations” “Now have a look at

the test samples in your testbook which I will read for you”). The use of words like “test hints” or phrases like “in the final examination” (articulated with emphasis, one word at a time) in the teacher’s discourse which was repeated several times in the course is indicative of the pervasiveness of the examination-centeredness of classroom practices. Mr. Shayan’s repeated emphasis on the paramount importance of the testbook is also illustrative of one more aspect of role of the testbooks i.e. their contribution to examination performance which is a major concern for the students (as seen in “How

good! So we can get a good score!”). The students here appear to endorse and affirm

the importance of examination.

Likewise, Mr. Shayan’s admission that many of the questions in the final high- stakes examination will be from the testbook confirms the view that the testbook has a set of examination question genres conforming to the national high school graduation examinations (the NHSGE) or the Konkoor. The pervasiveness of the testbook in the teaching and learning process also emerged during the focus group interviews which confirm the significance of tests in episode 1 above. For instance, the following are the views of three students expressed during the interviews:

 In our class, the teacher tries to teach us the recent examples of the test. A

good teaching occurs when the teacher digest everything assessed in our final examinations for his students (Interview with Jaffar, a student in

classroom A, SF, February 2013).

 We prefer to have a teacher who has a good skill in teaching test-answering

strategies rather than a teacher who focus on other aspects of English (Interview with Farhad, a student in classroom A, SF, February 2013).

 In my opinion, an Iranian student is a professional expert in how to answer

tests, especially multiple choice tests because from the early weeks in the schools he becomes aware of the role of testbooks in the education

(Interview with Saeed, a student in classroom A, SF-February 2013). The examples above underscore the various students’ perception that teaching with an emphasis on high-stakes examination was equated with “good teaching” (Jaffar); that “test-answering strategies” were more important that “focusing of other aspects of English” (Farhad); and that the emphasis of tests was a feature of Iranian main stream schooling “from the early weeks in the school” (Saeed).

(b) Episode 2: Test-Taking Skills as Pedagogical Practice

The acknowledged predominance of high-stakes national examinations impacts pedagogical practices in the mainstream classrooms. The impact of tests on pedagogy is

further reinforced by the close alignment between the prescribed textbook and the testbook.

In episode 2, which followed episode 1 above, the students engaged in a vocabulary practice exercise based on a reading passage in lessons 5 of the national textbook. The lexical items listed in the textbook reading passage figured also in the vocabulary tests in the testbook, which were also matched with identical questions in the national high-stakes examination. The close alignment between the textbook, testbook and actual examinations could be said to influence the classroom interactions between Mr. Shayan and his students in classroom. This is evident in the interactions below (See Table 5.11):

Table 5.11: Excerpt 6, Episode 2

Transcript of interactions (Translated from Persian)

Pedagogical stance as mediated by the testbook

Mr. Shayan: Ok, let’s focus on the test samples of lesson 5. Next session, you will have a review examination on the new vocabularies you have so far learnt. Page56 in your testbook. Read this page quickly. Do not translate it.

The test became the focus of interaction

Students: [Students start reading the vocabulary test practices in the testbook] Mr. Shayan: In the test sample, we have “Japanese are very hardworking. A

synonym for hardworking is ………”.

What does it mean?

The teacher did not give the students any time to critique the discourses (e.g. stereotypes) embedded in the tests.

Akbar: Diligent

Mr Shayan : Ok very good. In the next test sample, every year they invented new things. A synonym for Invent is…..

There was no diversion from supplying the answers by the teacher and students

Farhad: make sth new

Sina: Sir, will the questions appear in the examination like this?

Mr. Shayan : Just look at the examples in your testbook. The content of the test may change, but the vocabulary and the synonyms are the same. What is important is that you just need to memorize the test hints, the vocabulary and the synonyms in the examples. If you do this, surely you can answer any question which is asked in your examinations.

The teacher just focused on rote-learning test-taking skills. There was no emphasis on questioning and critiquing the content of the test practice

As is evident above, the test-driven interactions are highly routinized such that the interactions rarely went beyond the test taking skills. The teacher voiced the examination questions while the students promptly supplied the answers as test-takers. There was no diversion from supplying the answers and students did not “take-off”

from their answers to build on their understanding of the content and context of the test. I use the term “test-taking pedagogy” to characterize such discourse.

This way of teaching was evident when Mr. Shayan, the teacher, emphasized the test-taking skill (as seen in “What is important is that you just need to memorize the test

hint vocabulary and the synonyms in the examples”) to ensure the students’ achievement

in the examinations. Because each question-answer sequence rapidly followed the next question-answer sequence, the students were not given any time to critique the discourses embedded in the tests. For instance, in discussing the sentence (“Japanese

are very hardworking”) in the episode above, the attention of the teacher was focused

on providing an appropriate synonym for the word “hardworking”. Neither, Mr. Shayan nor the students commented on or critiqued the potential stereotyping embedded in the sentence “the Japanese are hardworking”. Such a way of teaching was frequently repeated even in interactions covering other skills and subskills like grammar, and reading passage practices as well. Moreover, the teacher’s emphasis on memorizing the vocabulary as a test-taking skill underscores the rote-learning emphasis of his pedagogy and resembles what Friere (1996) referred to as “banking pedagogy”.

(c) Episode 3: Resistance to Tests: …. “it is enough”….

While the episode above presents a picture of a highly routinized test-taking pedagogy, there were also instances of resistance to this pedagogy, although occasional. This is reflected in the excerpt below which comes from fifteen minutes before the end of the above-mentioned lesson:

Table 5.12: Excerpt 6, Episode 3

Transcript of interactions (Translated from Persian)

Pedagogical Stance as mediated by the testbook

Farshid : Sir, for today it is enough. We got tired

A student objected to the test-taking dominant approach.

Mr. Shayan: No,15 minutes left to the end of the session. We can practice at least 10 more test samples

The teacher quickly over-ruled the resisting student.

Sina: Teacher is right

Students: Yes

 A fellow student quickly joined the teacher to over-rule the resisting student and make him silent.

 The students themselves were divided, with the majority aligned to the teacher.

Mr. Shayan: Ok, let’s go on. Nima, the next one you please.

Although Farshid objected to the test dominant approach (“Sir for today it is

enough. We got tired”), he was quickly over-ruled by the teacher (“We can practice at least 10 more test samples”) and also significantly by a fellow student, Sina (“Teacher is right”) which eventually silenced Farshid. Thus even in the classroom settings where

the “test-taking pedagogy” was dominant there were instances, such as episode 3 above, where the pedagogy was contested albeit briefly. The students themselves were divided, with the majority aligned to the teacher, Mr. Shayan as well as the dominant and possibly the hegemonic nature of test-centered ideological milieu of the classroom.