The alignment between the Rwandan Ordinary level national curriculum and national examinations for English: lessons for examiners

Abstract

This article reports on an analysis of the Rwanda national Ordinary Level curriculum for English on the one hand, and of examinations for English on the other, and the alignment between the two concepts. Textual and content analyses were conducted on the 1998 curriculum document and on the 2009, 2010 and 2011 national examinations for English. The findings suggest that the national Ordinary level curriculum and examinations for English are generally aligned especially regarding the content which they cover. However, while the curriculum recommends the development of learners’ communicative competence, the examinations do not evaluate learners’ listening and speaking abilities which are crucial for this type of competence. In addition, the development of critical thinking skills and abilities which are recommended by the curriculum are not accounted for sufficiently in the examinations. This situation is likely to bring teachers and learners to lay limited emphasis on the aspects which are not examined, which may produce school leavers with limited proficiency in English and higher order thinking skills.

Key words: Curriculum, assessment, constructive alignment, O’Level, examination, critical thinking