LISTENING: A NEGLECTED SKILL (Pages 84-89) by Dr. Sajitha in THE INTERNATIONAL RESEARCH SPECIALIST / ISSN: 2350-1499 (Online); 2350-0751 (Print)

Language testing at any level is a highly complex undertaking that must be based on theory as well as practice. This paper presents the urgency of assessing the listening skill at the secondary and the higher secondary levels in India. For this purpose, this paper explores the language assessment system presently followed in Kerala State syllabus –SSC (Secondary School Certificate), ICSE (Indian Certificate of Secondary Education), CBSE (Central Board of Secondary Education) and IGCSE (International General Certificate of Secondary Education) Curriculum of University of Cambridge. A common test on Listening was conducted among the students of Grade Nine and Ten of these curricula. The information presented here is based on the study held at Dubai, Mysore and Kerala. While IGCSE tests the four skills, other streams give priority to written skills – Reading and Writing. A language assessment system focusing only on Reading and Writing is outmoded and need to be modified, especially in this electronic era when the oral skills are dominating other skills. Key-words: Language testing, listening skill, secondary and the higher secondary levels, language assessment system, SSC, ICSE, CBSE etc..