1 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FALCUTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES NGUYỄN THỊ HOA CONCURRENT VALIDITY OF THE ENGLISH TESTS IN THE NATIONAL SECONDARY SCHOOL LEAVING EXAMINATION, SCHOOL YEARS 2008-2009, 2009-2010 (Tính giá trị so sánh của bài thi tốt nghiệp trung học phổ thông (THPT) môn tiếng Anh năm học 2008-2009 và năm học 2009-2010) M. Minor Programme Thesis Major: Methodology Code : 601410 HANOI, 2010 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com 2 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FALCUTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES NGUYỄN THỊ HOA CONCURRENT VALIDITY OF THE ENGLISH TESTS IN THE NATIONAL SECONDARY SCHOOL LEAVING EXAMINATION, SCHOOL YEARS 2008-2009, 2009-2010 (Tính giá trị so sánh của bài thi tốt nghiệp trung học phổ thông (THPT) môn tiếng Anh năm học 2008-2009 và năm học 2009-2010) M. Minor Programme Thesis Major : Methodology Code : 601410 Supervisor: HOÀNG THỊ XUÂN HOA, Ph. HANOI, 2010 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com 6 TABLE OF CONTENTS Declaration i Acknowledgements ii Abstract iii Table of contents iv List of abbreviations viii List of tables and charts ix PART A: INTRODUCTION 1 1.
Scope of study 2 3. Aims of study 2 4. Methods of study 2 5. Design of study 3 PART B: DEVELOPMENT 5 CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 5 1.2 Kinds of achievement tests 6 1.3 Benefits of achievement testing 6 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.2 Quality of a good test 8 1.3 Comparison and Discrimination 10 1.
Types of test validity 11 1.4 Criterion – related validity 15 1.2 Reasons for giving more emphasis to concurrent validity 16 1.3 Statistical analysis of test results 17 1.4 The range 19 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.5 The standard deviation 19 1.3 Classical item analysis 20 1.2 Item discrimination 20 CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY 22 2.1 Setting of the study 22 2.1 Education in Vietnam 22 2.2 Cao Ba Quat Gia Lam High School 22 2.3 Nguyen Gia Thieu High School 23 2.4 The National secondary school leaving examination 24 2.4 Data Analysis 27 CHAPTER 3: DISCUSSION AND FINDINGS 28 3.1 Analysis of data 28 3.1 Correlation coefficient 28 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.2 Interpretation of data 34 PART C: CONCLUSIONS 35 1. Implications for improvement of the English test in the NSSLE 36 3. Limitations and suggestions for future research 37 REFERENCES 39 APPENDIXES I Appendix 1: The English test in the NSSLE school year 2008-2009 I Appendix 2: The English test in the NSSLE school year 2009-2010 VII Appendix 3: Example of calculating correlation coefficient XIII Appendix 4: Example of calculating the mean XIV Appendix 5: Example of calculating the mode XIV Appendix 6: Example of calculating the median XIV Appendix 7: Example of calculating the range XV Appendix 8: Example of calculating the standard deviation XV LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com 10 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS EFL: English as a foreign language. ELT: English language teaching.
L2: Second language: in the context of this study, it usually refers to English. NSSLE: National Secondary School Leaving Examination LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com 11 LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES TABLES Table 1.1: Test specification 25 Table 2.2: Students‘ grade in English, school year 2009-2010 26 Table 3.1: Descriptive statistics of the two tests 29 FIGURES Figure 1.1: Factors that affect language test scores 8 Figure 1.3: Construct validity of score interpretations 13 Figure 3.2: Desctiptive statatistics of test one (2008-2009) 30 Figure 3.3: Desctiptive statatistics of test two (2009-2010) 30 Figure 3.4: Distribution of scores on test one 32 Figure 3.5: Distribution of scores on test two 33 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com 12 PART A: INTRODUCTION 1. Rationale Education has always played an important part in people‘s life. Now, in the conditions of the world economic crisis, solid knowledge and skills will help people to save their present job or will make it easier to find a new one.
However, it is said that effective education is impossible without an effective management and that knowledge and skills must be checked and controlled effectively. Therefore, testing in education, an attempt to measure a person‘s knowledge, intelligence, or other characteristics in a systematic way, is of great significance. Ever since the English language began to be taught in formal settings, the development of tests to assess learner‘s performance has been an integral part of the language learning and teaching process. Language testing, then, is central to language teaching.
It provides goals for language teaching and monitors success in reaching those goals. In Vietnam, the English test in the National Secondary School Leaving Examination (NSSLE) plays an important role in English language teaching (ELT): it stimulates student progress and evaluates students‘ achievement in acquiring English throughout 7 years from junior to upper secondary school. Failure or pass this test is a matter of great concerns as it decides whether a student can proceed to higher education or not. Besides, through this test teachers can also evaluate the effectiveness of a new teaching method or of new materials (Valette, 1977).
The English tests in the NSSLE school years 2008-2009, 2009-2010 were particularly significant because high school English teachers had chance to look back at their success as well as their failure in implementing the new English textbook series: LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com 13 English 10, English 11, and English 12 which ran officially in 2004; therefore, they can make necessary amendments in the school years after. This paper is the writer‘s attempt to evaluate the Concurrent Validity of the English Tests in the NSSLE school years 2008-2009, 2009-2010 by establishing the correlation between the scores of the two tests, showing how widely the scores are spread out, presenting how closely they cluster and illustrating how well the tests have separated students from each other. It is hoped that the results of the study can raise the awareness of English teachers in general and those interested in making better English Tests in the NSSLE in particular. Scope of the study This research will focus on the concurrent validity of the English Tests in the NSSLE, school years 2008-2009, 2009-2010 only.
Therefore, other aspects in evaluating an achievement language test will be beyond the scope of this study. Also, due to the fact that the English tests in the NSSLE school years 2008-2009, 2009- 2010 were multiple choice tests marked by a scoring machine which only gives out final test scores, a careful analysis of score patterns on each of the test items is out of the question. In addition, due to limitations in time, ability and conditions, it is impossible for the author to take a sample population that includes representatives from different geographical areas (e.i urban, rural, island and mountainous) as well as those from a variety of ethnic groups (Kinh, Cham, H‘Mong, Kh‘Me. Therefore, this study investigates the concurrent validity of the English Tests in the NSSLE, school years 2008-2009, 2009-2010 in Gia Lam – Long Bien Districts, where the writer is currently working only.
Aims of the study This study is intended to examine the concurrent validity of the English tests in the NSSLE school years 2008-2009, 2009-2010. It places high emphasis on investigating and analyzing test scores in order to set up the correlation coefficient between the two sets of test results reveal the spread of score and determine the tests‘ ability to discriminate students. LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail. Methods of study To realize all of the aims mentioned above, the author has employed a combination of methodologies.
First, through critical reading the author gathered, analyzed and synthesized literature relating to achievement tests in language testing and qualities of a good language test with a special focus on concurrent validity. This is to draw out a theoretical basis to evaluate the two most current English tests in the NSSLE. Second, quantitative methodology is applied to get data collected through the author‘s marking the English test in the NSSLE, school year 2008-2009 and visiting the schools to ask for the test results of the English Test in the NSSLE, school year 2009-2010. Third, the study also made use of supporting methods such as informal discussion, opinion exchanges with teachers and colleagues, and consulting experienced and enthusiastic supervisor to gather information needed.
Research questions This study is implemented to find out the answers to the following research questions: - How are the English tests in the National Secondary School Leaving Examination, school years 2008-2009, 2009-2010 correlated? - How do scores of each test cluster together? - How do scores of each test spread out? - How do the tests discriminate students‘ achievement? 6. Design of the study The thesis is organized into three major parts: Part A, INTRODUCTION, presents such basic information as the rationales, the aims, the methods, the research questions, and the design of the study. Part B, DEVELOPMENT, provides the literature review, the methodology and the findings of the study in three corresponding chapters one, two, and three. In chapter one, literature LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com 15 review, theoretical background for evaluating a language test is described.
This chapter also includes reasons for testing, criteria of a good language test, achievement tests and issues on test concurrent validity. In chapter two, methodology, the setting of the study and the methodology employed to carry out the research are fully portrayed. In chapter three, discussion and findings, results of analyzed data regarding the correlation coefficient of the two sets of score, the mean, the mode, the range, and the standard deviation are shown in great details. Part C, CONCLUSION, gives a summary of the study, its implications for improvement of the English test in the NSSLE, its limitations and suggestions for future research.
LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com 16 PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 Achievement tests An achievement test is concerned with measuring a student‘s competence with regard to what has been taught or what is in the syllabus. This type of test is usually given at the end of a period of instruction and as a result, its content is a sample of what has been included in the syllabus. This test is normally school-based and typically provides control over previous learning. However, it should be borne in mind that the purpose of achievement tests should be to indicate how successful the learning experiences have been for the learner, rather than to show in what respects they were insufficient, and the tests themselves should also be firmly established in preceding classroom experiences in terms of activities practiced, language used, and criteria of evaluation adopted (Weir, 1993).1 Definition There are a variety of definitions on achievement tests.
As Baker (1982) put it, achievement tests are “used presumably to assess the subject matter and skills that students have learnt‖. Heaton (1988) added that achievement tests should be laid foundation on ― what students are presumed to have learnt – not necessarily on what they have actually learnt not on what has actually been taught‖. In the same vein, Hughes (1989) emphasized the importance of achievement tests in assessing students‘ success in reaching the language course‘s goals. He asserted that ―Achievement tests accumulate evidence during or at the end of a course of study in order to see whether and where progress has been made in terms of the goals of learning‖.
LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com 17 These definitions all have one thing in common. That is, achievement tests are used to determine a student‘s academic strengths and weaknesses and measure a student‘s mastery of a given subject or skill. They are directly related to language courses, their purpose being to establish how successful individual students, groups of students, or the courses themselves have been in achieving objectives.