English for Examination Purposes (EEP): A Norm or a Genre?

Abstract

This is a paper proposing the recognition of English for Examination Purposes (EEP). It is a report of an‘ unscheduled‘ quasi experimental research over 278 college students in Nigeria getting prepared to sit for Senior School Certificate English. The researcher was consulted to bring in a palliative measure as an intervention model on a school at comatose for roughly four years with reference to making the students in the Certificate year acquire the qualifying credit in English to proceed after their graduation from the college. Relying heavily on Communicative English Approach, the researcher focused the in-coming examination in choosing the right strategies to carry out the consultancy. The seven week project saw the students writing over thirty essays (including letters), engaging in extensive practice in Lexis and structure with more than a hand on Summary and Comprehension while receiving immediate feedback in all cases. The highest mean grade of 4.51 was recorded in 2006 when the treatment and the examination took place compared to the previous years. Thus Exam focused English language strategy is recommended for practice in countries where students need a minimum of credit grade in English to make it into the university and the teaching and learning conditions were not favourable enough to equip them for their public examination under normal circumstances.