Evaluation of Exam Questions of English Summative Assessment Based on Cognitive Skills

Abstract

The present study was designed for analysing the cognitive levels of exam questions of English papers of Class 9^th and 10^th in BISE, Karachi and BISE, Lahore for academic years 2022-2023 using Bloom’s Taxonomy. The study examined 320 questions of 16 English papers. A research instrument i.e. a checklist was adapted after modifying the checklist regarding Bloom’s Taxonomy used by Tangsakul, et al, (2017). The adapted checklist was employed to record and tally the cognitive levels of the questions collected from the exam papers. Descriptive qualitative method was employed for analysing the data. The findings showed that Comprehension level was frequently used in exam papers. Fewer questions appeared from Analysis and Synthesis levels and not a single question appeared at Evaluation level in all papers. Exam papers have a greater number of questions of lower cognitive domain than higher cognitive domain based on Bloom’s Taxonomy. Based on the findings, some suggestions have been outlined with the purpose of setting exam papers based on both lower and higher cognitive domains in proper proportion and development of critical thinking among students.