VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES PHẠM THU HIỀN USING TESTS AS A SUMMATIVE ASSESSMENT METHOD IN THE LIGHT OF COMMUNICATIVE LANGUAGE TEACHING AT KIEN QUOC SECONDARY SCHOOL (Vấn đề sử dụng các bài kiểm tra đánh giá cuối kì đối với học sinh tại Trường Trung học cơ sở Kiến Quốc theo định hướng giảng dạy tiếng Anh giao tiếp) M. MINOR PROGRAM THESIS FIELD: ENGLISH TEACHING METHODOLOGY CODE: 60.11 HA NOI - 2014 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES PHẠM THU HIỀN USING TESTS AS A SUMMATIVE ASSESSMENT METHOD IN THE LIGHT OF COMMUNICATIVE LANGUAGE TEACHING AT KIEN QUOC SECONDARY SCHOOL (Vấn đề sử dụng các bài kiểm tra đánh giá cuối kì đối với học sinh tại Trường Trung học cơ sở Kiến Quốc theo định hướng giảng dạy tiếng Anh giao tiếp) M. MINOR PROGRAM THESIS FIELD: ENGLISH TEACHING METHODOLOGY CODE: 60.11 SUPERVISOR: TRẦN THI ̣ THU HIỀN, PhD HA NOI - 2014 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com CANDIDATE’S DECLARATION I declare that I independently compiled this minor thesis entitled “Using tests as a summative assessment methos at Kien Quoc Secondary School in the light of CLT” which is submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Art in TESOL, using only resources listed in references. The thesis or any part of the same has not been submitted for higher education degree to any other university or institution.
Hanoi, 2014 Phạm Thu Hiền i LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS To fulfill the thesis I have owed the great debts of gratefulness to many people. First of all, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor, Dr. Trần Thị Thu Hiền, University of Languages and International Studies – Vietnam National University, Hanoi for her invaluable guidance, advice and effort when revising the manuscript with endless patience and insightful suggestions. I would like to take this opportunity to extend my sincere thanks to Dr.
Lê Văn Canh for his useful lectures on Methodology which inspired me in choosing the subject matter of my study. Besides that, I thank all other lecturers and Faculty of Post-Graduate Studies for their tolerant teaching and support during the past two years. I could finally graduate and get my Master degree. My sincere thanks are also given to my colleagues who have been encouraging and supporting me up to now so that I could finish my course.
I wish to show my gratitude to all teachers at Kien Quoc Secondary School where the data of the study has been collected. Their help in collecting tests and giving additional information with enthusiasm is always highly appreciated. Last but not least, special thanks belong to my family, especially my husband and three children who are always of my source of power in my life. Thank you all.
ii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com ABSTRACT This minor thesis aims at finding out whether the English achievement tests used at Kien Quoc Secondary School, Haiphong are consistent with English language teaching and learning in the light of CLT to achieve the objective of the course. The study is hoped to provide a specific look at how the tests are used as a summative assessment method at KQSS in the light of CLT. In order to achieve this aim, the main method employed in the study is to analyze tests. All the end-of-semester tests administered to students in the academic year 2013 – 2014 from grade 6 to 9 were collected and analyzed with the hope to give conceptions about the tests.
The findings show that the tests lack of speaking skill and are helpful to measure grammar aspect while three other dimensions of communicative competence were not measured effectively. These tests are claimed not to encourage the adoption of CLT at KQSS. Therefore, recommendations for better changes in testing are given to make tests fit well with the communicative objective of the language curriculum for secondary school. iii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com TABLE OF CONTENTS CANDIDATE’S DECLARATION.
iii TABLE OF CONTENTS. iv LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS. vii LIST OF TABLES. vii PART A: INTRODUCTION …………………………………………….
Aims of the study. Scope of the study. Significance of the study …. Design of the study ….
5 CHAPTER 1LITERATURE REVIEW …………………………………… 5 1.2 The importance of testing in teaching and learning ……….3 Approaches to language testing …………………………….4 Types of tests ……………………………………………….5 Criteria of a good test ………………………………………. 14 iv LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.6 Stages of test construction ………………………………….9 Test language components ………………………………….2 The role of language assessment…………………………….3 Types of language assessment ….3 Communicative language teaching …….2 CLT approach in Vietnam .2 Communicative competence and CLT ……………………… 27 CHAPTER 2 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY …………………………… 28 2.1 Context of the study……………………………….1 The English syllabus ………….2 The common English course objectives of secondary school 28 2.3 Kien Quoc Secondary School ………………………….4 English language learning assessment ……………………….4 Recommended test specifications of the end-of-semester tests ….5 Procedures of data analysis ………………………………………. 32 CHAPTER 3 RESULT AND DISCUSSION ………….4 Aspects of communicative competence in the tests ……………… 38 v LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.1 Raising awareness about communicative competence - goal of language teaching and learning ………………………………… 44 4.2 Improving tests content and techniques ………………………….3 Making language skills and language knowledge equal ………….4 Providing clear and sufficient information about the course before the beginning of semesters ………………………………………. Limitations and suggestions for further studies …………….
i vi LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS 1. MOET: Ministry of Education and Training 2. KQSS: Kien Quoc Secondary School 3. CLT: Communicative language teaching 4.
MCQ: Multi-choice question 5.1: The end-of-1st semester test for grade 6 7.2: The end-of-2nd semester test for grade 6 8.1: The end-of-1st semester test for grade 7 9.2: The end-of-2nd semester test for grade 7 10.1: The end-of-1st semester test for grade 8 11.2: The end-of-2nd semester test for grade 8 12.1: The end-of-1st semester test for grade 9 13.2: The end-of-2nd semester test for grade 9 LIST OF TABLES Table 1: The recommended test specification ………………………………………….31 Table 2: Tests‟ content and format ………………………………….33 Table 3: Construct validity of test items ………………………….…………………… 36 Table 4: Aspects of communicative competence to be measured by the tests .………… 38 vii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com PART A: INTRODUCTION 8. Rationale Since the economic reform widely known as “Renovation” opened door to the whole world, English in Vietnam has become of great importance as a means of global communication and a bridge to mankind‟s knowledge. Consequently, the English teaching and learning have been quickly pushed up with the adoption of CLT approach which, as noted by Richards and Rodgers (2001), is “the acquisition of communicative competence via student engagement in meaningful use of language at discourse level”. In other words, communicative competence is the main goal of English teaching and learning which was set forth by the Vietnamese MOET in 2006.
This realistic goal certainly provides both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation to English teaching and learning and, at the same time, it helps make decision about classroom activities which are then normally realized in testing. However, contrary to that aim, the author has realized that almost students in general and students at KQSS in particular could hardly achieve that communicative competence, that is, they could not be able to communicate in English although they could get very good test results. In the attempt to find out the challenges to the problem, the author accidentally has found that the tests administered to students in the academic year 2013 – 2014 do not reflect students‟ communicative competence, that is, students‟ communicative competence is not measured. Evidently, there is a mismatch between testing and the course objectives to get the communicative goal in the light of CLT.
The author, then, would like to take a close look at testing. Therefore, in the minor thesis the author has a desire to investigate what the tests used at KQSS in the academic year 2013 – 2014 are, what aspects of communicative competence the tests measure and whether they encourage the application of communicative language teaching into classroom activities at KQSS. Aims of the study The major aim of the study is to investigate whether the end-of-semester achievement tests used at KQSS in the academic year 2013 – 2014 have promoted the 1 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com adoption of CLT to obtain students‟ ability to communicate in English. For a clear understanding of the related issue, the study focused on the following research objectives: To consider the aspects of the communicative competence that the tests measure; and To evaluate whether or not the tests motivate the application of CLT to English teaching and learning at KQSS.
Scope of the study Due to the limitation of time, research conditions and knowledge, the author had no ambition to cover all aspects relating to the employed tests. The study was mainly the focal point for analyzing the end-of-semester achievement tests used at KQSS for all grades and classes in the academic year 2013 – 2014 to consider what aspects of communicative competence they help measure and whether they motivate or demotivate the communicative language teaching. Based on the findings, suggestions to improve those tests for better communicative competence achievement and for the adoption of CLT would be raised. Research questions Various kinds of researches have been conducted on language testing such as language test design, test validity, etc.
The study is not directed in the same way. It aims at exploring how the end-of semester tests are used at KQSS in the academic year 2013 – 2014 with two main objectives namely the aspects or dimensions of the communicative competence that the tests measure and whether the tests encourage the application of CLT in English teaching and learning at KQSS. In light of this goal of the study, the research questions are posed as follows: 1, What aspects or dimensions of the communicative competence do the tests used at KQSS in the academic year 2013 – 2014 measure? 2, Do these tests encourage the application of CLT to English language teaching and learning? 2 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail. Methods This study is a combination of both quantitative and qualitative approaches.
At first, a quantitative method was employed on the data and analysis from 8 end-of- semester tests on English from grades 6 to 9 in both two semesters of the academic year 2013 – 2014. The number of each language component and knowledge of the tests would be counted and changed into percent to obtain description about them. Qualitative method was then employed to interpret data from the quantitative analysis with the hope to provide detailed description and proofs to give answers to the research questions. Significance of the study This study is implemented with a view to finding out the actual aspects of communicative competence being measured by the end-of-semester summative achievement tests and whether these tests encourage the CLT application to language teaching and learning.
This, as for the author, is a good thing to do because the results of the research would help (1) prove that communicative competence – a desirable long-term goal of language learning is not actually measured and that the tests do not encourage the application of CLT; (2) educators, test makers and administrators evaluate whether tests are suitable and helpful to achieve the language learning goal, then, know how to improve tests to encourage the application of CLT to language teaching and learning activities.