Analysis of English language test tasks for seventh and eighth-graders in Serbia according to Bloom's Taxonomy

Cognitive processes are the foundation of the cognitive domain of critical thinking. Even though developing these processes is an educational priority in many countries, including Serbia, the concept itself and the ways in which these cognitive actions can be assessed are left to teachers to discover. The aim of this paper is to investigate what cognitive processes are required of seventh and eighth-graders in Serbia in order to complete the tasks included in English language tests. The authors collected 14 tests, designed by 14 English language teachers, for each grade. The authors analyzed the tasks and determined the levels of cognitive complexity required for completing them according to Bloom's Taxonomy for the cognitive domain while relying on the descriptions of these levels and the instructions for task classification. Generally speaking, very few tasks target higher-order thinking levels. Moreover, the teachers seem to include more cognitively demanding tasks in tests for seventh-graders. The findings raise several questions that would be worth considering in the immediate future: To what degree are English language teachers acquainted with cognitive processes and their implementation in teaching practice? Do they possess the requisite knowledge and skills for constructing tests that would successfully assess the students' ability to perform at different levels of cognitive complexity in the foreign language?