Luận văn a study on the validity of the end ter chievement tests on english grade 12 high schools in northern vietnam

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI COLLEGE OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES DEPARTMENT OF POST GRADUATE STUDIES HOANG VAN SAU A STUDY ON THE VALIDITY OF END-TERM ACHIEVEMENT TESTS ON ENGLISH GRA

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI COLLEGE OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES

DEPARTMENT OF POST GRADUATE STUDIES

HOANG VAN SAU

A STUDY ON THE VALIDITY OF END-TERM ACHIEVEMENT TESTS

ON ENGLISH GRADE 12, HIGH SCHOOLS IN NORTHERN VIETNAM

NGIIEN CUT TINT TEU LUC CUA CAC BAL KIEM TRA CUOLKY

MON TIENG ANH LGP 12 TAI MOT SO TRUGNG THPT O MIEN BAC

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI

COLLEGE OF FORKIGN LANGUAGES DEPARTMENT OF POST GRADUATE STUDIES

HOANG VAN SAU

A STUDY ON THE VALIDITY OF END-TERM ACHIEVEMENT TESTS

ON ENGLISH GRADE 12, HIGH SCHOOLS IN NORTHERN VIETNAM

NGHIÊN CỬU TÍNH HIỆU LỰC CỦA CAC BÀI KIÊM TRA CUÔI KỶ

MON TIENG ANH LỚP 12 TẠI MỘT SỐ TRƯỜNG THPT Ở MIEN BAC

VIỆT NAM

M.A THESIS

FIELD: METIIODOLOGY CODE: 60 1410

SUPERVISOR: DR HA CAM TAM

HA NOT - 2009

1.1 Rationale of the study

1.2 Seope of the study

1.3, Aims of the study

1.4 Research questions

1.5 Methods of the study

1.6 Organization of the study

Chapter 2; LITERATURE REVIEW

3.1 The relationships of language testing with teaching and leaming

2.5 ‘Testing language components

2.5.1 Tests of grammar and usage 2.5.2 Test of vocabulary

2.5.3 Test of phonology 2.6 Validity of a test

2.6.1 Definitions and types of validity 2.6.2 Content validity of a test

2.6.3 Construct validity of a test

2.7 Objeclives and Syllalus contents of English grade 12

2.9 Components’ contents of end-term achievement tests, English grade 12

2.9.1 Components’ conlents of Ihe 1* term achievernent lests

2.9.2 Components’ contents of the 2” term achievement tests

Chapter 3: THE STUDY

3.1 Rescarch design

3.1.1, Research questions 3.1.2 informants

3.1.3 Data description 3.2 Analytical framework

3.3 Findings and discussion

3.3.1 Content validity of test samples’ components

3.3.1.1 Contsr validily of phonctic items

3.7.2.2 Content validily ef grammar test ilerns,

3.7.2.3 Content validily of vocabulary ilems

4.3.2 Construct validity of the test samples

3.3.2.1 Construct validity of phonetic test items 3.3.2.2 Construct validity of grammar test items 3.3.2.3 Construct validity of vocabulary test items Chapter 4: CONCLUSION

Components’ contents of 2 term achievement tests

Content validity of test samples” components

Construct validity of the test samples

CIIAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

1.1 Rationale of the study

In several decades recently, nglish language testing and evaluation has received a great interest ftom both sducators, researchers worldwide In Vietnam, for its important rolcs in educational ficld, English testing and evaluation has been focused in universities

and educational institutions through researches, Master of Arts theses, doctoral theses in

methodology, most of which aim lo eval

wile reliability and vatidity, the essential andl ros

important characteristics of a test

‘The raising interest towards English testing can be only explained by its importance

to English loaching and English loaning For Engtish toacking, testing ovatuation helps teachers check again the effect of the teaching procedure, fom which they could consider the contents and techniques used in teaching, On the other hand, through testing, students can adjust the Jearning process themselves in order to get better study results

There arc a munber of previous researches at Colloge of Foreign Languages — Vietnam national University that carried out on testing in terms of validity of tests For

instance, Vu, Ba Tinh (2006); Nguyen, Thi Mai Phnong (2008); Tran Thi Tliew Thuy

(2008); Le Thuy Linh (2004), Nguyen, Thi Bich Hong (2008), cte All of these tests are at college and university research area, However, we recognized that there is not any study aboul validily of tests at high schools The interested research lapics are often about using, language skills, iochniquos in English teaching and tearing For cxample, Lar, Thi Thu Thuy (2008), Đân, Duy Lich (2007), Nguyễn Thị Nguyệt (2007), etc, This raises a question whether or not high school tests have reliability and validity And if so, how could they be evaluated?

One important thing when we mention to the testing and evaluation is the subjective

factor of the test-makers Popularly, the tests are written without considering carefully among the contents and objectives of the course and the content and construct of the tests This leads to the fact that many tasks students have to do in the tests do not exist in the course contents or the test items are unfamiliar or fir too difficnit to students, Clearly, those esis we said to be lack of reliability as well as validity, the most important and essential measurement qualities of a test This can be shown significantly through end-tenn

achievement tests which examine students’ achievements after a term or a course.

Vor the scope of this research, the end-term achievement tests on English grade 12 at high schools in Northern provinees of Vietnam have been collected and analyzed Dus to the time limitation and research conditions, the end-of term achievement tests that have been done and scored by students cannot be collected That the reason why the reliability

current

ing in high schools 11 is also inlouded to cneourage both tcachars and learnors

in the teaching and learning process and to be the valuable source of reference tor test

designers

1.2 Scope of the study

Due to the limitation of time and research conditions, the author doesn’t have the ambition to cover all ths aspects of a good achievement test like reliability, validity, discrimination, backwash cffecls cl, This study will mainly focus on the construc! validity and content validity of the end-term achievement tests on English grade 12 at high schools of some provinces in Norther Vietnam in school years of 2008 - 2009 Ths study will give the findings about construct validity and content validity of those achievement

tests and give suggestion to iraprove those tests as well as suggestions for fiarther studies

1.3 Aims of the stuiy

The major aims of the study is to evaluate the validity of the cnd-term achievement tests on English grade 12 at high schools of some provinces in Northern Vietnam in school

y

validity The specific aims of the study are:

% ‘To study and evaluate the construct validity and content validity of those

1.4, Rescarch questions

In order to achieve these goals, the study is carried out to the answer the following research questions

L-Do the end-term achievernent tests on English grade 12 ul high schvols in

some Northern Vietnamese provinces possess content validity?

2- Da those tests possess construct validity?

1.5 Methods of the study

This sludy is 2 combination of both quantitative and qualitative approaches First, z quantitative method was employed on the data collection fom 10 end-term achievement tests on English grade 12 of high schools in some nerthem provinces of Vietnam The number of each language component of a test that possessed the content validity and construct validity has boon comlad and changed into percent

Then from the quantitative statistics, qualitative method was employed to interpret

the data into the meanings of test samples and their components in terms of content validity and construct validity

1.6 Organization of the study

‘The thesis is organized into four major chapters:

Chapter 1 is the introduction thai preserts such initial information as the ralionale, aims, methods, research questions and the organization of the study

Chapter 2 reviews all related literature that provides the theoretical basis for language testing and langig

svatuation, Firsl, the tolationships of language Iosting with teaching and learning and objective testing are presented, Then, the achievement tests; tast specification; multiple choice questions and testing language components are discussed carcfully, Next, the most important theoretical part, validity in terms of content vatidily and construct validity are deeply taken into consideration Last parts are spent for objectives an syllabus design of English grade 12, Recommended test specification of end-

term achievement tesis on Tnglish grade 12 and components’ contents of end-lerm

analysis of construct validity and content validity is discussed Finally, the findings about

conten! validity and comstruel validity of the tes! samples arc taid au

Chapter 4 ofits the conclusions that make clear the research questions Some implications are suggested to improve end - term achievement tests in terms of their

construct validity and content validity The liznilalions and directions to further esearch

are also mentioned in this final chapter.

CIIAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter provides an overview of the theoretical background of the research

Hirstly, it discusses about the relationships of language testing with teaching and learning

Then, the achievement Icst

goi Lãi ification and testing langunge componenls

are discussed carefiully Next, the most important theoretical part, validity in terms of content validity and construct validity are deeply taken into consideration Last parts are spent for objectives and syllabus design of English grade 12, recommended test specification of end-term achievement tests on English grade 12 and components’ contents

of end-Lerm achievement Lests

2.1 The relationships of language testing with teaching and learning

‘Teaching, learning and testing are interrelated closely to each other, that the existence and changes of this factor may have considerable effects on olher factors Among

these three factors, perhaps Janguage testing itself has the strongest and clearest effects on

teaching and learning process Heaton (1988:5) had the same idea that “Both testing and

teaching are so closely interrelated that it ix virtually impassible to work either field

withoul being constantly concerned with the other” Heaton (1988:5) also pointed out the

importance of testing to the learming process as “Y'ests may be constructed primarily as devices to reinforce learning and motivate the students ar as a mean of assessing the students’ performance in the language”

Davies (1996:5) also desoribed the importance of language testing as "Properly

made English tests con help create positive attitudes toward instruction by giving students

@ sense of accomplistanent und a feeling that the teacher's evaluation of then matches what he has taught them Good English tests also help students learn the language by

acquiring them to sudy hard emphasising cow'se objectives, and showing them where

they need lo improve”

In term of the teaching field, testing help teachers evaluate how learners have

achieved the target language knowledge and language skill Bachman (1990:55) shared this point of view when he stated that the fundarnental use of Lesting in an edueational program

is to provide information for making decisions, that is, to evaluate However it is not a

simple thing for teachers to receive exact, reliable and valid testing from different

test-takers, who have different interests, attitudes, and different background knowledge of the

for belter students

For leamers, testing helps them find ont their weak points and strong pounts, from which they may develop the most suitable learning strategies themselves, testing may molivate sludows to maintain their achievemenls or to gain bellor ranks im the class Nevertheless, testing can bring positive effects to students in case its difficult level is too high or too low, that makes students lose their interest or get bored with the learning

pro

Hughes (1989:1) dealt with the effect of lesting on toaching and loaning as backwash that may be beneficial or harmfid with more focus on the harmful side of test

According to him, in case the test cantent does not meet the objectives of the course, the

harmful backwash then appears and it proves the thinking that teaching and testing do not have been related to cach other, He also prescnted a lively cxample, that is, a writing skill

is tested only by multiple choice items in which learners only concentrate on practicing such items rather than practicing the skill of writing itself

In summary, testing plays a very important role to teaching and learning and vice versa For teachers, 2 good test can help them evaluate their teaching procedure as well as their students? achievernent more effectively and, help to eliminate the harmful backwash

that the test may have

2.2 Objective testing

There arc tnany lypos of Tangnage tests Highos (1989-9) classifted them according

to their testing purposes, namely, proficiency tests, achievement tests, dingnostic tests and placement tests, Besides, on the basis of manner in which tests ate scored, they are divided

inlo objective and subjective testing

Of all testing types, objective tests are chosen lo discuss aboul The reason of which

is, in the recent years, most of English written tests at high schools in Norther Vietnam have been designed basing on this testing approach And the end-term English

achievemtenl les

„ grade 12, school year 2008-2009 are not the exception

According to Davies et al, (1999:132), objective test is a test in which all the items

arc obj

tively scored In an objective test, cored respon

markers are not required to make judgments

Tleaton (1998:26) stated that objective tests are frequently criticized on the grounds

arc clearly specified, and

thal they are simnpler to answer han subjective tests However

can be made just as easy or difficult as the test designer wishes, Heaton (1998-26) noticed that some scholars criticized objective tests of the multiple-choice for their guessing

5 items in an objective tes!

encouragement, Nevertheless, Hoalon pointed out that four or five alternatives for cach item are sutticient to reduce the possibility of guessing He added that test-takers hardly make wild guesses; most base their guesses on partial knowledge

Personally spoaking, objective testing is ons of effective ways of cvalnating the study results in English It not only tests the communicative skills but checks the language knowledge In an objective test there is the larger number of grammar vocabulary and phonology that can generally be included than those in a subjective test What is more, objective tests can be soorod mechanically since they often have only one correct answer

It is the fact that objective tests can be marked by computer that is one important reason for

testing large numbers of test-lakers

For test-makers, however, mastering the types of objective tests and designing them

is rather difficult requirement In order to design a good objective test, the test-takers have

to grasp Lesting techniques and prepare a plentiful testing hank

In objective testing, multiple-choice questions are among the most popular types of technique to be used, It then follows by other types of techniques, such as matching items,

supply items, true/false questions, ete

Tn shent, a good classroom lest should conlain squally both subjective items and objective items to enhance ifs validity and reliability as well as to ensure its Ianguage knowledge and its language skills

2.3 Achievement tests

‘There are four main types of tests, namely, achievement tests, proficiency tests, aptitude tusls, andl diagnostic tests In this study, dus to the scape of the research is lo

ement tests, English grade 12, only the first test type in term

of achievement test will be discussed

evaluate the cnd-term achi:

2.3.1 Definitions

Achicvernent tests, which are very popularly used in secondary schools and high

schools, are very important tool to help evaluating students nowadays There are a number

of ways in which achievement tests are defined, among the most remarkable of which are:

According ty Davies et al, (1999-2): “An achievement test is an instrianent designed

to measure what person has learned within or up to a given time Itis based on a clear and public indication of the instruction that has been given The content of the achievement

tests is a sample of what has heen in the syllabus diving the time under scrutiny and as

such they have been called parasitic on the syllabus”

Hughes (1989:10) claimed that “ichievemeat tests are direetly related to language

courses with the purpose of establishing how successful individual students, group of students, or the courses themselves have been in achieving objective”

It then follows by McNamara (2000:06) that “Achievement tests accunidate

evidence hiring, 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, Achievement tests should

support the teaching to which they relate.”

Tleaton (1998.172) agreed with the above altitudes and he claimed that these tests

are based on what the students are presumed to have learnt - not necessarily on what they

have actually learnt nor on what have actually been taught

To sum up, a good achievernenl test should cover the specific learning and teaching

contents that have been previously used

2.3.2, Final achievement iesty

Llughes (1989:10) claims that final achievement tests are those administered at the

end of a cours: of siurly They may be issued by mnistrics of education, official examining

boards, or by members of teaching institutions Clearly the content of these tests must be

telated to the courses which they are concerned, but the nature of this relationship is a

matter of disagreement among some language testers

It is approved by some testing experts that the content of 4 final achievement test

should be based directly on a detailed course syllabus or ơn the books and other materials

used, This has been referred lo as the syflabus-conlent approach And since the test only

contains what it is thought that the students have actually encountered, and thus can be

considered as a fair test However, the disadvantage of this type is that if the syllabus is.

badly designed, or the books and other materials are badly chosen, then the results of tests can be very mistading, T leads to the Giel that s fal perforsan on the

ay ToL

truly reflect the achievement of course objectives

The second approach is to design the test content directly on the objectives of the conrse, which las a number oadvantagas Firslly il forces course designers to eticil course objectives Secondly, student can show how far they have achieved those objectives, Tests based on course objectives work against the perpetuation of poor teaching practice, a kind

of conrse-content-bascd test, akmnst ax if part ofa conspiracy fail to do The lest content based on couse objectives is believed to be more preferable and is said to provide more accurate information about individual and group achievement, and seem to promote a more honeficiat backwash offect on teaching Hughes (1995:11) approved of the tater approach

by arguing that it will provide more accurate information about individual and group achievement, and it is likely to promote a more beneficial backwash effect on teaching

2.4, Test specification

It is no doubt that test specifications play an important and cssential part in test

construction and evahuation

Alderson, Clapham and Wall (1995:9) claim thai test specifications provide the

official statement about what the test tests and how the test tests it These scholars

demonstrate that the specifications are the blueprint to be followed by test and item writer, and they are also essential in the establishment of the Lest’s construct validity

Furthermore, Alderson, Clapham and Wall (1995:10) add that test specifications are not only needed by just an individual but a range of people They are needed by (i) Test

constructors to produce the test; (ii) Those responsible for editing and moderating the test,

(iil) Those responsible for or interested in establishing Lest’s validity, and (iv) Admission officers to make a decision on the basis of test scores

It is then followed by the view of McNamara (2000:31) that test specifications are a recipe or blueprint for test construction and they will include information on such matters

as the length and the structure of each part of the test, the type of materials with which candidates will have to engage, the sonrce of such materials

if authentic, the extent to

which authenlic materials may be altered, the response formal, the test rubric, and how

responses are to be scored,

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Personally, the users of test specifications may have different needs, so writers of specifications shoud remember that what is suitable for some andicnoe may be quite

unsuitable for the others

2.5 Testing language components

Tleaton (1998:9) and any other linguists isolated the language cornponents as three sections on grammar and usage; vocabulary (concemed with word meanings, word formation and collocations), and phonology (concern with phonemes, stress and

imlonation)

2.5.1 Tests of grammar and usage

According to Heaton (1998:9), “these tests measure students’ ability to recognize

it is these skills which should be tested directly, not the abilities that seem to underlie them,

Tughes (2003:173) emphasived thal “i has lo be accepted that grammatical ability, or rather the lack of it, sets limits to what can be achieved in the way of skills performance ‘The successful writing of academic assignments, for example, must depend

to some extent on command of tore than the most elementary grammatical strucumes.”

Ina grammar test, there commonly have the following items: multiple-choice items,

error-recognition items, rearrangement items, completion items, transformation items,

items involving the changing of words, broken sentence items, paiting and matching items, combination i

2.5.2 Test of vocabulary

Ttis obvious that vocabulary is the most essential and important part of any language

1s, and addition Herm

and with any other language components and language skills as phonetics and phonology, grammar, reading, speaking, writing and listening Heaton (1998:9) stated that “A test of vocabulary measures sludents’ knowledge of the meaning of cetlain words as well as the patlomns and collocations in which they occur Such a Las! may tesl their aclive vocubulary (the words they should be able to use in speaking and in writing) or their passive

2.5.3, Test of phonology

Heaton (1998:9) claimed that test items design to test phonology might attempt to

asscss the following, sub-skills: ubilily lo recognize and prononnce the significant sound contuasts of a language, ability to recognize and use the stress pattems of a language, and ability to hear and produce the melody or patterns of the tunes of a language (ie the rise

c)

There are often several ifems in a phonology test, namely, multiple-choice, syllable

and fall of the voi

important consitleration in designing and evaluating 4 language test is its uscfiness, which

is strongly denoted by its validity, In this part, definitions and two subtypes of validity in terms of construct validity and content validity will be investigated

2.6.1 Definitions and types of validity

According to Davies et al, (1999:221): ‘Validity is the quality which most affects

accurate concrete representation of an abstract concep! {for exenwle proficieny,

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extent to witch it measures what it ty supposed to measure” while lInghes {1989:22) stated

thal “a test ts said to he valid if measures accurately what it is intended to measure”

A test is said to be valid if it measures what it is intended to measure In other words,

the test may be valid for some purposes but not for others For instance, if the test is designed to Lest abilily of comprehensive reading, then il is valid if il conlains reading test

items like multiple choice, matching, C-tests, etc But if the test is structured with

questions of grammar, it then cannot be considered valid

jad into such subtypes as: construct validity, content validity, face validity, criterion-related validity Among them, the two subtypes of validity in terms of construct validity and content validity will be discussed in the next two parts

2.6.2 Content validity of a test

According to Harrison (1983:11): “Content validity is concerned with what goes into

the test The content of a test should be decided by considering the purpase of the assessment and then drawing up a list known as a content specification”

Henning (1987-94) claimed that content validity is concerned with “whether or not

the content of the test is sufficiently representative and comprehensive for the test to be a

valid measure of what is supposed to measure” For hitn, there is nol always an extunstive

test but it nmust be selected in content

It then follows by Shohamy’s idea (1985:74) that “4 test is described to have

coment validity if it can show the test-takers’ already-learnt knowledge People normally compare the test content to the table of specification Content validity is said to be the most important validity for classroom tests”

is the frst form of evidence that rob fo the eonlent of the test

Content vatidity

The test would have content validity only if it included a proper sample of relevant structures which will depend upon the purpose of the test For example, an achievement

test for intermediaic tcarncrs should not contain just the same sct of structures as one for

advanced lamers To ensure about the content validity of a test, a specification of the skills or structure is needed, that it is meant to cover Such specification should be made at avery carly stage in test construction (Hughes, 2003.26)

Hughes (2003:26) suggested that not everything in the specification will always be expected to appear in the test beeause too many things for all of them to be ina single test

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Lowever, he claimed that this specification will give the basis for testers when making a

sil

principled selection of clements for inelusion in the I:

This is a non-statistical type of validity that involves “te systematic examination of

the test content ta determine whether it cavers a representative sample of the behaviour

domain to he measured” (Anastasi & Urbina, 1997 p 114) A test has content validity built

into it by careful selection of which items to include (Anastasi & Urbina, 1997) Items are

chosen so that they comply with the test specification which is drawn up through a thorough examination of the subject domain

Sharing attitudes with the above researchers, Heaton (1998:160) stated that “This

kind of validity depend on a carefid analysis of the language being tested and of the

particular course objectives The test should he so constructed as to contain a

representative sample of the course, the relationship between the test items and the course

objectives always being apparent” Lle also pointed out that when constructing a test, the

tester should first draw up a table of test specifications, describing in very clear and precise

terms the particular language skills and arcas to be included in the test Heaton (1998:160)

took an example in which the test or sub-test being constructed is a test of grammar, then each of the grarmnalical areas should then be given a percentage weighling, for instance,

the future simple 10 percent, uncountable nouns 15 percent, relative pronouns 10 percent,

ete

Tn other words, Ihis approach measures the degree to which the fest items represent

the domam or universe of the trait or property being measured In order to establish the content validity of a measuring instrument, the researcher must identify the overall content

to be represented Items must then be randomly chosen from this content that will accurately represent the information im all arcas By using this method the researcher

should obtain a group of items which is representative of the content of the trait or property

to be measured

To conclude, contsnt validity in a certain cxtent, is more specific than construct

validity, and identifying the universe of content is not an easy task It is, therefore, usually suggested thal a panst of experts in the field to be sindied be used to identify a content area For example, in the case of researching the knowledge of teachers aboul a new

curriculum, a group of curriculum and teacher education experts might be asked to identity

the content of the test to be developed.

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2.6.3 Construct validity of a test

Davies et al (1999:33) defined construct validity of a test as follows: “the construct

validity of a language test is an indication of how representative it is af an underlying

theory of language learning Construct validation involves an investigation of the qualities

that a test measures, thus providing a basis for the rationale of a test”

It seems that construct validity is the most difficult concept and is considered to be a superordinate form which is conlributed hy internal and external validily Menring (1987.98) argued that “While consiruct validity is empirical in nature because if involves the gathering of data and the testing of hypotheses, unlike concurrent and predictive validity, it does not have any one particular validity coefficient associated with it” He added that the parpose of validating construcl is lo make snre that the undertying theoretical constructs being measured are themselves valid According to him, construct validation usually begins with a psychological construct that is part of a formal theory,

which cnables certain predictions aboul how the construct variable will behave or be

influenced under specified conditions, under which the construct is then tested

In his concept, Tinghes (1995:26) stated that “4 test, part of a test, or a testing lechnique is said to have construct validity if it can be demonstrated thal it measures just

the ability which ix supposed to measure” He believed that the word “construct” is

denoted to any underlying ability (or trait) which is hypothesized in a theory of language ability Hughes also gave an cxample (hal the ability lo read involves a number of sub-

abilities, such as the ability to guess the meaning of unknown words from the context in

which they are met.

1.7 Objectives and SyHabus contents of English grade 12

2.7.1, Objectives of English grade 12

English textbook grade 12, that is “Tiéng Anh 12” is a follow-up of the English textbook grade 0 and grade 1 whieh are theme-based and topic-based composed English textbook grade 12 has been officially applicd in high schools from the school year 2008-

2009 The thematic and topical system is the basis for the shaping and developing the language competence The language components like phonetics, vocabulary and grarumar,

etc, are introduced to shape and develop the students’ language competence For teachers,

sign model helps them actively carry out communicative activities according to themes in order {0 forma and develop the communicative skills and suilable language knowledge which meets the students’ needs, their tastes, and their different proficiency levels

According to BO GIAQ DUC VA DAO ‘TAO (2006:25), ‘The Linglish textbook

grade 12 aims al providing students the language knowledge, especially the basic, modern and systematic English language, which is the background for shaping appropriate

communicative skills to students’ ages At the end of this grade, students are able to use lcarnt English knowledge to practice the four skills:

- Listening: students are able to (i) listen comprehensively main contents as

well as delailed contents of about, 180 to 200-word monologues! dialogues

in the learnt domain contents of the textbook; (it) understand the text al the

normal reading/ speaking speed

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- Speaking: students are able to ()) ask, answer, and speak to topic-related

contents int the fextbook; (ii) carry out basic communicative fimotions, such

as showing personal attitudes, talking about demands and hobbies, axplaining reasons, etc

- Reading: students are able to (i) read comprehensively main cantenis as

well as detailed contents of about 180 to 200-word texts/passages in the learnt domain contents of the textbook; (i)distinguish the main ideas and

supplement ones: and (iif) use main ideas Lo summarize:

- Writing: students are able to write 130 to 150-word text basing on samples

and/or suggestions that is about topic-related contents to serve the simple

2 Lexhvpassages

personal communicative demands and social relations

2 Syllabus contents of English grade 12

There ars six main (hotnes, sixtecnth units and six revision urris in Rnglish toxtbook grade 12 Fach unit is cquivalont to a specific topic Rach theme, whieh involves some topics, requires a certain communicative competences At the end of each unit, a part of language focus will summarize the pronunciation and the grammar points of that unit

According to BO GIAO DUC VA DAO TAO (2006:62) and Hoang, Van Van ct al,

(2008:10), the sylabus design of the English textbook grade 12 is specified as follows: