An Analysis of Assessment Practices in Tamil Literature at the Secondary School Level

Abstract

Assessment in Tamil Literature at the secondary school level is essential for evaluating students' understanding, literary appreciation, interpretive ability, and capacity to respond meaningfully to literary texts. This concise paper examines current assessment practices, including examination-based assessment, classroom-based assessment, and alternative assessment methods. The analysis indicates that traditional assessment remains dominant, particularly written, structured, and memory-based responses. Authentic assessment practices such as oral presentation, creative writing, drama, literary forums, and project-based work are still not implemented consistently. Implementation is affected by limited instructional time, syllabus pressure, uneven teacher expertise, lack of teaching resources, learning outside normal school hours, administrative barriers to registering students for the subject, and limited training in holistic assessment pedagogy. The paper recommends a more balanced, student-centred, and authentic assessment approach to strengthen students' critical interpretation, creativity, and appreciation of Tamil literary works.