Luận văn using tests as a summative assessment method in the light of communicative language teaching at kien quoc secondary school

_ 4.1 Raising awareness about communicative competence - goal of language teaching and learning 4.2 Improving tests content and techniques .... To consider the aspects of the communic

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOL UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES

PHAM THU HIEN

USING TESTS AS A SUMMATIVE ASSESSMENT METHOD IN THE LIGHT OF COMMUNICATIVE LANGUAGE TEACIIING

AT KIEN QUOC SECONDARY SCHOOL

(Vẫn dé sit dung các bài kiểm tra dánh giá caỗi kì dối với bọc sinh

ti Trường Trung học cơ sở Kiến Quốc theo định hướng giảng day

tiéng Anh giao tiép)

MLA MINOR PROGRAM TIIESIS

FLELD: ENGLISH TEACHING METHODOLOGY CODE: 60.14.01.11

TIA NOI - 2014

Vì M NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOL UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES

PHAM THU HIEN

USING TESTS AS A SUMMATIVE ASSESSMENT METHOD IN THE LIGHT OF COMMUNICATIVE LANGUAGE TEACHING

AT KIEN QUOC SECONDARY SCIIOOL

(Vấn đề sử dụng các bài kiểm tra đánh giá cuối kà đối với bọc sinh

tai Trường Trưng học cơ xử Kiến Quốc theo dịnh hướng giảng day

tiéng Anh giao tiép)

M.A MINOR PROGRAM THESIS

FIELD: ENGLISH TEACHING METHODOLOGY

CODE: 60.14.01.11

SUPERVISOR: TRAN THETHU IWLEN, PhD

HA NOI - 2014

CANDIDATE’S DECLARATION

T declare that T imdepondently compiled this minor thesis entitled “Using tesls as a summative assessment methos at Kien Quoc Secondary School in the light of CLI” which is submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of

Artin TESOL, using only resources listed im 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

Pham Thu [én

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

To fulfill the thesis T have owed the great debts of gralefulness to many people

First of all, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor, Dr Tran Thị Thu Hiển, 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 Lé Van 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 twe years I could finally graduate and get my Master degree

My sincere thanks are also giver lo may colleagues who have been encouraging and supporting me up to now so that | could finish my couse

T wish to show my gratitude to all teachers at Kien Quoc Secondary School where

the data of the study bas 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

ABSTRACT

This minor thesis aims at finding out whether the English achievement tests used at Kien Quoe Secondary School, Haiphong are consistcut wilh English language leaching and leaming in the light of CLT to achieve the objective of the course The study is hoped

to provide a specific lonk at bow the Lesls 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 Irom grade 6 to 9 were collected and analyzed with (he hope

to give conceptions about the tests ‘Ihe 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 lesting are given Lo make tests (i well with the communicative objective of the

language curticulum for secondary school.

Aims of the stucly

Scope of the study

Resvarch questions

Methods

Significance of the study

Design of the study

1.1.2 ‘The importance of testing in teaching and learning

1.1.3 Approaches to language testing

12.2 Therole of language assessment

1.2.3 Types of language assessment

142 Communicative competence and CLT "

CHAPTER 2 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

2.1 Context of the study

2.1.1 The English syllabus

2.1.2 The common Unglish course objectives of of secondary school

2.1.3 Kien Quoc Secondary Schoo!

2.1.4 English language learning assessment

2.2 The tests TH HH HH ng ước 2H thiên "—

2.4 Recommended test specifications of the end-of-semester tests

2.5 Procedures of data analysis

CHAPTER 3 RESULT AND DISCUSSION

3.5 Discussion nn

CHAPTER 4 IMPLICATIONS _

4.1 Raising awareness about communicative competence - goal of

language teaching and learning

4.2 Improving tests content and techniques

43 Making language skills and language knowledge equal

4.4 Providing clear and sufficient information about the course before the beginning of semesters

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

1 MOBT: Ministry of Education and Training

2 KQSS: Kicn Quoc Secondary School

3 CLT: Communicative language teaching

4 MCQ: Multi-choice question

5 L2: Second language

6 Test 6.1: The end-of-I* semester test for grade 6

7 Test 6.2: The end-of-2" semester lest for grade 6

8 Test 7.1: The end-of-1" scmester test for grade 7

9 Test 7.2: The end-of-2™ semester test for grade 7

10 Test 8.1: The end-ol

“t scmester test for grade &

11 Test 8.2: ‘The end-of-2™ semester test for grade 8

12 Test 9.1: The end-of-1* semester test for grade 9

13 Test 9.2; The end-of-2" semester test for grade 9

LIST OF TABLES

Table 1: The recommended test specification

Table 2: Tests’ content and format

‘Table 3: Construct validity of test items

Table 4: Aspects of communicative competence to be measured by the tests

vii

33

36 38

PART A: INTRODUCTION

8 Rationale

Since the economic reform widely known a3 “Renovation” opened door to the whole world, Hnglish in Vietnam has become of great importance as a means of global communication and a bridge to mankind’s knowledge Consequently, the Dnglish

teaching and Jeaming 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”

Tn other words, communicative competence is the main goal of English teaching and lcaming which was sct forth by the Vietnamese MOET in 2006 This realistic goal

certainly provides both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation to English teaching and

learning and, at he same Lime, it helps make decision about classroom aclivilies which

are then normally realized in testing

However, contrary to that aim the author has realized that almost students in

general and students al KQSS iu 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 lock at testing

Therefore, in the minor thesis the author has a desire to investigate what the

lesis used al KQSS im the academic year 2013 — 2014 arc, what aspects of

communicative competence the tests measure and whether they encourage the

application of communicalive language leaching into pom achvilies at KQSS

9 Aims of the study

‘The major aim of the study is to investigate whether the end-of-semester

achievement lesls used al KOSS m the acadenmc ycar 2013 — 2014 have promoted the

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 ta

English teaching and learning at KQSS

10 Scope of the study

Tue to the limitation of lime, research conditions and knowledge, the author

had no ambition to cover all aspects relating to the cmployed tests The study was mainly the focal point for analyzing the end-of-semester achievement tests used at

KQSS for all grades and classes im 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 beller communicative competence achievement and for the adopuon of CLT would be raised

11 Research questions

Various kinds of researches have been conducted on language testing such as language test design, test validity, etc ‘he 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 leaning at KQSS In light of this goal of

the study, the research questions are posed as [ollows

4, What aspects or dimensions of the communicative competence da 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?

12 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 Hnglish from grades 6 to 9 in both two semesters of the academic year 2013 — 2014 The mumber 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

13 Significance of the study

This study is implemented with a view to finding out the actual aspects of commumeative competence being measured by the ond-ol-scmester summative achievement tests and whether these tests encourage the CLT application to language

teaching and leaming This, as for the author, is a good thing to do because the results

of the research would help (1) prove thal communicative compelenos — a desirable long-term goal of language learning is uot 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 achicve the language learning goal, then, know how to improve tests to encourage the application of CLT to language teaching and learning, activities

14 Design af the study

This thesis is divided into Part A, Part B and Part C accompanied with a list of reference and appendices:

Part A, “Tntroduction” deals with the rationale for the study, the aims, the

scope, the research questions, the methods, the significance and the organization of the

conumunieative languago tcachine, and communicative competence Chapter II mentions the methodology of the study with a close look at the context of the thesis and procedures of how to analyze data In chapter IIL the discussions on data analysis are mainly focused Based on results of data analysis, implications are given out in the chapter IV

Part C, “Conclusion” gives some brief conclusions on the study Limitations of

the thesis and some recommendations for further study are also mentioned.

PART RB: DEVELOPMENT

CHAPTER 1 LITERATURE REVIEW This chapter is devoted to an overview of the theoretical background of the

research First, testing is checked with reference to definition, the important of testing,

approaches to testing, types of tests, criteria of good tests, stages of test construction,

test items, test specification, and test component Next, language assessment is

discussed in detail with definition, role of assessment, and types ‘Ihe author’s basic

understanding, about CLT is mentioned and finally, communicative competence — the

final course objective within secondary level is explored since it is also the aulhor’s main concern in the thesis

1.1 Testing

1.4.2 Definition

In our social system, testing plays a crucial role as a progressive evaluative

instrument in any environment It has become a critical policy and has heen applied in

many aspects of life Schools and universities administer tests lo siuderls, comparies

provide tests to select applicants, and organizations test their members at some certain stages ta give assessment and so on Among various uses of testing, language testing which is

regarded a sub-ficld within linguistics has evolved and expanded in a numbers of ways

Definitions of testing are numerous and varied as many scholars and linguists have approached it with different points of view up to now Hedge (2000-378) defined testing as “the specific procedures that teachers and examiners employ to try to measure ability in the language, using what learners show they know as an indicator

of their ability” In considering language testing as a part of language assessment, Madsen (1983) offered additional defirmtion m which he claimed it # field of study

under the umbrella of applied linguistic and its main focus is the assessment of the

Grst, second, and other languages im the school, college or university comext Later,

Bachman (1990:20) provided a different point of view He said “a west is a measurement

instrument designed to elicit a specific sample of an individual’s behavior” Atthough

a conscnsus has nol been reavhed up to now aboul the notion of language teshng,

many scholars and linguists share some same ideas about it In general, language testing is the practice of evaluating the proficiency of a learner in using a particular language It can happen at any stage of language teaching and leaming process, and at

the same time affect those activities

There also exists another term called “assessment” which is often wrongly

confused with testing In fact, testing and assessment have different denotation

Bachman (1990:18) noted they have their own distinctions and testing, according to Lledge (2000), is one kind of assessment to measure students’ achievement Clapham

(2000:150) also said thal the Lan “assessment” is used as a general umbrella term Lo cover all methods of testing and assessment In the introduction to a handbook for

language teachers, Carr (2011) made distinctions between assessment and testing He wrole: “Assessment is a more superordinate term thal includes tests, ax well as any other tools used to make decisions about students’ levels of language ability Tests, on

the other hand, are assessment that tend to he somewhat formal, and are often used for

if

making high-stake decixions in terms of the grades axsigned ut the end of courses

nothing else” It can be generally understood that testing is one kind of assessment

which can be made distinction from assessment to the extent that tests formally and

typically done at the end of a unit, a semoster or a year basically measure students’ knowledge and proficiency in grades after the same information is introduced On the other hand, assessment inelndes testing and different other types It can be done formally and informally by teachers at any time to keep track of what students

understand Assessment can be realized in different formats including tests and thus, it

shows different results, not only grades In other words, the two terms “assessment”

and “testing” do vot refer to the same denolation and van nol be uscd interchangeably

144 The importance of testing in teaching and learning

Teaching, learning and testing have a mutually influential relationship with cach other in which it is undeniable that testing plays important role in teaching and

leaming

In teaching, testing is often soon as a moans to cnsure effective teaching and to

introduce desirable changes in teaching methods as teaching quality are often assessed

by results of tests Moreover, a3 noted by many researchers such as Harrison (1983:1) and Heaton (1990:9-11), it helps teachers to find out about students’ progress in learning and their difficulties In leaning, tests are mainly employed with the aim at

measuring students’ language ability and their progress In other words, they provide

students with “an opportunity to show their ability through certain tasks in the

language” (Davies, 2000: 169) Tlowever, one of the most important roles of testing is

to motivate sludents in learning on the basis of strengths and weaknesses diagnosed by

itself (Heaton 1990:9-11) Obviously, testing is an integral part of teaching and learning process and consequently, it is an inseparable part from classroom activities

1.4.5 Approaches to language testing

Many scholars, linguistics, and researchers have involved approaches to

language testing with various points of view According to Brown (1996), there are

three movements of language tesling approaches namely the psychometrie-structural movement, the integrative socio-linguistic movement, and the communicative movement At the same time, Djiwandano (1996) stated five approaches of language

testing: the traditional, discrete, integrative, pragmatic, and communicative

approaches Although the division of language testing approaches may differ, and the names of each approach may vary, basically these two scholars shared in common the content of approaches to language testing, In general, language test can be roughly classified imo four main approaches to testing: the traditional or essay-translation

approach, the structuralist approach, the integrative approach and the communicative

approach with their distinctions

¥ The traditional or essay-translation approach is commonly referred to as

the pre-scientific stage of language tesling (Heaton, 1988) since il does nol require any

special skills, expertise or theoretical bases whon constructing tests Brown (1996) stated that this approach is often related to grammar translation teaching method as

esis usually consis! of essay wriling, translation, nnd grannnalical analysis oflen in the

a

forms of comments about the language being leamt These tests often help measure learners’ mastery of the separate elements of the target language such as phonology, vocabulary, grammar and etc

V The structuralist approach, refered by Djiwandono by the discrete approach, is influenced by structural linguistics view in which language consists components such as phonology, momphology, vocabulary, and etc that make up a system or language ‘thus, the use of this approach sees that knowledge of language should cover the mastery of the language components as a system (McNamara, 2000)

However, in such tests, language component and skills are offen separated from one

another For instanec, if one test item is desired to concentrate on testing ability to

write, then there is an attempt to separate it from reading by making it wholly independent! of the ability to read a long passage

¥ The integrative approach involves the testing of language which seeks to

integrate nowledge of systematic components of language (pronunciation, grammar,

vocabulary) with an understanding of cortex! (McNamara, 2000) Tn an integrative test, language is not viewed being isolated from its contexts, and it is also not viewed

in a discrete component, that is, language skills are not separated from one another Normally, students are required to use twe or more skills simultancously Djiwandono (1996) further divided the integrative approach into the integrative approach and the pragmate approach With the pragmatic approach, the meaning of language is best understood net only through the use of language components such as words, phrases, and sentences but also the context where non-language factors emerge such as

gestures, hesitation and etc

V The communicative approach ia sometimes linked to the integrative

approach as they both emphasize the importance of meaning of utterances rather than

their form and structure However, they are fundamentally different from each other

The communicative approach, as defined by Heaton (1990), focuses primarily on how language is used in real communication in other words, most aim to incorporate task

approximals as closvly as possible to those (acing studerits in real life With these (esla,

students arc measured regarding mainly the ability to use language appropriatcly for different purposes in daily life 'urthermore, according to McNamara (2000), this approach implies knowing, “culiurally specific rules of use which related the language used fo features of the communicative context”

There exist many approaches to language testing that test designers can employ

when constructing tests However, a useful test generally incorporates features of

several of these approaches instead of limiting to one approach or another

1.46 Types of tests

Rased on the purposes for which language testing is carried oul, language

testing can be divided into four main types according to Hughes (1989); placement

tests, diagnosis tests, achievement tests and proficiency tests There also exist some other kinds such as direct versus indirect testing, discrete point, versus inlegralive testing, norm-referenced versus criterion-referenced testing, objective versus

subjective testing and communicative language testing In the subparts below, the

author would only emphasize the First four main types in delait

14.6.1 Placement tests

Placement tests are employed with the purpose to provide information to place students at the stage of the program, then to assign students to groups based on their knowledge and abilities they performed In placement tests, the content is concerned with the specific language skills requirement on their course and teaching program

1.4.6.2 Diagnostic tests

Diagnostic tests are the type of tests to identify learners’ strength and

weaknesses They are used with some purposes such as to assess the knowledge and

skills of learners in particular aspects of language, then, al Ihe same litue, io identify learners’ difficulties, gaps in their knowledge, and skill deficiencies during a course so

as lo ascerlain what furlher leaching is necessary (Harmer, 1991:321, Heaton,

case learners got bad results, teachers should adjust their teaching based on learners’ deficiencies until learners have thorough grasp in tenses Designing a comprehensive diagnostic test is based on aspects of language needed being checked, so it could not

be practically used in general language testing and it would be vast and various

Diagnostic tests can be used at the start of the course (Davies, 2000:171) and

consequently may be used as a placement test However, according to Harrison (1983:6),

they can be utilized at the end of a unit in the course book or after a lesson designed to

teach one particular point In this sense, they are like a progress achievement test

Concerning the approach to the content of a diagnostic test, Harrison (1983-6)

stated that it must be relate to specific short-term objectives and should include further

examples of the same kind of material as that used in teaching

have taken It 1s, nevertheless, based on a specification of what leamers have to be able to de in language Those linguistic researchers also stated that this kind is divided

into two types ‘Ihe first one is to assess whether learners have sufficient command of language for a particular purpose such as getting a job and studying abroad The other

type does not relate to any occupation or course study It fumetions as “to show

whether candidates have reached a certain standard with respect to certain specified abilities” (Ilughes, 1989:10) These purposes should be paid adequate attention in

designing proficiency tests

14.6.4 Achievement tests

Achievement tests are of great concern with teachers ‘hey attempt to assess

how successfully individuat students, groups ol siudonis, or the course achieve

objectives As noted by Krashen (1987:1793, Hughes (1989:10) or Harmer (1 991321),

the purpose of these tests is to measure learners’ language and skill progress in relation

to the syllabus that learners have been following Therefore, it can be said that achievement tests relate to the past According to Harrison (1983:7), an achievement

test looks back over a long period of leaming, for example, a year’s work or a whole course

The content of achievement tests has long become a subject of debate Up to

now, there have existed two approaches to the base of the content ‘The first one is called “syllabus-content approach” which Ilughes (1989-11) argued that “achievement

tests are directly related to language courses”, that is, lhe content is based on detailed

course syllabus or on the books and other materials used Inevitably, achievement tests contain only test items which students are introduced and familiar with (Harmer,

1991-321}, and thus, learners’ ability cari be tested righlly However, as alsa pointed

by Hughes {1989:11), if the syllabus is badly designed, or the books and other

materials are badly chosen, then the result of a test can not be truly indicated In other

words, instend of basing on (he syllabus, it is beticr to base the content directly on the course objectives which is proved of being advantageous

According to Ilughes (1989:10) and Davies (2000:171-172), achievement tests

are divided up mto two subtypes with slight difference: final achievement tests and progress achievement tests ‘I'he former is regarded long-term one administered to

students at the end of a course to check how well students have done over a whole

course ‘the later is, on the other hand, short-term ‘hey are often given to students at

the end of a unit, a fortnight and sc on with the hope to check how well students are doing after each lesson and unit, or measure the progress that students are making and

provide consolidation or remedial work if necessary (Davies, 2000-171) Additionally,

they also help decide on changes to future teaching programs (Ilarmer, 1 991:321)

In short, achievement tesis have been discussed in delail regarding general

concepts, approaches to tests’ content basis and subtypes of achicvement tests This

kind of tests can be said to be of frequent use in many schools and by many testers and

teachers in reality

147 Criteria of a good test

A common idea have been agreed that there is a list of qualities that make a test useful among which validity, reliability, practicality, discrimination, and backwash are regarded the most important The author would discuss these qualities in detail

147.1 Validity

Validity’ in testing and assessment has traditionally been understood to mean

discovering whether a test “meusures accurately what it is intended to measure"

(Ilughes, 1989: 22), or uncovering the “appropriateness of a given test or any of its

component parts ax a measure of whal if is purposed to measure’ (Henning, 1987

170) Later, the concept of validity was reimforced by Davies ct al., (1999.221) that “a

measure is valid if it does what it is intended to do, which is typically to act as an

indicator of an abstract concept which it claims ia measure” All dese defimitions

have one idea in common that a test may be valid for some purposes but not for others

Ifa test is designed to check listening skill, it is valid in case it contains test items that

require listening activilies Tn other cascs such as it hes questions of grammar or structure, it is not considered to be valid ‘I'his matter presupposes that when designing tests we have an intention in mind to measure something, that the ‘something’ is ‘real?

The concept of validity reveals some typical aspects which arc rogarded as its subtypes Although there are over 35 terms used to connote kinds of validity, only some types are in common usage today — face validity, content validity, construct validity, and criterion-oriented validity

¥ Face validity is concemed with what other testers, teachers and students

think of the test (Harrison, 1983:11, Heaton, 1988:159} Students might not be

convinced of the lest’s face validity if it contained only three-multiple choice items, even though it is thought to be reliable and practical ([larmer, 1991-322) Thus, if the

test has good face vahidily, i will be acceptable to students and they certamly try

harder The test’s face validity is often found out by asking students whether the test

was appropriate to their expectations or by asking teachers’ opinions What is more, it

is worth noticmg thal a test which has face validity should look as if i measures whal

Ít is supposed to measurc (Hughes, 1989) For instance, if students’ pronunciation is supposed to be measured, students should be asked to pronounce or speak If not, in case of multiple-choice test items, the test might be thought to lack face validity

However, Hughes (1989) also confirmed that indirect tests will have face validity if

novel techniques are introduced slowly with care and convincing explanation

¥ Content validity has been of great consideration by many scholars and

linguistics It relates to the content of the test Harrison (1983:11) confirmed that

“cantent validity is concerned with what goes into the test” Shohamy (1985:74)

shared an idea thal, when a test can show the Lest-lakers’ already-learnt knowledge, it

has content validity Haynes, Richard and Kubany (1995:238) provided a definition that “Content validity is the degree to which elements of an assessment instrument are

relevant fo and representative of the lurgeted construct for a particular assessment

purpose” Although worded differently, the content validity of a test refers to selective

cantent which depends on the course syllabus and the purpose of the test For instance,

a lest measures students” wmderstanding about the present perfect tense; then this lense should be included in the test after it has been introduced to and practiced by leamers

It is worth noticing here that we should determine “the content of the test by what is important to test rather than what is easy to test” (Hughes, 1989:23)

Y Construct validity is regarded the most difficult concept to explain Davies et

al (1999-33) asserted that construct validity is “an mdication of haw representatwe it

is of an underlying theory of language learning” and it involves “an investigation of the qualities that a test measures” Evidently, there are two aspects in the notion of

construct validity — theoretical and empirical which was mentioned and discussed

befure by Herming (1987-98) He argued thal construct validity is empirical in nalure

as it involves the gathering of data and the testing of hypotheses At the same time, he

also confirmed the purpose of validating construct is lo make sure thal the underlying

theoretical constructs being measured are themselves valid With another approach to the understanding of the construct validity, Bachman (1990:255) stated “it refers to

the extent to which a given fest score can be interpreted as un indicaior of the

abilities” In short, the construct validity demonstrates an association between test

scores and the prediction of a theoretical trait or ability

¥ Criterion-oriented validity relates to degree to which “results on the test

agree with those provided with some independent and highly dependable assessment

of the candidate’s ability” (lughes, 2003:27) The concept of criterion validity,

according to Brown (2004) involves “demonstrating validity by showing that the

scores on the test being validated correlate highly with some other, well-respected measure of the same construct” Later, Bowling (2009) assumed that criterion-oriented

validity covers correlations of the measure with anolher criterion measure which 1s

accepted to be valid In short, a criterion is a standard of judgment against which other

measure is compared For instance, if the result of a student in the entrance exam into a

universily highly correlatcs with the result al his graduation level, then the entrance exam demonstrates criterion validity 1t can be said that criterion-oriented validity is

predictive, that is, it helps to predict results of following learning and testing

1.4.7.2 Reliability

Reliability of a test is an essential quality without it a test cam not be considered

to have validity ([larrison, 1983) Reliability refers to the consistency of a measure Normally, a test is considered to be reliable if same test- takors get the approximately

same results at different times it is admimustered to them ‘There 1s a List of aspects that

should be taken into account to ensure the reliability of a test as agreed by many

scholars and linguists (Harrison, 1983; Heaton, 1988, Hughes, 1989, Harmer, 1991 )

These aspects may include the consistency of a test or the same results that test-takers

get at different accasions, the length and difficulty of the test, the clear and

unambiguous insiruotion, the way the leslas delivered, personal factors and so or As

the reliability depends on many factors, it is advisable that test-makers should

carefully lake (hem into consideration when desigming ests

1.4.7.3 Practicality

It is commonly agreed that a good test must be practical Bachman & Palmer

(1996: 36) defined the prachicality of a Lest with a Math operation:

Available resources

Required resources

If practicality > 1, the test development and use is practical

if practicality < 1, the test develapment and use is not practical

Whither a test is practical or nol is the matter of examining available resourees

Practicality =

Ifa test is valid and reliable but it requires more resources than what is available, it has

no practicahty Thus, when designirys a tesl, tes makers must ensure thal required

resources do not execed what is available in administering a test Test practicality was also noted by Brown (2001) as involvement of the “nitty-gritty” of man power, materials and time Ta other words, practicality refers to (auililies available to develop and administer a test regarding both administration the possibilities of giving a test under reasonably acceptable conditions and scoring procedures — the problem of ease

of scoring and of interpretation of scores (Nourivade, 2013) Therefore, there are sore

aspects that test makers should take into careful consideration such as time for

administering a test, special needed arrangements, equipment needed for a test, the

presenialion of a test, the reproduction of test in mass quantity and the cost, and se on

1.4.7.4 Discrimination

Discrimination is an important feature of a good test which “discriminates

among the different students and reflects the differences in the performances of the

individuals in the group” (Lleaton, 1988) It is necessary that a test separates students

from each other and from good students to not good students To make discrimination

among students by Lests, the test ilems should spread over a wide difficulty level as follows: extremely easy items, very easy items, easy items, fairly easy items, items

below average difficulty level, items of average difficulty level, items above average dullicully Icvel, fairly difficult items, difficult items, very difficult items, and

extremely difficult items

1.4.7.5 Backwash

A great number of definitions have been proposed for the term throughout researches on language testing all of which mdicated slight differences in shades of

meaning,

“Backwash” or “washback” was simply defined as “the effect of testing on

teaching and learning” (lughes, 1989:1) At the same time, Buck (1988:17) wrote

that: “There is a natural tendency for both teachers and students ta tailor their classroom activities to the demand of the test this influence of the test on the classroom is, of course, very important, which is termed as washback” Among many definitions were raised, Pearson's one (1988:7) seemed to provide a satisfied explanation to the term when he wrote, “Public examinations influence the attitudes, behaviors and motivation of teachers, learners and parents, and because examinations

often come at the end of a course, this influence ix seen working in a backward direction, hence the term “washback” All the notions indicated that there are two

main perspectives in defining the term: one at macro level and one at micro level At

macro level, “washback” indicates mlucnees of a test wilhin a whole seciely such as

policy making, school administration, and parents’ expectation of their children At

micro level, however, “washback” is considered in narrower situation, that is, it refers

lo test influences within classroom on such as icaching methodologies, learning

activities and strategies

Washback can be either beneficial or harmful as Bailey (1996:269) stated that,

“Washback can either be positive or negative to the extent that it either promotes or impedes the accomplishment of educational goals held by learners and/or program personnel” Consequenily, it can be analyzed in two major types, positive washhack and negative washback Positive washback is synonymous with benefits that tests can

‘bring to teachers and students In this sense, testing encourages and motivates students

pay more attention to learning It also encourages teaching practice to the extent that

meaninglil and imovative learning activitics in teaching cducational methodology would be oreated with the hope to help students face up to tests Negative washback

tefers to constrams of tests on teaching and learning which occur when a lest conlent

or format is based on a narrow definition of language ability When teachers’ job performance is mainly assessed by their students’ test result, teachers, naturally, would

focus on activilies that arc dircolly related to passing examinations and students only

pay attention to Icaming, what would be tested Evidently, the two types are very different from each other Llowever, the intensity and direction of wachback effect is not easy to determine since, according to Watanabe (2004), numerous personal and

contextual factors interact in determining the impact of testing on the classroom practices For instance, if a test is used to make students pay more attention to

leaming, it has positive washback In case, teachers narrow curriculum to make students sharper on the same test, it is certainly a negative influence of that test ‘I'hus, the fact that a test has positive or negative washback depends much on our behaviors

lo deal with i and they are teachers and students who will decide whether i is positive

or negative in certain contexts

148 Stages of test construction

Test, construction involves a serres of steps im sequen

suggesled by Alderson, Clapham & Wall (1995) they melude some stages below:

v Statement of the testing problem: This is the essential first step in testing

to make onesel! perleetly clear about whai one wars lo know and for what purpose In other words, this stage explains why to test and the need of testing

Y Writing test specifications: Test specifications are very useful for test writers, teachers, students, parents, schools, and cte since they include information on content, format and timing, criterial levels of performance, and scoring procedures

¥ IWriing and moderating items: The writing of successful items is extremely difficult and no test designers can be sure to produce perfect test items It is suggested that the best way to identify good or bad test items is through teamwork

with good personal relations

V — Trialing test items informally on native speakers: Tn addition to moderating items step, an attempt should be made on administering the test to native

speakers of a similar educational background to fulure lest candidales They give

suggestion on what itoms need revision or replacement.

v Frialing the test on non-native speakers similar to those for whom the

test is intended: \v is also necessary to administer the test to non-native speakers who is similar to future candidates

¥ Analysing results of the trial and mating necessary changes: After trialing, tests to native and non-native speakers, the results must be checked with the aim at making

changes if necessary This stage helps make test items more accurate and successful

¥ Validating: It is necessary that every test has its validity ‘The more

different types of validity are established, the better the test is Besides inevitable

content, and construct validilies, here are some more lypes thal need to be ensured

such as face, predictive and ect

¥ Training any necessary staff: As mentioned earlier, the practicality is

established if the available resource is over the required resource [tr tests In case the

available staff (examiners, markers ) is not good for administering tests, they must be

trained on how to deliver tests

student's knowledge and ability by getting at what lies heneath their receptive and

productive skills” T means (hal test Hers find out students’ language knowledge through controlled items Indirect test item are divided into some types of which the

followings are widely used:

Y Multiple choice questions (MCQ} ask students to give their choice for a comect answer among given options ‘The whole part of a multiple choice is called

“stam” Sludeuts’ choice is given names “option‘response/alternative”, There is only

one option which is correct called “correct option” or “key”, whereas other options

are known “distractars” which help to distract students’ attention from the correct

option, MCQs are advantageous in the sense that they pravide an useful means of teaching and testing; they are particularly helpful in measuring students’ ability to recognize correct grammatical forms; they help teachers and student identify areas of difficulty (Heaton, 1988:27) Moreover, the scoring correct options done by computers makes MCQs be applied to testing a latge number of students at the same time Ilawever, we also have to deal with same problems when applying theses items to

testing This difficult and time-consuming to construct them Heaton (1988:27) added

another disadvantage of MCQs as “not lending itself to the testing of language as communication” Consequently, MCQs are not helpful in assessing, students’ progress

in communicative compelence

¥ Cloze procedure as defined by Harmer (1991:323) is “the deletion of every

nih word in a text” Because of the randomness of the deleted words, any linguistic

functions and skills may be tested wilhin a single clove text such as grammar,

collocation, fixed phrases, reading comprehension and so on ‘hus, a cloze procedure becomes more integrative Ilowever, there also exist some problems relating to relabilty of a test First, the score obtained by the student depends on the particular words deleted, rather than on their general knowledge of the language Second, in some cases, there may be several possible answers which certainly make students confused

¥ Transformation and paraphrase requires students to rewrite a sentence in

different form without changing the exact meaning of the original (Ilarmer, 1991:324)

To do such items well, students must understand the original, and then know how to

construct an equivalent which is grammalically accepted Anything else about the students' knowledge of the language system would be performed consequently

¥ Sentence re-ordering gets sluderis to pul words im the night order to make

appropriate sentences, which “tells us quite a lot about their smderlying knowledge of

syntax and lexico-grammartical elements” (larmer, 1991:324), Re-ordering items are

fairly easy to wrile although there ray be more (han one correct order.

There are also some other indirect techniques including sontonce fill-ins, choosing the correct tense of verbs in sentences and passages, finding errors in

sentences, and choosing the correct form of a word all of which offer items that are

quick and efficient to score with the aim to tell us something about a student's underlying knowledge

1.4.10 Test specifications

It is undeniable that test specifications play a crucial and essential role in test designing Alderson, Clapham and Wall (1995:9) argued that test specifications

provide the official stalement aboul whal the LesL tesls and how the test tests it and they

are essential in the establishment of the construct validity of the test Then, test

specifications may be understood to include a detailed desoription of the test, the

length and structure of cach part, item types, lasks, skills to be used, the response

format, and how responses are to be scored and reported

These scholars also confirmed that test specifications are needed by a range of

people vamely test constructors to make the (est, those in charge of editing and

moderating the test, those in charge of establishing the test’s validity and

administration officers to make decision on the basis of test scores However, test

specifications may be employed differently depending on types and purposes of the test

1.4.11 Testing language components

Nonmally, when we design a language test, we hypothesize that the test taker’s language ability will be engaged by the test tasks (Bachman, 1991) It means that test makers should take all language components into consideration when designing a

language test Heaton (1988) distributed language components into three sections on

grammar and usage, vocabulary (word meanings, word formation, and collocations) and

phonology (phonemes, stress, and intonation), then each component was discussed in detail

¥ Test of grammar and usage:

Heaton (1988) clamncd that tests measure students’ ability to recognize appropriate grammatical forms and to manipulate structures In an attempt to find out

the role of grammar testing, Hughes (2003) explained a shill from a focus of

grammatical structures which was ever scen the core of language ability to a focus on language skills that should be tested directly It means that grammatical structures must be engaged in checking language skills and language in use Instead of simply remembering grammar and structures, students can use them flexibly in interaction Ina grammar test, there are some common testing items such as multiple-choice items, error-

recognition items, completion items, transformation items, rearrangement items and so on

¥ Test of vocabulary

It is undeniable that vocabulary plays an important part in every language

Heaton (1988) confirmed that “a test of vocabulary measures students’ knowledge of

the meaning of certain words as well as the patterns and collocations in which they

occur” He also added that such a test should test both students’ active vocabulary (words

of (requent use) and their passive vocabulary (words that they can understand but do not normally use) here are some items in this test of vocabulary namely multiple-

choice items, gap-fill items, pairing and matching items, word formation, rearrangement

ilems, completion ilems, error-recogmition items, and guessing meaning from contexts

Y¥ Test of phonology

According to Heaton (1988) test items designed to test phonology might

attempt to asscss some sub-skills namely ability to recognize and pronounce the significant sound contrasts of a language, ability to recognize and use the stress pattem

of a language, and the ability to hear and produce the patterns of the tunes of a language ‘Chere also exist some items in a test of phonology such as multiple choice items; stress of syllable, word, sentence; note — taking and so on

1.5 Language assessment

151° Definition

Language assessment is a field of study within the umbrella of applied

linguistics vat essentially focuses on evaluating a leamer’s Auency in a language Black & William (1998b} detined assessment “broadly to include all activities that

teachers and students undertake to get information that can be used to alter teaching

and learning” Hamma & Delimer (2004) also confirmed that “assessement is the

process of gathering data” about teaching and learning, then it makes judgments about the achievement of leamers in units of study and over a course of language study Therefore, language assessment can be regarded as a collecting information step to make judgments about language teaching and leaming

1.5.2 The role of language assessment

There is a common agreement that assessment in general and language

assessment in particular should be seen as an integral part of teaching and learning cycle with some key purposes such as guiding students’ development of meaningful

learning, informing students and teachers of students’ progress and effectiveness of

teaching, and providing helpful data Bachman & Palmer (2010) reinforced the argument when they claimed that “the primary use of language assessment is to gather information and to help make decision that will lead to benefiial consequences (for stake holders” Vaylor & Nolen (2007) provided a broader understanding about

this role They claimed that the definition of language assessment could include

support students when the events occur wilh cnough frequency that the Leacher knows events, tools, processes, and decisions ‘Thus, language assessment plays an important

rols in teaching and leaming process since it helps define what students have achieved and what should be changed or adapted for better learning achievements

153 Types of language assessment

There are some kinds of language assessment such as formative, summative, diagnostic, benchmarked, norm-referenced assessment and ete among which the

author would like to emphasize the two former ones in detail

Scriven (1967) used the terms “suunative” and “formative” to differentiate

the two mam different categories of assessment with fundamental distinctions

Formative assessment — an essential component of classroom work (Black & William,

19984) often happens duriry, leaching or learning proc

without being graded, and with the aim at providing constructive ongoing feedback that can be used to improve and adjust teaching and leaming (Ramaprasad, 1983; Sadler, 1989; lack & William,

1998a,b; Surgenor, 2010, cla) Naturally, wilhoul being graded or being lnw-slake,

rey 8

student would comfortably perform all what they have learned, so, any gaps oxisting

between their desired goals and their current knowledge and skills would be shown

that help to decide any improvements or adjustments needed in the process of teaching and leaming Summative assessment, on the other hand, was revised by Sadler (1989) conceming with judgments about the quality of student responses in comparison with

formative assessment He stated “summative assessment contrasts with formative

assessment in that it is concerned with summing up or summarizing the achievement

status of a student, and is geared towards reporting at the end of a course of study

especially for purposes of certification” Summative assessment evaluales sludert al

the ond of a teaching or learning process to provide information about students’ achievement of knowledge As it often results in grades against some standard or benchmark, summalive assessinent is said 10 be bigh-stake or to have high point value

Although formative assessment is different from summative assessment, the

classification between them is a bit tricky as an assessment item is formative or

summative depending on the way thal it is employed One summative assessment, for instance, can be used formatively if students and teachers use it to guide their activities

in subsequent courses

16 Communicative language teaching

1.3.1 Basic concepts

Since the introduction in the 1970s, CLT has fueled the scholarly debate

relating to its conceptions Proposed perceptions about CLL have reflected different points of view Consequently, there have been a great number of different definitions

and interpretations of the CLT approach in L2 teaching and learning

According to Richards & Rodgers (2001), CLT is “the aegm

Thore are also many other understandings about CLT In the attempt to make a general distinction between grammatical and communicative approaches to L2 teaching, Canale & Swain (1980) claimed that CLT was organized on the basis of communicative functions that a learner or a group of learners emphasizes “the way in which particular grammatical forms may be used to express these functions

appropriately” They then took communicative competence in L2 teaching, which was

also proposed by Hymes (1972), into consideration by comparing it with communicative performance in depth Sharing the same idea, Nunan (1987) proved

that a ‘weak? interpretation of CLT was synonymous with the value of grammatical

explanation, crror correction, and drill all of which were regarded as non- communicative approaches However, grammar could not be ignored and it would

play ar important role to Iearners’ engagememl in communicative aclivilies as Savignon (1991: 261 277) clauned “Communication cannot take place in the absence of structure, or grammar, a set of shared asswnptions about how language works,

along with a willingness of participants to cooperate in the negotiation of meaning”

‘The general consensus has been reached that CL'L' is a meaning-based, learner- centre approach to L2 teaching where fluency is given priority over accuracy and the emphasis is made on the comprehension and production of massage communicatively, not the teaching or correction of language form In other words, communicative competence is the realistic goal of the language teaching and learning,

1.3.2 CLT approach in Vietnam

According to Le & Barnard (2009), CLT was introduced into the school system

in Vietnam rather later than other countries The implementation of CLT has dealt with

so many obstacles deeply rooted [rom our concepts and the average teaching and learning facility Bock (2000: 25 - 26) reported that “students were not interested in

achieving communicative competence or working in groups” As informed by Le

(2002:33), “teachers are generally incapable of teaching English communicatively in

their real-world classrooms” Le also pointed that this matter was due to the lack of approprialc inservice professional development, and that (cachers remained

“explaining abstract grammar rules and guiding their students in choral readings”

More interestingly, a survey carried out by ‘'omlinson & [ao (2004: 217) revealed that

many teachers did not wish to change their teaching methods Additionally, the teaching facility operates against the implementation of CL Large class sizes of mixed-level students; the lack of electronic equipment, language lab and authentic

materials, poor ventilation, poor libraries and poorly paid staff: the difficulties of

testing communicative competence and so on (Hoang, 2007; Le & Bamard, 2009)

keep Vietnam far from implementing CLT successfully

1.7 Communicative competence

1.71 Basic concepts

In 1965, Chomsky proposed in his work “Aspects of the Theory of Syntax” a

theory called “Transformational Generative Grammar” m which he made disuinclion

between linguistic competence and performance Competence is the monolingual

speaker-listener's knowledge of language and performance is the actual use of

language in real silualions His classic distinction served as basis for work of many other researchers within the same scope among whom the author would like to focus

on the reaction of Ilymes (1972) Iymes (1972) first coined the term “communicative

competence” to refer to “the underlying knowledge a speaker has of the rules of grammar including phonology, orthography, syntax, lexicon, and semantics, and the niles for their use in socially appropriate circumstances” Therefore, the communicative competence can be understood as the knowledge of rules of grammar or linguistic competence and performance or one’s actual production and comprehension of

language in specific instances of language use The verbal part of communicative

competence comprises all the so-called four skills: listening, reading, writing, and speaking skill which is often mistakenly regarded as communicative competence

Since then, various allempls have been made to discuss the theory of

communicative competence The first comprehensive model of communicative competence, which was intended to serve both instructional and assessment purposes,

is thal of Canale & Swam (1980), further claborated by Canale (1983) They

formulated a theoretical framework that consists of four major components as discussed below:

¥ The grammatical competence deals with the mastery of the linguistic code or the knowledge of the language code “which includes vocabulary knowledge as well as knowledge of morphological, syntactic, semantic, phonetic and orthographic rules” This competence enables the speaker to use knowledge and skills needed for understanding and expressing the literal meaning of utterances

¥ ‘The sociolinguistic competence in their model includes knowledge of rules and conventions which underlie (he appropriate comprehension and language use

in different sociolinguistic and sociocultural contexts In other words, it refers to the competence to use language logically and reasonably with regard to semantic aspects

(og alliludes, specch acl ote.) and language formal (c.g words, intonation, non-verbal

language ete.) to make suitable utterances in different contexts

¥ The discourse competence was described as mastery of rules that

delermine ways im which [ors and meanings are combined to achicve a tucaningful unity of spoken or written texts ‘he unity of a text is enabled by cohesion in form and

coherence in meaning Cohesion, which helps to link individual sentences and

utterances to a structural whole, 1s achieved by the use of cohesion devices (c.g pronouns, conjunctions, synonyms, parallel structures eto.) Coherence is attained by repetition, progression, consistency, relevance of ideas etc., and establishes a logical relationship between groups of utterances

¥ The strategic competence is knowledge of verbal and non-verbal

communication strategies that are employed to compensate for breakdowns in

communication due ta insufficienk competence in one or more components of

communicative competence The strategies may include paraphrase, circumlocution,

Tepelilion, reluctance, avoidance of words, structures or themes, guessing, changes of

rogister and style, modifications of messages otc Canale (1983) pointed out that this

competence can be used to enhance the effectiveness of communication and is dillerent from the olher three cormponenis wilh the aspect [hat il is tiot.a (ype of stored

knowledge and it includes non-cognitive aspects such as self-confidence, readiness to

take nsk etc

Although there have been some other models of communicative competence

proposed by Van Ek (1986, 1987) with six components; Celee-Murcia, Dornyei & Thurrell (1995) and so on, the model of Canale and Swain has dominated the fields of

second and foreign language acquisition and language testing up to now despite its

simplicity ‘his model is also what the author would like to base on to solve the

problem of the thesis

1.4.2 Communicative competence and CLT

It is reasonable to assume that CLT should be based implicitly or explicitly on the model of communicative competence CLT concentrates on language as social behavior, secing the primary goal of language teaching as the development of the leamer’s comntunicative competence Then, it is understood that the language teaching

and learning is aimed at achieving the lnguustic knowledge, the sociolinguistic and

soviocullural competence, the unily of texts, and (he siralegies Lo compensate for any

breakdowns in communication if they happen Achievement the linguistic knowledge

is regarded as a base for three other competences which relates mainly the intercultural understandings and the competence to negotiate meaning with different interlocutors

In the new trend of globalization where Unglish is no longer a homogeneous language characterized by only one norm or another, the intercultural understandings and

negotiating competence are of great importance in achieving communicative competence

In conehision, in this chapter the author mentioned literature review about

lesting, language assessment, CIT and communicalive competence These

understandings are of great importance as they provide basis for the thesis

we 3

CHAPTER 2 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

‘This chapter deals with the methodology of the study ‘he author gives the detailed context of the thesis Description of data and procedure of data analysis are

also clarified

2.1 Context of the study

2.14 The English syHabus

Currently, the school has been using a set of English textbooks authorized by the MOLT in 2006 for lower secondary schools with the aim set forth at using English

as a means of communication within each level of proficiency, mastering basic

English phonetics and grammar and attaining a cortain level of understanding of

English and American cultures The books are claimed to adopt a theme-based

syllabus including 16 units for grades 6, 7, 8 and 10 units for grade 9 The methodologies claimed to follow are the learer-centred approach and the

communicative approach with task-based teaching being the central teaching method

The teaching contents for cach umil in the books are summarized in book maps provided on the first page One remarkable thing is that all the textbooks do not mention any methods of assessment and testing,

This English syllabus is proscribed for all grades and schools nation-wide with

a weekly class time of 135 minutes for grades 6, 7, 8 and 90 mimutes for grade 9 split

into lessons of 15 minutes each As allocated, English is studied 3 periods a week in

grades 6, 7 and 8 and 2 periods per week in grade 9 making the total of 385 periods per academic year,

2.1.2 The common English course objectives of secondary schools

Althe ond of cach grade, students are able to practice the [our skills:

” Listening: students are able to listen and understand monologues or

dialogues in the learnt domain contents of the textbooks,

¥ Speaking: students are able to ask, answer and speak to topic-rolatcd

contents in the textbooks

v Reading: students are able to read comprehensively short text or passages in the leamt domain contents of the textbooks, then distinguish main content and ideas from detail or supplement ones

¥ Writing: students are able to write sentences, simple and short paragraphs on the topic of each unit in the textbooks

These concrete achievements are, in fact, to serve to get communicative

competence achievement which was claimed by Vietnamese MOET (2006)

According to MOET (2006:5-6), the documented English language curriculum in

Vietnam aims lo enable school pupils to (1) commumicale in English at the basic level

in all modes of communication i.c listening, speaking, reading and writing; (2) master the basic formal knowledge of the English language, and (3) have general understanding of, and a positive atlitude towards, the cullures of Fnghsh-speaking countries Generally, it is understood that communicative competence is the final

objective of the teaching af English at secondary school while language knowledge

and cultural knowledge serve as the means Lo the end

2.1.3 Kien Quoc Secondary School

The study involved Kien Quoc Secondary School located in the suburb of Haiphong City — an economically developing sca port of North Victnam It is a relatively small school with four teachers of English and 392 pupils in four grades (Grades 6 to 9), mostly children of farmers, workers and seafood traders The average class size in this school is around 30 and the classroom are cramped with very basic

furniture and the only available aids such as blackboards, cassette players and the teachers’ frequent voice based on what they make of the day's textbook lesson

Library is in poor condition with a small amount of books relaling English teaching and leaming There are also material constraints Tape recorder, electronic equipment and

language lab do nol exist in the school

2.1.4 English language learning assessment

Regarding assessment for secondary school students, KQSS applies two types:

continuous and regular mostly in the forms of oral tests, 15-minute Lesks, 45-minule

tests and cnd-of-semester tosts Oral tests can be given to students randomly at any time during the lesson by the teachers and each student has at least one mark for this test which accounts for 10% of the total mark 15-munite tests are often utilized to

evaluate how well students master a new teaching point right after it being introduced

whereas 15-minute tests are given after every two units There are usually two 15-

minute tests, which make up 20%, and two 45-minute tests, which make up 40% of the

total mark, administered to students ma semester ¥nd-of-semester tests presented to the students cover all the content of the knowledge in that semester Normally, these

tests accourl for 30% of the final mark of each student Tl is worth noticing thal these

tests are issued by the local Division of Education and Training Thus, when working with them, the author would not mention when and how they were designed

2.2 The tests

‘The fact that the thesis tries to investigate how the end-of-semester tests are used as 4 summative assessment method at KQSS in the light if CLT resulted in a

decision that the end-ol-semester lesls im the acaderme year 2013 — 2014 acdmimslered

to students were collected and analyzed All these tests were designed and issued by

the local Division of Education and Training After being collected, these end-of-1*

and 2° - somoster tosts for grades 6, 7, 8, and 9 wore renamed respectively into Test 6.1,

Test 7.1, Test 8.1, Lest 9.1, Test 6.2, Test 7.2, Test 8.2 and ‘Lest 9.2 This source of

information is of main importance and value for the study based on which the author

analyzed tests’ characteristics in detail, gave findings to answer the reseaich questions

2.3 Recommended test specifications of the end-of-semester tests

There is no official regulation of designing the final achievement tests from

edueational authorities whole all the final achievement tests were aulhorized by the

local Division of Education and Training However, teachers and students at KQSS

were provided a list of language knowledge and lest specification for yevision

Basically, the test specification of the end-of-semester tests and the 45-mimute tests provided by teachers are the same Llowever, due to the fact that the end-of-semester

esis aim at evaluating the general knowledge of different themes, the contents of the

30

cnd-of-somostor tosts are more complex and their requirements are more synthetic than the 45-minute tests ‘The recommended specification of the tests was designed as below

Table 1: The recommended test specification

Promunciation —_- Recognition of word stress

Stressed - Promuneiation and recognition of vawel MCQs

syllable and consonant sound contrasts

Question 2: Grammar, Vocabulary, Structure

Grammar, - Words relating to themes in each grade

siruelime, Fixed sentence structures

vocabulary and - Word formation

language _—_- Selecting words or fixed phrases, etc MCQs

functions - Communicative function: words or

phrases expressing, popular

couumunicative function

Question 3: Reading

Reading [or gist, Afler reading a shor Lexl

and details _- Filling in the gaps;

- Answering relating questions,

- Deciding ‘True/Kalse sentences

Tistening a - Filling in the blanks missing words, -

Fill-ins

shortpassage - Answering questions

31