Virtual Assessment Dilemmas in English Literature Writing Courses: A Perspective of the Tertiary level Teachers in Bangladesh

The paper based on a pilot- study aims to attempt the experiences that tertiary level teachers have confronted while conducting exams and assessing the students’ performances in virtual modality especially in English Literature Writing Courses in Bangladesh during COVID-19, and which still has an impact on the students’ academic performances and behavioral changes. This pilot -study explores the pros and cons, the limitations and challenges of virtual assessment that teachers have faced and how the assessment conducted virtually has triggered disparity in students’ grades and behavioral attitude as a long-term effect. The research is designed qualitatively using two research tools: survey questionnaire and in-depth interviews with the aim of obtaining heterogeneous responses from tertiary level teachers at different private universities in Bangladesh. Keeping aligned with the mode of the research this study shows feasibility of larger-scale research but highlights the need for refined tools and broader sampling. The paper will also include relevant secondary sources to deepen our perception of the topic. The broad aim of this research is to investigate the impact of virtual exams, and to what extent it is effective especially at the tertiary level in Bangladesh. A particular goal is to identify the dilemmas that tertiary level teachers have confronted while conducting exams and assessing the students’ performances in virtual modality. The research will lead to some potential recommendations as to how exams could be taken more creditably in virtual modality and students be assessed more veritably so that disparity be resolved and overall assessment dilemmas of teachers be overcome.

Dilemma, assessment, behavioral- changes, grade disparity, pilot- study

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