MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HUE UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES HA THI THUAN FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT: EFL TEACHERS’ PERCEPTIONS AND PRACTICE AT UPPER- SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN QUANG BINH PROVINCE MA THESIS IN THEORY AND METHODOLOGY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts, Hue University of Foreign Languages HUE, 2016 MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HUE UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES HA THI THUAN FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT: EFL TEACHERS’ PERCEPTIONS AND PRACTICE AT UPPER- SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN QUANG BINH PROVINCE MA THESIS IN THEORY AND METHODOLOGY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING SUPERVISOR: Assoc. TRUONG VIEN HUE, 2016 BỘ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO ĐẠI HỌC HUẾ TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ HÀ THỊ THUẪN ĐÁNH GIÁ QUÁ TRÌNH: NHẬN THỨC VÀ SỰ THỰC HIỆN CỦA GIÁO VIÊN TIẾNG ANH TRUNG HỌC PHỔ THÔNG Ở TỈNH QUẢNG BÌNH LUẬN VĂN THẠC SĨ LÝ LUẬN VÀ PHƯƠNG PHÁP DẠY HỌC BỘ MÔN TIẾNG ANH MÃ SỐ: 60.11 NGƯỜI HƯỚNG DẪN KHOA HỌC: PGS. TRƯƠNG VIÊN HUE, 2016 STATEMENT OF ORIGINAL AUTHORSHIP The work contained in this thesis has not previously been submitted for a degree or diploma in any university. I certify that, to the best of my knowledge and belief, my thesis contains no material previously published or written by another person except where due reference is made in the thesis itself.
Hà Thị Thuẫn December 19, 2016 i ABSTRACT This thesis aims to study the perceptions and reality of teachers of English in Quang Binh province toward implementing formative assessment in their instructions as well as the difficulties facing in deploying process. The data was collected by means of the questionnaire and interviews and classroom observations. Besides the participants who did the pilot questionnaire and interviews, thirty participants completed the questionnaires and six of them were randomly invited to the informal interviews. To collect the full information, the researcher observed six classroom periods.
The findings showed that most of the EFL teachers were aware of the significance of implementing formative assessment in assessment procedure. They realized that formative assessment could help improve both students and teachers’ teaching outcomes timely. However, many constraints such as lack of experience, support, the pressure of oriented-examination, students’ passive learning way, especially lack of time were reported. Basing on the findings, it is suggested that teachers need to adopt formative assessment more so that they can improve their teaching practice to reach expected results.
To do so, they need to manage their time more effectively, arrange their time better, as well as supports from the managers. Also, it is essential that the leaders of institutions need to create more favorable conditions, such as to conduct more research, and facilities the teachers with good conditions to study about how to deploy formative assessment effectively with its benefits. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This thesis would not have been possible without the generous support and encouragement of many people whom I am immensely grateful. First, I would like to acknowledge my gratitude to Assoc.
Truong Vien, who agreed to act as my supervisor. His suggestions towards a new aspect and object of study inspired me to conduct this thesis. Additionally, the useful references he provides a long with his enthusiastic instruction and valuable feedback throughout the entire work helped raise my thesis to its present standard. Second, my special thanks go to Dr.
Hong Nhung whose good lectures provided me with knowledge on how to carry and read out the results of research. Third, I am greatly thankful to Ms. Ngo Le Hoang Phuong. She spent her valuable time giving comments, editing my writing.
I also would like to express my deep gratitude to the participants for their participation in this study. With their willingness and hospitality which allowed me conduct the investigation, obtain the findings of the research, and complete the writing of this thesis. Last but not least, I am greatly indebted to my parents and my dear husband who took care of my children and created the most favorable conditions for me to take the M.A course as well as this thesis. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS STATEMENT OF ORIGINAL AUTHORSHIP.
iii TABLE OF CONTENTS. The aims and objectives of the study. Significance of the research. The scope of the research.
Organization of the thesis. Definition of Assessment. Assessment in comparing with evaluation. Various forms of Assessments.
Formative and Summative Assessment. Research design and research method. Participants for questionnaire. Participants for interview.
Participants for classroom observation. Procedure for data collection. Administrating the questionnaire. Administrating the interview.
Administrating the classroom observation. FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION. Findings from questionnaire data. Perceptions of EFL upper-secondary teachers toward implementing formative assessment.
Necessity of implementing formative assessment in classroom practice. Benefits of implementing formative assessment in classroom practice. Participants’ interest about formative assessment forms at upper- secondary schools. Perceived practice of formative assessment.
Formative assessment techniques often used by participants. Perceived practice of integrating formative assessment into teaching. Advantages and difficulties when implementing formative assessment. The advantages of implementing formative assessment.
The difficulties of implementing formative assessment. Correlations among three clusters. Findings from interview data. Participants’ perceptions towards formative assessment.
Participant’s perceptions of utilizing formative techniques, strategies in teaching English. The participants’ perceived practice of implementing formative assessment at upper-secondary schools. The difficulties faced by the teachers in implementing formative assessment at upper-secondary schools. Findings from classroom observation.
Discussion on findings. Findings on the participants’ perceptions toward the benefits of necessary in implementing assessment. Findings from the reality of implementing formative assessment. Difficulties in implementing formative assessment at upper-secondary schools in Quang Binh province context.
CONSLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS. Summary of the main findings. Research question 1: Teachers’ perceptions about implementing formative assessment. Research question 2: Reality of implementing formative assessment by EFL teachers.
Research question 3: Difficulties in implementing formative assessment. Correlations among three clusters. Limitations of the present research. Suggestions for future studies .78 vi LIST OF TABLES Table 3.
Clusters, sub-clusters and items in the questionnaire. Reliability of the questionnaire. The mean score of teachers’ perceptions toward implementing formative assessment .The mean score of Sub-Cluster 1. Summary of participants’ responses to each item in Sub-Cluster 1.
The mean score of Sub-Cluster 1. Summary of participants’ responses to each item in Sub-Cluster 1.The mean score of Sub-Cluster 1. Summary of participants’ responses to each item in Sub-Cluster 1. The mean score of Sub-Cluster 2.
Summary of participants’ responses to each item in Sub-Cluster 2. The mean score of Sub-Cluster 2. Summary of participants’ responses to each item inSub-Cluster 2. The mean score of Sub-Cluster 3.
Summary of participants’ responses to each item in Sub-Cluster 3. The mean score of Sub-Cluster 3. Summary of participants’ responses to each item inSub-Cluster 3. Correlations among three clusters .40 vii CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION In this chapter, the researcher will present (1) the rationale of the study related to the upper-secondary school EFL teachers’ perception and practices of formative assessment in Quang Binh province; (2) the research aims; (3) the research questions (4) significance of the research; (5) scope of the study and (6) the organizational structure of the thesis.
Rationale As we all know, assessment is considered as one of the most key center- elements in education in general and plays an important role in teaching and learning language in particular. It affects decisions related to instruction, determines the extent to which instructional objectives are met, and provides information for administrative decision. Yet, to many of today’s teachers, assessment is synonymous with high-stakes standardized tests. They refer to summative test on their daily teaching and learning activity.
Researchers all over the world as cited by Heritage (2007, p. 140) have found that standardized tests always dominate teaching and assessment. But there is an entirely different kind of assessment that can actually transform both teaching and learning (Heritage, 2007). Through the process of assessment, the teachers could adjust their subsequent instructions and the learners could modify their right goals to improve their learning needs.
And this genre of assessment is called formative assessment (Popham, 2009). On the theory, formative assessment improves student achievement. It has been proven in a number of research studies, conducted over the past decade, to be one of the most effective instructional tools to positively influence student achievement. When teachers, students, and their peers effectively utilize formative assessment, they are making conscientious decisions about the next steps in the instructional and learning processes that will be optimal for improving learning.
In case teachers are not full of understanding of the concept of formative 1 assessment, they may affect the quality of their assessment practice in the classroom and, eventually, their students learning. In this study, the researcher focused on exploring EFL teachers’ perception and practices of formative assessment at upper-secondary schools in Quang Binh province. The researchers wanted to survey the reality of deploying formative assessment in practice instruction explore what teachers have obtained in implementing formative assessment in EFL instruction context and what they have not yet. Furthermore, with the love of profession, this research entitled “Formative Assessment: EFL teachers’ perceptions and practice at upper-secondary schools in Quang Binh province” will hopefully be a useful reference for many readers, teachers in the field, and a practical contribution in the learning and teaching English as a foreign language context.
The aims and objectives of the study 1. The aims The research aims to study the teachers’ perceptions and practice of formative assessment. In this study, the researcher concentrated on how upper-secondary school EFL teachers in Quang Binh province understand the concept of formative assessment and what the reality of conducting formative assessment in classroom practice is. Another aim is to explore what difficulties faced by the teachers in implementing formative in their context.
Moreover, basing on the practical results, the researcher found out the answers about this conducting formative assessment by EFL teachers, and lastly, draw out some implications to help teachers effectively use formative assessment as an improving tool in their teaching. The Objectives The objectives of this research are: - To study the upper-secondary EFL teachers’ perception of formative assessment. - To explore the reality of implementing formative assessment in teaching English. 2 - To gain an in-depth understanding of difficulties which teachers encounter in their practice, then to provide some suggestions for more effective teacher implementation practice.
Research questions Aiming to gain insight into the upper-secondary schools EFL teachers’ perceptions toward formative assessment and reality of implementing in instruction practice in Quang Binh province and to explore the challenges faced by them in their context, to give suggestions for better practice for upper-secondary teacher, this study was to seek the answers to the following questions: 1) What are the EFL teachers’ perceptions of implementing Formative Assessment at upper- secondary schools in Quang Binh province? 2) What is the reality of conducting Formative Assessment at Upper-secondary schools in Quang Binh province? 3) What are difficulties faced by the teachers in implementing Formative Assessment at upper-secondary schools in Quang Binh province? 1. Significance of the research It is hoped that this study will provide some insights into the perceptions and practice of conducting formative assessment in teaching practice. It is also hoped that the study will stimulate researchers to further explore the issue of helping upper- secondary school EFL teachers to apply effectively this kind of assessment to their instruction practice. The scope of the research This research targets are deliberately to upper-secondary teachers’ perceptions toward formative assessment and reality of implementing formative assessment in EFL context.
It involved 30 teachers from 6 upper-secondary schools in Quang Binh province in the year 2015-2016. Therefore, the findings of the study were only true for the subjects concerned and for the given periods of time.