Evaluation in Tunisia: The Case of Engineering Students

Abstract

This chapter reports on one aspect of a research study conducted within the framework of needs analysis in English for Specific Purposes (ESP). A triangulation of both methods and resources was employed for data collection. While a questionnaire was addressed to all the participants in the present study, a structured-interview was further conducted with the ESP teachers. The content of the adopted instruments was, in most cases, duplicated among informants to ensure the reliability and consistency of results. Though the study did not draw a sound conclusion about the relevance of the Test of English for International Communication (TOEIC) to the learning and target needs of the students, it revealed that more than half of the former graduates who are also actual employees did not attach great importance to the test as a valuable tool to evaluate their communication needs as required by their potential employers. This chapter offers a window of opportunity to build the bridge between learning objectives and learner evaluation in ESP which is a widely neglected area of research especially within the Tunisian context. The real shift resides in recognizing all ESP stakeholders’ perceptions of evaluation including learners themselves and the implementation of outcome-based measuring tools reconciling standardized output-oriented assessment with test reliability, authenticity, and impact.