Abstract

The purpose of the research is to find out the impact of continuous assessment techniques such as oral tests, written test home assignments and re-cape exercises on the academic performance of students at the secondary level.  Present research work revolves around some salient issues on continuous assessment implementation with emphasis on the empirical impact of continuous assessment on the academic performance of students in secondary schools. The descriptive research design is most suitable for data collection. Researchers use a simple random sampling technique for sample selection.  This study was continued with a sample of 226 secondary school teachers, of which 80 female teachers and 146 were male and 300 students of secondary level. The finding of research shows that four continuous assessment techniques have a significant effect on academic performance. It is recommended that techniques such as oral tests, written tests, home assignments and re-cape exercises should be used for enhancing the academic performance of students at the secondary level.

Key Words

Continuous Assessment Techniques, Academic Performance, Oral Test, Written Test, Home Assignment, Re-Cape Exercise.

Introduction

The term assessment is used for students’ evaluation at the start and end of the course. Results of assessment are useful for decisions making and in providing information on the degree to which a particular course or subject has benefited the students (Onihunwa et al., 2018). Assessment is a method in which learner achievement is measured (Azzah, 2015). Assessment is used to make a decision on the achievement of students. It is a very important process as the process of teaching itself (Iljazi, 2013). What is relevant for students is explained by assessment and how they will see themselves as learners. The assessment is referred to as continuous assessment when it is applied as a continuous procedure. It is to assess students overall progress regarding the ability, expertise and attitude after a given collection of experiences in learning. It contains several questions that are given to students during class, such as short questions, home assignments and re-cape exercises. It is based on learners’ previous classroom performance levels. In addition, it allows teachers to figure out what the students have learned (Abejehu, 2016).

Continuous assessment has not been an activity performed one time but a process of progressing. It involves the way of checking the learning techniques in an organized and cautious manner, reflecting and modifying them. If the teacher conducts an ongoing evaluation in the classroom, it is known as continuous assessment (Samiullah&Anjum,2017). The key aspects of continuous assessment are that all student knowledge gathered must be integrated before the decision-making process. Continuous review offers students and teachers input during instruction. This input offers information on student success and training strategies, as well as on various types of other decisions (Onuka, 2005). The continuous assessment method should not be restricted and limited, which only check the memory of the students they write on paper, but the evaluation should be very accurate, representing the concepts and imagination of the learners. Onasanya(2005) indicated that the goals of knowledge and skills abilities and intellectual are included in the cognitive domain. The cognitive domain is important in the process of assessment for comprehension of results. Osadebe (2015) pointed out that the cognitive domain relies on the analytical capacity of pupils. That is, the ability to think, the ability to reason. Intelligent test achievement tests and aptitude tests are methods used to measure student cognitive activity. In terms of learning results, teachers should ensure that at the end of every lesson, students should be able to classify, convert, protect, compute, exploit, differentiate, discern and compile comparative distinctions, support, among others in the subject field. The learning results allow the teachers to evaluate the students on an ongoing basis. The cognitive, the affective and the psychomotor behavioral fields are interlinked with each other. A student can show all types of behavior during and after an educational process. These methods or resources include examination, interview, oral inquiry, checklist, among others. The purpose of obtained data should be for decision making. There are many linked studies practised on continuous assessment from a variety of aspects. According to Osadebe (2015), these studies have been conducted more in primary and secondary schools. Assessments are made to gather data to assess the level of information, comprehension and success of students. This is achieved by assigning unique assignments to students on the basis of their prior accomplishments in the classroom. Teachers observe the actions of students and determine the class results. What the learners have learned is to figure out by these techniques. Part and parcel of the teaching process is a continuous assessment that must be regarded as a critical tool in assuring the quality campaign in education (Abejehu, 2016). Gipps (2010) stated that teachers have to focus on continuous evaluation to track the academic success and success of their pupils. Continuous appraisal requires a very tough task and dedication for task, although sadly, the majority of teacher’s ignore this only for their convenience.  Continuous evaluation is not simply a measure; it is a mechanism by which the consistency of individual work or success is assessed. They also had positive effects on the academic success of pupils, causing them to be competitive pupils in class events. 

InyangAbia(2004) indicated the type of assessment a continuous one known as the fulcrum at which the teaching-learning process is rotated. Continuous assessment is an important characteristic of the impact on the progress of students. A continuous appraisal is necessary in order to see the development of those skills. It allows teachers to make the requisite assessments and to collect knowledge regarding learning ability. Ghahari & Farokhnia (2017) asserted that continuous evaluation does not always involve the process of testing; it often involves engaging the pupils to figure out whether or not really progressing. Teachers devote further attention to the fulfilment of the syllabus. They rely only on conventional methods of evaluating student success. Desalegn (2014) Recorded that continuous appraisal is a good practice for enhancing student results, measuring student progress, improving teaching practices, encouraging and grading student attainment. A continuous appraisal is a periodic assessment of students by observation, exercise, task, and weekly and monthly evaluations. Continuous assessment is a continuous evaluation that is part of the teaching-learning procedure. This is sufficient for taking place in the programmes so that this could be concluded so as to the continuous evaluation consists of a formative review.

Onuka & Onabamiro(2010) affirmed that individual tasks regularly done can create student learning fruitful and accomplishment, so they provide input on student results and help students develop critical thought and positive learning habits. Mwebaza (2010) observed written assessments, take-home tasks and recap activities governed instructor continuous evaluation techniques. We may also assume that these techniques allow teachers to judge the pupils in different ways. Continuous evaluation makes the process of learning exciting, which involves teachers and students in the learning process continuously. Stiggins (2002) suggests that the new continuous evaluation method include class assessments, class activities and homework, and it is the most significant learning method that encourages their pupils for taking their role in the learning activities. They will improve their reading skills along with similar other skills. This will illustrate the process of using continuous appraisal that would add to the process of teaching-learning. The actual practice of continuous assessment by teachers is that of weekly or monthly assessments, activities, students, group assignments and end-of-term exams, which are the most widely applied assessment measures at the end of every unit (Kateeba, 2012. The goal of the Continuous Evaluation was to enhance the learning of pupils, develop the teaching skills of teachers and readers and improve the method of assessment of institutions (Shukla, 2019). The written exam is an exercise intended to examine and evaluate the awareness and talents, and abilities of test-takers. The two kinds of questions arise that are commonly found; the first one is multiple choice questions, and the second is written tests or easy type which have a unique characteristic to each question, and the students select correct answer although there are various ways of multiple-choice questions. For the written tasks and essay questions, candidates respond in the essay form; the exam ought to determine the time that students’ would have to finish the writing. Writing assessments have several functions that assess, diagnose writing actions, insightful students. Awareness about students also helps to track students' success and to monitor students' progress. The better suited to reading and writing assessment is usually a take-home assignment, but it could be better for the preparation of classroom tasks, including listening and speaking. Consequently, the instructor ought to take action for ensuring that the homework used for evaluation purposes is the work of the person involved or, at least, any partnership that has taken place (Mikre, 2010).

Continuous assessment is considered to be a method of evaluating what children benefit from schools in terms of skills, character development and business, taking into account all their success in oral or written examinations, assignments and other educational activities during that time (Adodo, 2013). In all schools, continuous assessment is carried out as a formative assessment to educate teachers and students about the success of learners in enhancing learning (Azzah,2015). It is considered as a holistic approach to learning in its entirety, beginning with the decision on the success of teachers at initial entry in school and finishing with the decision taken by managers and teachers to learners on the end of the month, term and year ranking & up-gradation (Allida & Basome, 2018). Students reacted favorably to the continued use of the tests and found that student success was directly linked to student engagement. It is also necessary to understand that increased engagement is a way of improving the level of student experience and ensuring evaluations that enable students to engage with learning. Similarly, the success of a pupil is measured by comparing the performance of others to the same criteria used in the standard-referred evaluation.  There is a broader layer of oral appraisal, which requires a profound contrast between oral and written correspondence. Strong reasons in support of oral exams, tutors might reasonably fear using them due to time constraints, warnings that they do not follow transparent expectations of competence and might be biased towards certain students and sentiments that they are only for special classes. In view of Abera-Asefa(2012), the teachers have not required a use of continuous testing during  the class with the difficulties as follows: They include high size classes, be short of dedication, strict scheduling, wide course material, instructor attitude towards continuous assessment, lack of good practice for benchmarking, lack of continuous assessment of consistent instructions, absenteeism among students. The best periodic continuous assessment strategies are oral exams, written tests and home assignments. Continuous testing is a form of evaluation for which the instructor regularly or occasionally evaluates the learner who has learned the information, thought, logic, character development experiences using different tools such as oral and written assessments, tasks, observation, prior experience. 

Reading, sharing ideas, dictating notes, listening skills, task solving, organizing and prioritizing are life skills that are often compounded by homework assignments. Homework will also teach students to focus, write essays, spend time on their own and grow a curiosity to be a constant learners. Homework continues to be a hotly discussed and contentious subject of conversation in school districts across America. The literature review discusses patterns in homework over the years, various forms of homework, what makes worthwhile homework, explanations for unfinished homework, homework completion methods, parent engagement, as well as positive and negative consequences of homework (Cooper et al., 2006). Teachers should use these strategies when assigning homework assignments to support student involvement and successful learning. Homework instruction builds on exercises taught in the classroom to improve speed, show mastery, evaluate work, research assessments, and maintain basic skills over time. Teachers more commonly delegate homework practice and planning because it can be more convenient and time-consuming. Homework practice is most commonly used in arithmetic and spelling to improve spelling knowledge and fluency in math information. Extension Homework reflects on facilitating the transition from past learning to new activities (Nunez et al., 2015). 

According to Muhammad, cited in Musa(2000) said that the consistency of the outcome obtained by pupils is expressed in their test scores’ quality. He also claimed that if the continuous evaluation is provided on a daily basis, it enhances more commitment of the students, and it is anticipated that achievement will also be improved. It is used repeatedly to inspire students to understand. The continuous evaluation system had a substantial positive impact on the test ranking. The latter result underscores the inclusion of continuous assessment in schools and provides a strong reason to justify the focus put on continuous assessment. Continuous evaluation in the classroom is not a simple job, particularly while using the existing tools only, dealing with large student groups with the same tool. Attitude, which is the general nature of the teachers for carrying out a constant evaluation, is weak. On the other hand, it is observed that the teachers seldom give guidance and remediation to their pupils after continuous evaluations have been carried out. Huhta (2010) assumes that the feedback for students is the core feature of continuous evaluation. It usually means concentrating on the substance studied, somewhat merely an examination score or some other indicator of a pupil having less the desired level (Nicol & MacfarlaneDick,2005). For making decisions, feedback helps the teachers (Durowoju, 2010). Continuous evaluation lets students track their own success while they gain input from classmates and teachers. They will be provided with a chance for revising and refine their thought through a formative assessment. 




Purpose of the Study  

The objective of this research was to explore the effect of techniques of continuous assessment on the academic performance of students in secondary school. In literature, many techniques of continuous assessment are present, but in this research, we have discussed only four techniques of continuous assessment due to time constraints. These four techniques are oral test, written test, home assignments and re-cape exercise. 

Method

This research is descriptive in nature, and a survey was conducted for data collection in a very short interval of time. The descriptive research design is most suitable for this survey research. 




Population 

The population is a well-defined collection of the objects in which the researchers take interest. The population of the present research was all the secondary school's teachers and students at the secondary level of the district Bagh Azad Kashmir, Pakistan. It consisted of a total of 512 secondary school teachers and 1500 students.  




Sample 

This study was continued with a sample of secondary school teachers taken the total sample size of 226 from the total population proportionately, in which 80 female teachers and 146 male teachers and 300 students of those teachers who have used the continuous assessment techniques. 




Questionnaire 

After reviewing the literature researcher prepared a questionnaire using a five-point Likert scale for this study. It consisted of techniques of continuous assessment and academic performance. For academic performance percentage of students in the final examination was asked. For making certain relevance of the questionnaire, it was sent to the panel of experts for validity, and to find its reliability, a statistical software package for social sciences was used after pilot testing on twenty (20) participants from secondary school teachers. The reliability test value of Cronbach‘s Alpha was found ? = .92, which shows a highly reliable questionnaire. 




Data Collection and Analysis   

First, the researcher sought permission from principals of secondary schools for the collection of data and before conducting the study, the purpose was explained. Questionnaires were distributed among relevant teachers of secondary schools personally. The nature of the data was found by the researcher after the collection of data. The data was numerical in nature. For the data analysis for social sciences, software SPSS was used, and a linear regression model was used to predict the relationship between variables.

Findings

Descriptive Analysis

In the present research, there are 146 male teachers in secondary schools, which are 64.6%, and 80 female secondary teachers, which comprise 35.4% of the sample, out of which 17(7.5%) Graduate teachers, 165(73%) having Master degree and 44(19.5%) are M.Phil degree holders. According to their experience in the department of education, they are 108 (1-10years), 74(11-20 years), 29 (21-30 years) and 15(31-40 years) teaching experience in the department. It is noteworthy evidence that 209 teachers had a master and M Phil qualification. Masters and M Phil degree holders are 92.5%. This notable fact shows that secondary school teachers understand the importance of the problem, and their opinion regarding the impact of the use of continuous assessment techniques on academic performance have significant evidence. 




 

Table 1. Descriptive Statistics

Factors	N		SD
Academic Performance	300	4.26	.55
Oral Test.	226	4.38	.670
Written Test.	226	4.48	.694
Home Assignment.	226	4.28	.898
Recap Exercise.	226	4.12	.877

 




The table-1 revealed that the mean, standard deviation of independent variables and the dependent variable is .55 to .898. A five-point scale ranging from strongly disagree (1) to strongly agree (5) is used to ask the questions from respondents. As a whole, the mean gains for the four techniques of continuous assessment and academic performance confirm the optimistic far above the average of 1 and 5.




               

Table 2. Correlations among dependent and independent variables

Techniques of Continuous Assessment (Independent Variable)	Academic Performance (Dependent Variable)
Oral Test.	Correlation Pearson	.412**
	P value	.00
	Number	226
Written Test.	Correlation Pearson	.347**
	P value	.00
	Number	226
Home Assignment.	Correlation Pearson	.426**
	P value	.00
	Number	226
Recap Exercise.	Correlation Pearson	.365**
	P value	.00
	Number	226

**p<.01




Table -2 above reflects that co-relation coefficient (Pearson) between dependent variable (academic performance) and the independent factors (Re-cap Exercise, Written Test., Oral Test., & Home Assignment) is positive and statistically significant as p< .001




 

Regression Analysis

Table 3. Regression Model

Model.	R.	R Square.	Adjusted. R Square.	Std. Error of the Estimate.
1	.552	.305	.292	.46

a. Predictors. : (Constant) Oral Test, Written Test, Home Assignment & Recap Exercise

 




Table-3 show that  linear correlation coefficients the value of ‘r’ with the help of continuous assessment techniques was .55 and the value of R² was .305, meaning that 30.5% variance observed in academic performance was calculated by using continuous assessment techniques such as Oral Test, Written Test,  Home Assignment & Recap Exercise.




 

Table 4. ANOVA^a

Model.		Sum of Squares.	df.	Mean Square.	F.	Sig
1	Regression	20.703	4	5.176	24.212	.000b
	Residual	47.243	221	.214
	Total	67.946	225
a. Dependent: Academic Performance
b. Predictor: (Constants) Oral Test, Written Test, Home Assignment & Recap Exercise.

Note. *p<.05, **p<.01

 




The above table-4 illustrates that F (4, 221) = 24.212, p<.05, and is statistically significant. This argues that the forecasters, Oral Test, Written Test  Home Assignment & Recap Exercise, forecast considerably that the academic performance depends on predictors.




 

Table 5.  Coefficients

Model.	Unstandardized Coefficients.		Standardized Coefficients.	t	Sig.
	B	Std. Error	Beta
(Constant variable)	1.867	.256		7.304	.000
Oral Test.	.181	.054	.220	3.358	.001
Written Test.	.124	.051	.156	2.441	.015
Home Assignment.	.132	.041	.216	3.225	.001
Recap Exercise.	.116	.040	.186	2.902	.004
a. Dependent Variable: Academic Performance

 




Table-5 shows the statistically positive significance of the direction of the relationship and independent variables. The coefficient of regression of oral test and academic performance was .181, p <.001, which show a positive relationship between the oral test and academic performance. For every unit increase in the use of the oral tests, a .181 points increase in academic performance is forecasted, while other independent variables are constant. The regression coefficient regarding standard error is .054, which is a rationally low value that shows that coefficients are forecast reasonably and purposely.

The regression coefficient of the written test with academic performance is .124, level of significant p= .015 show a positive relationship between the written test and academic performance. Increase in each unit of the written test; a .124 unit was increased in academic performance was predicted constant, while holding every other variable. In regression coefficient, the standard error is .051, a small value realistically which shows the predicted value rational exclusively.

The regression coefficient of home assignment with academic performance is .132 along with a value of P+=.001, which is significant that show a relationship positive between home assignment and academic performance. It can be observed that for an increase in each unit in-home assignment, a .132 unit increase in academic performance was predicted constant while holding every other variable. In regression coefficient, the standard error is .041, a small value realistically which shows the predicted value rational exclusively.

Similarly Regression coefficient of recap exercise with academic performance is .116, and a significant P = .004 have a positive relationship between recap exercise and academic performance. Increase in each unit of recap exercise, .116 unit value increases in academic performance was predicted constant while holding every other variable. In regression coefficient, the standard error is .040, a small value realistically which shows the predicted value rational exclusively.

Discussions and Conclusion

The objective of the present research is to explore the impact of continuous assessment techniques on the academic performance of students. This study is different from previous studies because most researchers worked on formative assessment and summative as compared to continuous assessment. The present research is concerned with the four techniques of continuous assessment .i.e., oral test, written test, home assignments and re-cape exercise. The finding of the present study is matched with the studies in the literature. The results of the present study show that oral and written test has an impact that is significant on the students’ academic performance of and similar findings are present in a study by Kateeba (2012) as continuous assessment includes all competencies, ranging from oral to written test. Approaches used to determine children's direct observation, conversation with children, oral and written questions are considered important. Through oral test develops student’s verbal communication skills. It’s a way of assessing students’ knowledge while their written communication skills. Through the oral and written tests, the academic performance of students can be improved. The written exam is an exercise intended to test and evaluate the awareness, talents and abilities of test-takers. Similarly, a previous study is conducted by Kateeba (2012) discussed that the actual practice of continuous assessment by teachers is related to this study. Through weekly written tests can be judged how much students learn within a week. Weekly written test improves the students’ academic performance. Through monthly written tests can be judged how much students learn within a month. Monthly tests also improve students’ academic performance. Kateeba (2012) also discussed that the continuous assessment technique home assignment is a regular assessment of students, which enhance the learning. A similar finding is seen in the current study that home assignment develops self-discipline and encourage the student to take responsibility for completing their work. Homework continues to be a hotly discussed and contentious subject of conversation in school districts across America. The literature review discusses patterns in homework over the years, various forms of homework, what makes worthwhile homework, explanations for unfinished homework, homework completion methods, parent engagement, as well as positive and negative consequences of homework (Cooper et al., 2006). The finding of the current study regarding recipe exercise shows a positive and significant effect on cognitive performance is similar to Mwebaza (2010), who observed that written assessments, take-home tasks and recap activities governed instructor continuous evaluation techniques. We may also assume that these techniques allow teachers to judge their pupils in a different way. The learning process makes exciting with continuous assessment and involves students and teachers in a continuous learning process. 

On the basis of findings, it is recommended that continuous assessment techniques such as oral tests, written tests, home assignments and re-cape exercises should be used for enhancing academic performance at all levels particularly at secondary level students. 

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