Use of Continuous Assessment System(CAS) in Developing Writing Skill at Basic Level: A Narrative Inquiry

Abstract

It is a common sight, now assessment is being an integral part of the language teaching. More particularly, Continuous Assessment System (CAS) is very effective to teach and learn the language with necessary improvements. Thus, the present study entitled “Use of Continuous Assessment System (CAS) in Developing Writing Skill at Basic Level: A Narrative Inquiry”was to explore the practices, experiences and challenges of CAS faced by the basic level teachers in term of teaching writing skill and its other areas like punctuation, grammar, spelling and organization at the basic level. To meet the objectives of the research, the four basic level teachers were selected using non-random purposive sampling method. As a narrative inquiry research design, teachers’ narratives were used to explore the challenges and experiences of basic level teachers. The result of the study revealed that teachers are practicing CAS and its other tools like homework, portfolio and classwork as major teaching task. They experienced that from the use of CAS, students are motivated, inspired and interested toward further learning about writing tasks. Although, teachers are also facing some challenges like lack of fundamental materials, training and monitoring system from the concern authorities like Resource Centre and school administration.

The present study consists of five main chapters. The first chapter deals with the introduction of the study along with the background of the study, statement of the problem, objectives of the study, research questions, significance of the study, delimitations of the study and operational definitions of key terms. The second chapter contains the review of related literature and conceptual framework. Similarly, the third chapter includes methods and procedures of the study. Likewise, the fourth chapter deals the analysis and interpretation of the data. Finally, chapter five comprises the findings, conclusion and recommendation in policy related, practice related and further researches. At the end, the references and appendices are included.