TABLE OF CONTENTS Contents Pages Statement of Authorship Acknowledgements Contents.1 List of Abbreviations.5 Lists of Tables.6 Lists of Figures. Research Aims and Objectives. Significance of the study. Organization of the Research .12 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW.
Definitions of Key Terms. The Definition of a Test. The Purpose of a Test. Criteria as a Framework for Designing a Test.
Types of Achievement Tests. Construction of achievement tests. Communicative Approach to Testing. Interpretations of washback.
Language Teachers and Washback. Language Students and Washback. Positive and Negative washback. Non-formal Education and Adult Learners.
Non-formal Education. 30 a) Non-formal Education.32 a) Difficulties in Learning English .32 c) Adult learners and Other Characteristics. The Pilot Survey. Administration of the Questionnaires.
The Administration of Interviews. Achievement Tests‟ Analysis .44 CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION. Perceptions of Teachers towards Language Testing Criteria When Designing Achievement Tests. Teachers‟ Perceptions towards Reliability of Achievement Tests.
Teachers‟ Perceptions towards Validity of Achievement Tests. Teachers‟ Perceptions towards Practicality of Achievement Tests. Teachers‟ Perceptions towards Authenticity of Achievement Test.5Teachers‟ Perceptions towards Interactiveness of Achievement Tests. Teachers‟ Perceptions towards Impact of Achievement Tests.
Application of Language Testing Criteria in designing Achievement Tests ………………. Demonstration of the Reliability in the Achievement Tests. Demonstration of the Validity in the Achievement Tests. Demonstration of the Practicality in the Achievement Tests.
Demonstration of the Interactiveness in the Achievement Tests. Demonstration of the Authenticity in the Achievement Tests. Analysis of some Achievement Tests Designed by Teachers at Quang Tri Continuing Education Centre. Testing Effects on Teaching.
Testing Effects on Learning .87 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS. A Summary of the Findings. To Educational Administrators. Contributions of the Study.
Suggestions for Further Research .105 4 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS NFE : NON-FORMAL EDUCATION EL : ENGLISH LANGUAGE 5 LIST OF TABLES Table 3.1: Background Information of Teacher Participants from Questionnaires.2: Background Information of Learner Participants from Questionnaire .3: Background Information of Teacher Participants from Interview .1: Teachers‟ Perception towards the Importance of Teacher-made Achievement Tests and of Testing Qualities .2: Teachers‟ Perceptions towards Reliability of Achievement Tests .3: Teachers‟ Perceptions towards Validity of Achievement Tests .4: Teachers‟ Perceptions towards Practicality of Achievement Tests .5: Teachers‟ Perceptions towards Authenticity of Achievement Tests .6: Teachers‟ Perceptions towards Interactiveness of Achievement Tests.7: Teachers‟ Perceptions towards Impact of Achievement Tests .8: Rating Scale in the Achievement Tests and the Learners‟ Evaluation .9: Demonstration of Learners‟ Desire, the Correlation between the Test Tasks and the Course Objectives, and the Balance of Language Skills and Language Areas.10: Language skills and Language Areas in the Tests .11: The Presentation of Answer Sheets .12: The Disadvantage of the Answer Sheet .13: The Topics and the Contextualization of the Test Tasks .14: The Combination of Language Skills and Language Areas .15: The Use of Topical Knowledge, Affective Schemata and Language Ability.16:The Frequency of Language Skills and Language Areas in the classes.17: Factors that Influence Test Design .18: Reasons for Learning English .19: The Effects of the Achievement Tests .20: They Best Ways to Prepare for Tests .78 LIST OF FIGURES Figure 2.1: Test Washback Effects on Teachers (Teacher- level) .2: Test Washback Effects on Students (Student-level) .2: The Test Scores Reflecting the Learners‟ EL Abilities .3: Learners‟ Evaluation on the Previous Achievement Tests .6: The Promotion of Confidence and Enthusiasm in teaching, designing and implementing tests .7: Narrowing the curriculum .76 7 ABSTRACT This study sets out to investigate Quang Tri Continuing Education Centre teachers‟ perceptions towards and their demonstration of language testing criteria in achievement test design. The study has three main aims: (1) to explore the perceptions of Quang Tri Continuing Education Centre teachers towards language testing criteria and their application when designing achievement test; (2) to discover the effects of the achievement tests on teaching and learning; (3) to offer some implications for improving teachers‟ perceptions as well as their practice. The data for the study was obtained through two instruments- two questionnaires for teachers and adult learners and interviews for teachers. The subjects consist of 8 teachers (for questionnaires) and 6 teachers (for interviews), who are working part- time at Quang Tri Continuing Education Centre.
160 learners from three classes KT 43, QLXH 40 and LUAT 33 were willing to participate in the study. The data collected were analyzed and presented in descriptive statistics and charts. The findings of the study indicate that Quang Tri Continuing Education Centre teachers‟ perceptions towards language testing criteria were positive, although sometimes they were not completely right. The results also point out that teachers‟ testing practices have not been corresponded to their perceptions e.
most of the teachers said that test items in their tests were contextualized, and test topics were meaningful. Meanwhile, a few learners said that test tasks in their achievement test are not authentic. Therefore, testing results affected negatively adult learners‟ motivation. The findings of the research pointed out that most of the learners learn English only for the requirement of a diploma, so they tend to cram for the tests.
However, teachers were still optimistic when they confirmed that they did not teach to the test and promote confidence and enthusiasm in teaching and designing and implementing achievement tests. Also, some pedagogical implications related to perceptions towards and demonstrations of language testing criteria were suggested. In addition, limitations and suggestions for further researches were mentioned. Overview The Chapter focuses on the rationale of the study in which background of the research and the reasons for researching are presented.
Also, objectives of the research, research questions, research scope, significance of the study and its organization are mentioned by the researcher. Rationale Teaching English as a Second or Foreign Language has become a very popular profession in today‟s world thanks to the fact that English has become an international language. Therefore, the teachers of English around the world use various techniques and methods to ensure that students learn basic language areas and achieve language skills. Also, the teachers at Quang Tri Continuing Education Centre would agree that testing is one of the most important keys to determine if teaching objectives were reached, evaluate teaching methods, diagnose student needs or motivate students to study.
Some studies point out that testing has an influence on teaching and learning. For example, Pearson (1988) indicates that good tests can be applied and designed as positive teaching and learning activities in order to encourage a beneficial teaching –learning process. The influence of a test obliges teachers and learners to do things to promote teaching –learning process (Alderson &Wall, 1993). Many theorists and researchers have found that classroom achievement tests is a crucial part of the second language learning and teaching processes.
Therefore, Hughes (2003) included that achievement test are used in making classroom-level decision and designed with particular reference to the course objectives or learning goals. Furthermore, some researchers claim that certain perceptions and beliefs that teachers hold about assessments influence their use of them (Dorr-Bremme, 1983; Pedulla et al, 2003). 9 The teacher‟s perceptions and beliefs of testing criteria and their practices are influenced directly or indirectly by many factors. The first thing is the teacher‟s language testing competence and their awareness of language testing criteria in designing tests.
Some teachers think that it is difficult to design a test so it is the work of test experts. They rarely develop their own language tests and they just select and adapt published language test for their own students. It means that they are unmotivated to design test and they do not consider test as the need for their professional work. To develop their motivation in designing tests, according to Bachman and Palmer (1996), language teacher should establish understanding of fundamental considerations in designing, developing and use of language test.
The understandings of fundamental consideration in designing conclude the awareness of language testing criteria such as validity, reliability, practicality, authenticity, interactiveness and or washback. Second, research into teachers‟ perceptions generally show that teachers might have positive perceptions towards langauge testing criteria in test design. However, their perceptions is not consistent with their test demonstration or test practice. For example, they think that it is necessary for adult learners to develop listening and speaking skills, but those skills are not tested.
Finally, the ideas for doing this research also come from my own experience as a teacher of English at the centre. Quang Tri Continuing Education Centre, founded in 1990, was chosen as the context of the investigation. The major task of this centre is defined as comprises organized learning activities that cater to persons not enrolled in formal education. Learners are at the age of 18 and older.
The adult learners who according to Knowles (1984a) perform roles associated by the culture with other adult such as spouse, parents, worker and responsible citizen and are responsible for their own lives. The teachers who work part-time at the centre are teaching in different high schools in Quang Tri or in other cities such as Hue and Hanoi. They are at different ages with different educational qualifications. Teaching such special students, the teachers‟ perceptions toward language testing criteria in designing tests might offer a source to research.
10 For the above reasons, I find it helpful to have an exploration about the perceptions and understandings of the teachers towards the subject and their application in designing achievement tests at the centre. Research Aims and Objectives 1. Reasearch Aims This thesis aims to find out the perceptions that teachers at Quang Tri Continuing Education Centre hold towards language testing criteria and their application when designing achievement tests, as well as the relationship between these uses and perceptions. Moreover, it intends to discover the effects of the achievement tests on the teaching and learning.
It also aims at finding some implications for improving teacher‟s perceptions of testing criteria in designing achievement tests; therefore, language testing qualities can be developed well. It is hopeful that the investigation would attract attention from the members involved to get a brighter perspective at the centre. Reasearch Objectives The objectives of this study can be summarized as follows: • To find out the perception of teachers at Quang Tri Continuing Education Centre with regard to language testing criteria when designing achievement tests. • To investigate the experience of teachers at Quang Tri Continuing Education Centre with regard to language testing criteria when designing achievement tests.
• To investigate the effects of testing on teaching and learning at Quang Tri Continuing Education Centre. • To identify strategies that can be used in order to develop language testing qualities at Quang Tri Continuing Education Centre. Research Questions The study is focused on the following questions: 1. What are the perceptions of teachers at Quang Tri Continuing Education Centre towards testing criteria when designing achievement tests? 11 2.
How do the teachers apply language testing criteria when designing the achievement tests? 3. How do the achievement tests motivate adult learners? 4. How do the tests affect the teaching? 1. Research Scope Learners‟ success or failure in acquiring a language can be affected by many intertwining factors.
Among these factors, language tests and assessments should be taken into consideration. However, this study only focuses on the perception towards and application of language testing criteria in designing achievement tests by teachers at Quang Tri Continuing Education Centre and some implications for designing achievement tests. The research does not address the following: - The testing was performed within a large context. - The achievement tests were adapted from any published ones.
Significance of the Study According to McMillan and Schumacher (1993) the potential significance of the study describes how the ethnographic study can add to the development of knowledge and implications for further research and educational practices. As a teacher of English at Quang Tri Continuing Education Centre, I find that many teachers are not fully aware of the significance of testing.