Investigating the Effectiveness & Challenges of Online Assessment during the Era of CoViD-19 Pandemic

Abstract

The current investigation revolves around the effectiveness and the challenges faced by online assessment implementation. Therefore, the main question that raised in this research is to what extent online assessment can be (dis)advantageous for EFL learners and teachers. In order to embark on such endeavour, a mixed methods design is used encompassing three research instruments ,viz., a questionnaire directed to 50 second year master students , didactics, at Ibn Khaldoun university of Tiaret ; an interview , conducted with 5 EFL teachers; and a test corpus analysis allowing for a comparative study of face-to-face and online exams’ results. The triangulation of the gleaned data reveals that the majority of the respondents and the interviewees recognize the importance and efficiency of the new mode of assessment. In addition, the comparative study displays that online assessment’ results were much better than paper-based exam. Yet, the unavailability of hardware, software and training courses made the implementation impossible.