Luận văn desgning an english oral achievement test for second year students at bac ninh physical education an sports university

DUONG THI HOA “DESIGNING AN ENGLISH ORAL ACHIEVEMENT TEST FOR SECOND YEAR STUDENTS AT BAC NINH PHYSICAL EDUCATION AND SPORTS UNIVERSITY” THIET KE BAI THI VAN DAP TIENG ANH CHO SINH VIEN

DUONG THI HOA

“DESIGNING AN ENGLISH ORAL ACHIEVEMENT TEST FOR

SECOND YEAR STUDENTS AT BAC NINH PHYSICAL

EDUCATION AND SPORTS UNIVERSITY”

(THIET KE BAI THI VAN DAP TIENG ANH CHO SINH VIEN NAM

THU HAI TRUONG DAI HOC THE DUC THE THAO BAC NINH)

MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

FIELD: English Teaching Methodology

CODE: 601410

HA NOI - 2011

DUONG THI HOA

“DESIGNING AN ENGLISH ORAL ACHIEVEMENT TEST FOR

SECOND YEAR STUDENTS AT BAC NINH PHYSICAL

EDUCATION AND SPORTS UNIVERSITY”

(THIET KE BAI THI VAN DAP TIENG ANH CHO SINH VIÊN NĂM

THU HAI TRUONG DAI HOC THE DUC THE THAO BAC NINH)

MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

FIELD: English Teaching Methodology

CODE: 601410

SUPERVISOR: Dé Ba Quy, MEd

HA NOI - 2011

1.5 Testing speaking skills

1.5.1 Whatis a spoken test

1.5.2 What should be tested

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CHAPTER 2 METHODOLOGY 2.1 The current situation of English teaching and learning at BAC NINH UPES

2.2 Parlicipmants

2.2.1 The teachers

2.3.Overview the material used for second year students at BAC NINII UPLS

2.4, Current testing silualion al BAC NINH UPES khe

2.5 Results and discussions

2.5.1 The subjects

2.5.2 Instruments for collecting data

2.5.3 Analysis of the collcetcd đata

2.5.3.1 ‘Teachers’ survey questionnaire and interview

3.3.2.6 Detailed construction for the test

cond year sinden|

al BAC NINH UPES

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APPENDIX C THE SAMPLE TEST

APPENDIX D THE ANSWER KEY FOR SAMPLE TEST

PART A, INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale for the study

Language is not only a main medium of education, but also intunsically involved in every school subject to such a degree that education should be viewed as a “ languaging”

Pro

The twentieth century has seen the rise of English as the most widely used international means of communication with different purposes Anyone no matter where he lives is likely to be aware of the fact thal having knowledge of English helps him achieve the latest information on sience and technology and mntergrade himself’ into the outside world, In Vietnam, English has received widespread attention

Bae Ninh Physical cducation and Sports University plays a very important role in training well qualified and experienced teachers of sports and coaches to satisfy the needs

of the country ‘I'he communicative approach to Language ‘Teaching with the most effective and modern (caching techniques have bean applicd 10 develop students” linguistic and communicative competence by the teachers fiom this university, The teachers make full use

of time to develop the four language skills during the course in an attemp to help their students communicate effectively have a successfiil communication in the target language However, teachers should not be confined to imparting teaching and Icaming with testing

It is of special importance in educational system, which is highly competitive as testing not

only acts as an indirect stimulus lo leaming bai plays @ crucial role in dslennining the success or fhilure of one’s own career, In the World Yearbook of education 1969, Lauwerys and Seaton highlights: “Thus, testing is an important tool in educational light both the nature of anguage proficiency and language learning”

In addition, testing also pushes up caching and learning activities As Niga (1977) oles Tests are assumed to be powerful determiners of what happens in classrooms and it is commonly claimed that they affect teaching and learning activities both directly and indireelly

‘No one can deny the fact that testing is an important part in teaching and learning process, but has it heen paid enough attention yet? Having taught English for students at Bac Ninh University of Physical cducation and sports for nearly 16 years, author of this study has designed tests of all four language skills, especially the specking skills She has

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also administered and marked these tests Ller teaching experience shows that there still

romain some problems thal need to he solved such as the [ssl content, the gap between what

is tested and what is taught, the reuse of tests from years to years, trom class to class As a result, tests may lack of validity and realibility

Since 2010 al Bac Ninh UPRS students have been required to da an oral

achievement test at the end of each semester, Having good English result in the first year enables them to have better result in their specialty Knowing the importance of speaking

skill for students al UPI

2 Aims of the study

The study aims at examining the current testing situation and English tests at Bac Ninh UPRS lowards designing an Tnglish oral achievernenl test for second yzar students With the above- mentioned rationale, the specific aims of the study are:

— Evaluating the current situation of English oral test in terms of its content, time atfowance and marking scales

To gain the above aims of the study, the following questions are addressed:

(1) Whatis the current English oral testing situation at Bac Ninh UPES?

(2) What are the teachers’suggestions for improving the current English testing

situation for the second year students at Bac Ninh UPES?

3) What test components and Lest contents are considered 1 be appropriate for the intended English oral achievement test?

4, Scope of the study

Because of limitation of the time, the author of the study does not cover testing

issues [or all the four skills, but only places emphasis on the third seme

English oral

achievement test for second year at Bac Ninh UPES

It deals with the general ideas of language testing, of the current test and the design of the final oral achivernent (est for the second year students al Bac Ninh UPTS

(2) tmplaying questionnaires, inlerviews, opinion exchanges aud experimental tests lo collect data for the study

6 Design of the study

The study consists of three parts and each one presents a set of related issues:

- The first part provides basic information such as rationale, aims, design, scope and methodology of the study

= The second part, which is the main parl, is sub divided inlo three chaplers

+ The first chapter “ Literature review”, which is the most theoretical one, looks at the background knowledge on language testing

| The second chapler which discusses on methodology, presents the deep analysis af the

solting including the quostionnaires, dircet

new test, It also describes data collection instruments, data collection procedure and data

analysis

interviews, anil analysis of students’ needs for a

+ The third chapicr is tho most important one whieh touches upon the designing an English oral achievement test for second year students at Bae Ninh UPES based on the above — mentioned theoretical and practical study

~ And the final part, the author shed the mantle of reviewing the study and suggcsting further research

provide information for both teachers and students to make decisions Teachers should

determine what specific kinds learning materials or activities are suitable for their students basing on their strength and weakness or diagnosis of the amount of knowledge they have

Jeamt and make sure that they are ready to move to another unit

For these reasons, all language teaching should involve testing and it becomes one

of the main aspects of methodology Many researchers have given out definitions of testing with different points of view

Allen(1974: 313) provides the following definition of tests:

A test is a measuring device which we use when we want to compare an individual with other individuals who belong to the seme group

The author emphasizes testing as an instrument to ensure that students have a sense

of compelition rather than lo know how good their performance is and in which condition a

test can take place

According to Carroll (1968: 46}, a psychological or educational test can be considered as a

procedwe designed to elicit behavior from which one can make inference about

characteristics of an individual

From this definition, it follows that a test is a measurement designed to clicit a

particular behavior of each individual And what a test from other types of measurement, according to Bachman, (1990: 20) is thal il is designed to oblain specific sample of

behavior

This distinction is believed to be of great importance because it reflects the primary

justi ication replaced for the use of language tests and implicates how we design, develop

and use them to their best use ‘Thus, language tests can provide ths means for more focus

om the specific assure of imicre

Another interesting detinition of testing is provided by Ibe (1981: 1) as follow:

A sample of behavior under controlled of specified conditions and aimed towards providing a hasis for performing judgement

The term a sumple of behavior used here is rather broad and it means something alse rather than the traditional types of papers and pencils Read (1983) shares the same

idea with The in the that a sample of behaviors suggesis langusge tosling ccirlairly

ineludes listemng and speaking skills as well as reading and writing ones

However, Heaton (1988:5) looks at testing in a different way In his opinion, tests ate as a

means of assessing the students” porforrumos and to motivate the students He looks at lests with positive eyes as many students are eager to take at the end of the semester to know how much knowledge they have One important thing 1s that he points out the relationship between testing and teaching

In short, from the above descriptions, testing is an cffeotive means of measuring and assessing students’ language knowledge and skill It is of great use to both language isaching and learning

1.2 The rale af testing,

Unlike tests of other abilities or areas of knowledge where we frequently use lamguage in the process of measuring something else, in language lesis, we use language as

a Ticasure nl of language ability irr sccond language acquisition, Simuilarly, language

can be valuable sources of information about the effectiveness of learning and teaching

12.4 Vesting and teaching

A large number of examization and tests in the pas! tended 1o separate lasting from teaching, Heaton (1988: 5 ) emphasizes that teaching and testing in some ways are so interwoven and independent that is very difficult to tease apart.” Both testing and teaching are so eloscly interrclated that it is virtually impossible to work in cither ficld without being constantly concemed with the others” However, thanks to the steady change in the approaches to language teaching with a remarkable shift of emphasis fom dicrete - point

lems Lo intergrative and communicative tests, testing, teaching and Icarting becarnz more and more interrelated.

Heaton (1988: 5) also notes: “ ‘Tests may be constructed primarily as devices to

reinfircs learning and motivate the students or as a means of assossing the s

performance in the language”, In the former case, testing is geased to the teaching, whereas

in the latter case, teaching is often geased largely to the testing

ion of the

The term backwash, which is intraduced by Tlughes (1990: 1), is an indi

bad effect of teaching and learning He also stresses the role of backwask in this process If the test content does not go with the objectives of the course, then the backwash can be roully harmful IL teads to prablern of teaching im one way bul testing in another way,

In summary, from the above analysis, we can see that, testing and teaching - learning

activities are interwoven Good tests are usefill and desirable.“ Without them education

would be poorer and much less affective”, (Nga, 1997 ) Whether losting is boneficial or harmful to the dividual and to society has been a maior controversy in education,

1.2.2 Purpose of language testing

Testing and teaching - leaming process have a very close relationship Tests can be fective for both teaching and Icaming process

The first and foremost purpose of language tests is to evaluate students’ performance for the purpose of placement and selection in class, Most tests slarl with a few easy items as an encouragement to weaker students The difficulty level increases so that fairly good students will be challenged with the latter items which weakest students may find uamy somewhat frustrating As resull, teachers can increase their own effectiveness

by making their adjustmont in their teaching to cable ceirlain group of siuđønls œr individuals in the class to benetit more Tests will help teachers locate the precise areas of difficulties encountered by students just as it is necessary for the doctor to diagnose the

paticnt’s illness, so it is equally essential for teachers to deal wilh students? difficulty and

weakness carefully

Taving leamed something about the areas of strength and weakness, studemis have

an opportunity to sce how well they arc able to perfozm what they have leamed in the test,

In Read’s opinion, a test is said to be able to help both students and teachers classify what leamers really need to know Furthermore, it also helps students identify precise areas of weakness, which require further slurly or practices, Tests also cnable teachers to as ccrtain which parts of the language programs have been found difficulty by the class In this way,

teachers can evaluate the effectiveness of the syllabus as well as the methods and materials they are using

Another purpose of testing is to provide motivation for students and also strengthen their further study Under the pressure of tests, students will pay much attention to the

ms, Teartt harder ard do

learning malerials central lo their course objectives, revise the less

more exercises, Moreover, it is one way to force students to mobilize all their knowledge and skills to do the test Students are then motivated to prove what they have leamed

1.3 Achievement tests

Tests in general and language tests in particular are of many types, Language tests can be classified as oral and written tests depending on the purpose of the test According to lest purposes, (esis can be known 2s placoment, diagnolic, apliluds, proficisney and achievement tests, According to the way of scoring and marking, they can be grouped into subjective and objective ones The author of this paper attempts to focus on achievement

tests only

13.1 Definition

Achievement tests are commonly used at school of all levels and of great imporlance in evaluating language knowledge and skills studenls have aquired during: the English teaching leaming process

Different authors have different ideas about achievement tests Aoording to Spatt

(1988: 145) an achisvernenil lest is one of the means available 1o teachers and students alike

of assessing process Here, Spatt places an emphasis on teachers and students? effort during

the course This idea is shared by Heaton (1988: 1), who widens the concept of such tests by defining them as the ones based on what the students are assumed to have learned not

necessarily on what they have actually learn He fecls thal achievernent tests are ditcetly

related to a particular language course and limited to a particular course book covered in a

curriculum with the aim of checking how successfully individual students, groups of students, the courses themsclves have achicved course objectives

With regard to this opinion, Finochiaro and Sako (1983:15) stress:

Achievement type or attainment tests are widely employed in language teaching just as they are in most other subjects They are used to measure the amount or degree of

control of diserete language and cultural items and of intergrated language skills aquired

by the students within a specific period of instruction in a specific course

in order to make a distintion between achievement tests and tests of other kinds, Llarrison

(1991) ne

An achievement test look hack over a longer period of learning than a diagnostic

test, for example, a year’s work, or the whole course, or even a variety of different cowses

The distintion can be inlusirated with the following diagrarn:

Harrison points out that achievement tests take into consideration actions those

students have already achieved from the past up to the present Such tests are often designed to assess students’ progress during the whole course or even a number of courses

Students will do achievement tests to check whether they have leamt well or not Here, he also stress that the aim of achievement tests is to show the standard which students have

yeached in relalion fo other students al the same stage However, diagnostic tests look back

on the previous courses to identify students’ strength and weakness and they can also be

used to as certain what further teaching is necessary

13.2 Kinds of achievement tests

Achievement tests are divided into two basic types according to the time of administration They are namely progress achievement tests and final achievement tests

(1) Progress achicverent lesis

Progress achicvement tests arc usually carricd out to measure the cxtent with

students have mastered from what has been taught in the classroom In other words, they

measure sluderts’ progress These tesls ars, ofcourse, based on the language program which students have been following and as important an assessment of the teaching effectiveness as that of students’ own leaning

Rosulls from achievement tests crable teachers to find out and diagnose areas nol properly mastered by students during the cowse, which need remedial action They, therefore, are familiar with the work of each student urthermore, these tests provide students with a good chance to stimulate leaming and n what they have been taught to perform the target language in a positive and offective manner and gain confidence Good performance is

considered a means of encouragement whereas bad performance means incentive to more

work This is alse consider :p lo make students farniiar with the t

id a preparaliv (2) Final achievement tests

Final achievement tests are given at the end of the course hey, in nature, may also

be similar lo progress lasts bul broader and nol specific in scope These tests help Lsachers measure the result of what has been taught and learnt during the eourse of study To put it another way, it is a good chance for teachers to judge the degree of success of their lonelring and idenlify students? woakniass

Hughes (1990:10) divided them into two kinds depending on different approaches used

The first approach is known as ths syllabus - content one Accerding to him, the content of the final achievement tests should be based directly on a detailed course syllabus

or on books and other materials used, Results of an achievement tests can be used as an indication of the course content and testers have to take into consideration what students have Icamt during the course to design tests Furthermore, a properly written achievement tests can be a pointer to leamers indicating which part needs more attention and which part

is nol effective snaugh, However, problems arise whsn lest resulls fail lo meet lest validity

in terms of course objectives

The second approach is the syllabus — objective one As its name suggests, this approach oricnls all fests to lest objectives Instead of constructing tests based on the caurse

content, leslars have Lo concentrale on course ohjsclives and they desire 10 know [ar their

students have achieved their objectives However, these kinds of tests, on the one hand, are

good to measure students’ ability to meet course objectives, but on the other hand are bad

as they work agains! the leaching because this approach copes with testing problems rather

than what students have achieved

1.4 Criteria of a good test

Before making a test, test designers often asks themselves many questions such as:

How do we design a test that is a rue indicator of students’ communicative ability? Who is

it for? What is it meant to test? How do we knaw that it is a good ane?

Is lesting is a master of coneem fo all teachers whether they are in the classroom or

engaged in syllabus, admimstration or research It is obvious that good tests can help

improve teaching and stimulate students’ leaming Often classroom tests are written in a

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hurry because teachers could not find time to think carefully and plan the test In order to

14.4 Validity

When testers construct a test, they must pay special attention to its validity

According to Carmen (1995), a lost is valid if it measures whal you wanl to measure In Aik’s opinion (1983:72), a test is said to be valid it is relevant to the aims and purposes of the areas of leaming on which it is set In this sense, validity of the test and purposes of the course syllabus are closely related

Itis not to measure or quantity validity, Several types of validity exists but the most discussed ones are construct, content and face valichty,

A test has construct validity if it refers to the concomitance between the test and the underlying teaching principles Henes, tests should reflect course objectives and underline

its teaching principles With regard to communicative testing, it is essential that tests be as

direct and aulhentie as possible and they should lake inlo consideration real Tif and real communicative tasks

Content validity refers to the measurement of the syllabus content and skills specified in the course book Tl follows from this that lesis should reflect learners” needs and their particular domain of usc to cnsure content validity Ik is vary easy lo achieve this

purpose because the couse book designer is the person to decide on the course content, What test designers to teachers do is to sample this domain, measure it, score it, set up pass/ fail cutoffs, and give grades

Face validity is supported by the judgement that a test is appealing to laymen- students, administrations, ect Hughes (1990) in “testing for Language Teachers states: “a test is said to have face validity if it looks as if it supposed to measure” In other

words, tests should be based on the course content and methodological teaching

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Besides validity, reliability is also considered a very important characteristic of a

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good tesL À IcsLis reliwblc ¡11s rr mien, 1.6 if administered to the same students

on another occasion, they would obtain the same results, Moore (1992: 110 ) gives a definition of reliability as follows: “Reliability refers to the consistency with which a measurement device measure some largel behavior or wail”, To pal it another way, it-means the dependability or trustworthiness of the measurement device For instance, a multiple- choice test would probably yield different scores from one administration to another, and would thas be extremely unratiab:

There are two main souses of reabbility; the consistency of performance trom candidates and scoring ‘The former is afffected by several factors such as the number of

questions, est administration and (est instructions

‘A test 1s neither too short because it is very difficult to as certain whether a student has acquired the knowledge and had a correct answer nor too long since its reliabilty may

be high but its validity may be low Furthermore, administration, that is the circumstance under which a test can be taken, afffcts test results a lot It involves in such problems as

timing, testing conditions, observation or control of testees doing the test, scoring, ect

Terming (1987; 88) slates: “Inconsistencies in the administralive process may introduce measurement error and thus reduce test reliability” Also test instructions contribute to the consistency of test results They must be clear as possible, neither confusing nor complex

In short it should he noted that a test could be reliable without possessing validity

However, reliability is clearly inadequate by itsclf if a test docs not susscceed in measuring

what it is supposed to measure

14.4 Practicality

Il would be not good if tesl constructors are to separals tests’ validily and reliabilily

from practicality According to Harrison (1991:13), a valid and reliable test is of little use if,

it does not prove to be a practical one ‘Test practicality refers to financial limitations, time

constrains, ease of administration, scoring and interpretation A test is impractical in case it

is prohibitively expensive and if lakes much time lo construct

Another factor affecting practicality of a test is what Oller (1979: 52) calls instructional value He suggests “ It ought to be possible to use the test to enhance the

delivery of instruction in student popnlation” Therefore, leachers are able to understand their students better

Jn conclusion, a test has practicality if it does not involve much time or money in constmeling, implementing, and scoring iL

14.4 Discrimination

It ought to incomplete without considering discrimination of a test According to Heatont (1988:165), all lets have this fealure to rellcet differences in the performance of each individual in the group It is true for both teacher- made tests and standardized tests In order to have this feature, a test must have a scale ranging from extremely easy items to

extremely difficult items However, the extent af discrimination need varies according to test objectives The more efficiently a test discriminates among students, the casicr it is to divide them into suitable groups and the more clearly it shows the level of each individual

in the group

1.5 Testing speaking skills

1.5.1 What is a spoken test?

Much of considerable concern of teachers aboul present day language teaching is

the problem of students who may bs structurally competent bul eanmol commurticals

appropriately As Newmark (1966) expresses, students may know structures that linguists

teach yet cannot know the way to ask about the time is to walk up to a person and same of the following ullerances

What time is it by your watch?

Lave you got the time?

What does your watch say?

So when speaking about an oral achievement test we are refering to the one which recognizes the necessity for teaching, considering presumed communicative needs In yecent years, in parallel with communicative language teaching, communicative language

testing has been the focus of a great number of researches on language testing

communicate with each other in the society As a result, testing language ability is testing

communicative or ability to speak

13.2 What should he tested?

The question of what to test in an oral test is always a matter of concern for all

testers Underhill (1987-96) bases on the types of performance criteria for assessment focused on communicational effectiveness They are namely size (length of ulterances), speed, flexibility, accuracy, independence, repetition and hesitation North (1990:96) simplifies these into range, accuracy, delivery and interaction while Lee (1991-280), for an

analysis of sore published raling scales for oral lesting, employs the ealegories of listening

comprehension, grammatical appropriacy, ease of speech and fluency, content and

conversation section of Ihe exam, In somne cases,

partner to repeat their statement, and this should reflect in a lower rating, At other times a student may ask for clarification, or ask their partner to repeat what they have said, and this should reflect in a higher rating, Listening compretransion is the best way lo check whether students understand whal their partners are saying,

Closely, testes’ vocabulary comprehension is related to their success in listening, comprehension, During a fixed period of time, they have to use all of their listening skill to complete all the lest items successfully However, comprehension vocabulary is inadequate

to understand anything but the most elementary needs, Testees do not need to understand the meaning of the individual word Their listening comprehension can only be achieved when they have cffvetive skills to understand, exploit, interpret, analyze, synthesize, and evaluate the test With the skills of understanding lexical and grammatical items, testees can find it easier to deduct the meaning of unfamiliar lexical items and understand all the structural devices such as coherent structurss, cohesive features and typos of spocch thal help them to follow essensal points of discussion speech, Moreover, testees must be able to

1esless speak more accuralcly

15.2.3 Euve of speech and fluency

Besides accuracy, tuency is an essential criterion to be tested in an oral test Many language leamers regard speaking ability as a measure of knowing a language These poople define fluency as the ability to converse with others much more than the ability to read, write or comprehend oral language In order to decide the level of fluency, five

factors are analyzed follows:

(a) The total number of words spoken in a fixed time

(5) The number of silent pauses or eases of speaking for thinking

(6) The number of repetition of words

(4) The number of repair or reformulation for conection

() Mean length of utterances,

Students who enter the class with good Lnglish on fluency may score high even though they did not apply themselves Lo the lessons Students with relatively less ability bul who made great effort and progress may still have a lower competence than students who had greater ability ftom the beginning, Ilere, rate of speech contributes a lot to the success

of interactive communication, maximizing listencrs* comprchension and involvement

15.2.4 Content

An oral test can be successful without testing testees’ speaking content ‘Through

spouking, tosters can chyck testoos’ performance and how much required information was effectively communicated There is more to the business of communicating than the ability

to produce grammatically correct utterance imagine that you could build a computer,

which has perfect mastery of English grammar, phonology and lexis, As much as possible, the content should be practical and usable in real-life situations

15.2.5 Conversational skills

Last but not least, what a spoken test tends to test is conversational skills Testees

must show their skitt through conversations wilh lesters, Tlere conversations have alt the elements of asking questions, listening, thinking and speaking A good communicator is listening and thinking actively so that when he/ she speaks it becomes feedback and comlribules to the understanding in a two way conversation, This total activity is called

effective mteractive communication, Accordmg to Larry, creating an understanding

between people includes all the forms associated with verbal responses whtich may be non- vertal Chody language), oxtra verbal (iho cnphasis on corlain words and sounds) and (actual words)

Moreover, conversational skills are determined not only by words testes speak but the behavior they display It often communicates how they really feel It, more than attitudes, tells their past and present reaction to situations, It also indicates how they will react during similar situations in the future

In the nulshell, testers should take all of the above skills into account when designing an oral test and testees should acquize them so that they can get the best result for the test

Summary: This chapler has reviewed theories related to the language testing and the rolos it plays in the process of English language loaeling and loaning as well as important issues of testing that need to be considered when conducting the research The highlighted aspects are language testing, the role of testing, achievement tests, some criteria of a good lest, and testing speaking skills, All of these serve as a basic for carrying oul an designing

an English oral achievement test for second year students at Bac Ninh UPES The next chapter presents a methodology for the ressarch

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CHAPTER 2 METHODOLOGY

This chapter will present some problems about English teaching and leaming at Bac

Ninh UPES, participants, the material and current testing situation used for second year

sludents al Bac Ninh UPES and some dala collection instruments

2.1 Sctting: English teaching and learning at Bac Ninh UPES

Recently Frgtish loaching and learning al BN UPES has undergone significant changes In the past, the grammar translation method was used in which students had to leam by heart and imitate all the structures without understanding their meaning and use Now this has changed, the communicative Approach to Language ‘Teaching, whose goal is

to develop students’ communicalive corupetenec, involves students to use the target

language appropriately and effectively Moreover, the current leamer- centered approach motivates students to practice and use their English exchange their ideas Teachers now act

as facilitators of classroom activities, However, there remain such activities as reading aloud, translation, questioning and answering because teachers are deeply influenced by the traditional approach

2.2 Participants

2.2.4 The teachers

‘The English teachers at Bac Ninh UPL consists of 10 All of them are female,

from 30 to SO years old All of ther had formal iraininyg in English Language leaching on different educational institutions in Vietnam, Most of them has done the post graduate degrees All of them are very enthusiastic and helpful to teach each other and exchange to leach Prnglish

2.2.2 The students

* 1 can understand my teacher’s English, but when I speak to real people I can’t understand them”, This is a conmment Lam sure thal many leachers of Finglish have ever heard, However, this is a bit of exaggeration, Students often feel that classroom- speaking practice does not prepare them for the real world Why do students highlight speaking skill the greatest problem?

The majority of the second year students of Bac Ninh UPES are aged from 18 to 23

in general ‘hey are young and enthusiastic and eager to learn English so understanding

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spoken and written English is not so challenging for them ‘Io use Brown’s words (1994),

they have superior cognilive abilities thal can rider them a bit mors suecessful in certain

classroom endeavors

However, in the same class, there are students who are very active with extremely undeveloped practical skills, and conizastingly well developed confidence barriers and anxieties about speaking English.Therefore, it makes teaching and leaning English inconveniently carried out

Anolher fael is thal students profer wrillen work, which has lo be done wilh dictionary, repetition taking notes and vocabulary notebook, Their attention paid to leaming structures and rules mostly hinders their development of communicative ability in the target himguags

Moreover, while teachers at Bac Ninh UPES might be keen on employing contemporary communicative language teaching methodology, they have also to ensure that their students acquire necessary linguistic facts to be able to answer grammatical based multiple choice examinations which arc universally described, but which tend to bc unrelated to the development of spoken English abilities, The result is that some graduate sludenis arrive al their new place of work with developed oral skill and with deliberating awareness of this fact, which impedes motivation and further improvement

2.3 Overview the material used fer second year students at Bac Ninh UPES

According to the curriculin designed by the Mirristry of Rducalion and training,

Engtish is a compulsory subject al all universities and collages To met students’ needs of English for future work and provide them with adequate knowledge of English used in daily life, General Linglish is taught in the first two semesters with the integration of the four skills,

This study was carried out at Bac Ninh UPES, English is one of the compulsory subjects in the curriculum for students at Bac Ninh UPES Of all those 40 subjects, English

is one of the compulsory subject in the curriculum for students at Bac Ninh UPES.The

English course consists of 3 semesters It is divided into two stages The first stage is spent

for General English (120 hours), the other stage is for English for Specific Purpose (60 hours)

At UPES, the course book "New Headway Elementary" is chosen to teach for the

first year students at UPES According to the authors (Soars and Soars, 1998), New

language learning, The authors clairn that the cour

with more recent approaches to help students use English accurately and fluently These traditional approaches "emphasize a clear focus on grammar with in-depth analysis and explanation, through practice activities, and exploitation of texts for comprehension and

stylistic appreciation." Priotity is given to English for sport students This book is to provide a stepping stone to enable a student to cross fiom the knowledge of General English to 2 position wh

can handle the sort of textbook and instmichans he will mect

at college and in their future career

Hence the key points of 6 units for third semester are described as below:

1 The Olympic games Reading comprehension: Olympic games

Grammar: The past lense and line expressions im the past

Writing: Knowledge about Olympic games

Speaking and listening: Olympic events

athletics, Grammar: The past and present perfeol lenses

‘Writing: Desoribg about Track and field athletics events Speaking and listening: | low to practics athletics usefully

3, Football Reading comprehension: Football

Granunar: Prepositions of place and relative clause,

'Writing: A football match

Speaking and listening: Football fans

4 The university of| Reading comprehension: University of physical Education and

physical Education and] sports

sports Grammar: Prepositions of place and relative clause

5 Sports and Gan Writing: History of Bac Ninh UPES

Speaking and listening: the bistory of Bac Nink UPES Reading comprehension: Sporls and Garnes

Grammar: Prepositions of place and relative clause

Writing: Llow to talk about a game

6 THE 22" Sea games | Reading 8 ing comprehension: THE 22 Sea games comp! 8

Granumar: Prepositions of place and relative clause

Writing: How Lo prepare the scagumes,

Speaking and listening: The song “ For the World Tomorrow”

2.4 Current festing situation at UPES

English has now become one of the main compulsory subject and it covers about

180 periods in the whole cducational program, heneo, test activities arc given much attention Sinee 2610 at Bac Ninh UPES students are required to do an oral achievement test at the end of each semester Maving good English result in the first year enables them to have better result in their specialty Knowing the importangc of spcaking skill for students

at UPES, teachers in the Englisli group regard oral achievement test as a means to reinforce students’ knowledge and motivate their learning, At the examinations, students are given a

ioms,

lost paper consisting of three parts: Read the following passage and answer que

translation, making sentences Students are marked according to correct answer they have and the maxintum matkis ten

L Read the following passage and answer questions ( 4 points)

I Translation (4 points)

UL Making sentences (2 points)

At the first glance, this test looks good and reasonable for students Besides, it is vory casy for teachers to mark cxamination papers and students may know their mark easily

Towever, several shortcoming should be mentioned hisre First, the test content is likely to fail to measure knowledge taught during the couse A test is not only a way of measuring students’ knowledge, but also a kind of motivation or stimulus leamers in their lemrủng, Brown (1994 a: 390) notes: “lests cm aid koarning” Since oral skill is ø significant component of the syllabus, it must be assessed in someway with more difficult requirements, Therefore, one negative impact of those tests is that teachers are likely to give students simple questions to make it sasy for them to pass exams but not take full advantage of the requirements in the course, Furthermore, the current test docs not meet the demand of communicatrve abilities despite of the introduction of recent advanced language teaching methodology Students are used to leaning something by heart because they are to

prepare the texts at home, consequently, two-way communication has not yet created In

orikr 10 break this sclf-confirming circle, to motivate students to develop their oral skill, the situation needs to be addressed in its entirety Teachers should find more and more interesting method of teaching the spoken language, making the learning environment as conductive lo expression and language acquisilion as possible

Above all, having identified tests as the driving force behind leaming in universities ‘he author of this study find the necessity for adjusting those tests to be more communicative by designing a new proposed tost based on the theoretical need of testing and evaluation

2.5 Data collections instruments

Tn oxantzsing the actuat English testing situalion al Bac Ninh UPRS, two seis of survey questionnaizes are conducted with the assistance of 10 teachers of the English group and 100 students of physical education department at Bac Xinh UPES, Each questionnaire consists of 10 questions, which tend to find out how Bac Ninh UPES teachers of English evaluate the present test in terms of its content, time allowance and making sealc Another purpose is to find out students” problems in doing the tests In every question, informants are asked lo lick an appropriate answer among the ready-made choices Resides, interviews and discussions with teachers and students of physical education department at Bac Ninh UPES have been carried out for the truth of information ‘The failure or success of language isting in general and of the curently used Fnglish oral achievernent test is given ax the lopic for discussion

Summary Firstly, this chapter describes the context in which the study takes place

‘The setting of Bac Ninh UPLS with ifs aims and objectives and the participants with their

goals, expcelations and thsir English proficiency have been clarified Sccondly, it deals with the methodology to conduct the research, The data collection, namely, the questionnaire and interview The next chapter presents the most significant part: that is towards designing an English oral achicvcment test for sccond year students at Bac Ninh

UPES.

CHAPTER 3 TOWARDS DESIGNING AN ORAL ACHIEVEMENT TEST FOR

SECOND YEAR STUDENTS AT BAC NINH UPES

This part of the sIudy preserls the data of the study, their analysis and discussion Lo

provide ground for drawing conclusions with reference to the research questions

3.1 Analysis of the collected data

3.44 Teachers’ survey questionnaire and direct interview

same topics from other sources Only one of them (1 out of 10: 10 % ) said that the test

content is very reasonable

Teachers'marking scale is another matter of concem 4 onl of 10 Leachers

accounting for 40 % thought marking scale is not very reasonable and 30 % note that

marking scale is unreasonable as some teachers often base on the level of test difficulty to

tuild the marking scale This highlights the fact thal the lest content and the marking seale

should be reexamined thoroughly When asked about how to tue the test, 3 out of 10 teachers (30%) thought there’s enough time for students to complete their tests, 20%

thought too much

iy bd

When being asked about the necessity to change the current test items for its content

and format only 6 out of 10 respondents (60 %) agrood whereas the rest ( 4096) disagreed

with this change

‘Table 3.2 Language skills and elements to be measured:

‘Translation ‘Translation Smalltalk | Oral Picture ‘Making up

given to making up sentences (10%) and translation L-V and V-L! (10 %) respectively 'The

data also suggested thal teachers expected the lest to measure students’ achievernent of the

language elements and skills

312 Students’ survey questionnaire

Table 3.3 Students’ opinion about the test

‘As can be seen of responses ftom the table, when being asked about the importance

of Friglish to their future carcer, 91 students thought Ihat itis very important as they have to

use English very often meanwhile | thought it is not very important Answering question 3,

3 students said that their test result often range from 0% -20% of the test However 77% of the students could finish S0% - 80 % of the test

In terms of test difficulties, 46 students thought that the greatest problem is pronunciation Besides, 14 of them said that the requirement is difficult to understand New words and structures disturb 9 siudsnis and only fow of thom 4% have difficulty in the requirement validity,

‘To the questions whether students are interested in the current test, 75% answer

© yes? as for ther it is one way of consolidating their grammar, especially making sentences helps create their creativity, According w the statistic data, 91% of the interviewed students are interested in picture as it increases their creativity and helps them

to produce logical judeements in compliance with the fact

In the opinion of 67 students, time and score distibution for different parts should

be included in the test They explained that it was really helpful for them to know appropriate titns and score distribution far cach item so as lo focus more time and effort an difficult requirement However, 33% informants disagreed with this because they thought that they were forced by all_means to complete all the test items in a fixed amount of time and iL sometimes frightens them if they meet some difficull lest items When asked about the test formal, 9% thought that Ihey wanted lo do tests of the sainc requirement as they do not have to prepare much and they do not know what they will de whereas 91% thought it was better for them to get used to other kinds of requirement and it was really a good chance to lest their English speaking skill

3.13 Results

The data from the survey questionnaires, direct interviews and observation cartied out with the teachers and students show that there were some problems in the oral achievement test for second year students at Bac Ninh UPES, Thay mainly focused on the teachers’ trend in selecting test items and test techniques

Tho first and foramnest problem is teachers’ trend in sdlecting tesl items, They should use texts with the same topics but provide new information so as to develop students’ ability of creativity ‘the second problem deducted from the data is teachers’ test