Assessing Language Competence in Croatian Language as a School Subject (Based on Exam Papers for Grades 3-6)/Ispitivanje jezične kompetencije u predmetu Hrvatski jezik (na temelju ispita znanja od 3. do 6. razreda osnovne škole)

Abstract

Abstract

This paper presents the results of the research on exam papers for Croatian language in grades 3, 4, 5 and 6 of primary school that are used for checking the acquisition of different norms of the Croatian standard language. The aim of the research was to warn about the acceptability and non-acceptability of written examinations (tests), especially in terms of their age appropriateness and the cognitive abilities of students, as well as to try to contribute to the standardization of written examinations (tests) for assessing the level of mastery of language skills. 

The research confirmed the starting assumptions that the biggest drawbacks of the analysed examinations are their disconnectedness from the educational objectives set out in the Curriculum for Primary Schools (2006), their inappropriateness for the age of students, i.e. their cognitive abilities, incompatibility of task types with the educational objectives that are being examined, i.e. incompatibility of the structures of some task types with their methodological principles.

It is recommended to include more content related to test tasks design into initial teacher training and to link that content to the subject matter of educational outcomes and psychometrics. At the same time, an appeal needs to be made to the competent institutions, primarily the Ministry of Science and Education and the Education and Teacher Training Agency, especially now that a full reform of the educational system is being implemented, to raise the importance of the mechanisms that control the quality of exam papers required for use in schools in the Republic of Croatia, in accordance with the prescribed standards.

Key words: cognitive levels of knowledge; educational outcomes; exam papers.

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Sažetak

U ovom se radu iznose rezultati istraživanja ispita znanja iz predmeta Hrvatski jezik za 3., 4., 5. i 6. razred osnovne škole koji služe za provjeru usvojenosti različitih normā hrvatskoga standardnoga jezika. Cilj istraživanja bio je upozoriti na prihvatljivost, ali i na neprihvatljivost pismenih ispita (testova), osobito u pogledu njihove primjerenosti dobi i spoznajnim mogućnostima učenika, kao i pokušati pridonijeti usustavljivanju i standardizaciji pismenih ispita (testova) za provjeru stupnja ovladavanja jezičnim znanjima. 

Istraživanje je potvrdilo polazne pretpostavke kako su najveći nedostatci istraženih ispita znanja njihova nepovezanost s obrazovnim postignućima postavljenima u Nastavnome planu i programu za OŠ (2006), njihova neprimjerenost dobi učenika, odnosno njihovim kognitivnim sposobnostima, neusklađenost tipova zadataka s obrazovnim postignućima koja se ispituju, kao i neusklađenost konstrukcija nekih tipova zadataka s metodičkim načelima.

Preporuka je da se u inicijalnome obrazovanju učitelja i nastavnika pojačaju sadržaji vezani uz izradu ispitnih zadataka te da se oni povežu s temom obrazovnih ishoda i psihometrijom. Ujedno se apelira na mjerodavne institucije, ponajprije na resorno Ministarstvo znanosti i obrazovanja, kao i na Agenciju za odgoj i obrazovanje, da osobito sada, u vrijeme cjelovite reforme obrazovnoga sustava, naglase važnost mehanizama kontrole kvalitete ispita znanja koji se upotrebljavaju u školama RH, a u skladu s propisanim standardima. 

Ključne riječi: ispiti znanja; kognitivne razine znanja; odgojno-obrazovni ishodi.