04051001837 tóm tắt nghiên cứu về năng lực Đánh giá kĩ năng viết của giáo viên và hoạt Động Đánh giá bộ môn viết tại một trường đại học

04051001837 tóm tắt nghiên cứu về năng lực Đánh giá kĩ năng viết của giáo viên và hoạt Động Đánh giá bộ môn viết tại một trường đại học

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI

UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FALCUTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

-

GU TH TH H G

I VESTIG TIO I TO TE CHERS’ WRITI G SSESSME T

LITERACY AND WRITING ASSESSMENT PRACTICES AT

A UNIVERSITY IN THAI NGUYEN

(Nghi n u v n ng l nh gi k n ng vi t gi o vi n v ho t ng nh gi

m n vi t t i m t tr ng i h Th i Nguy n)

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 8140231.01

Supervisor: Dr Dương Thu Mai

HANOI – 2022

ABSTRACT

Vietnam has experienced a growing concern for language testing and assessment in

re ent de des Under the influen e of the N tion l proje t “Te hing nd Le rning Foreign Languages in the National Formal Educational System in the Period of 2008 – 2020”, ommunicative teaching approach has received enormous concern from both scholars and English learners This trend, as a result, also generates greater attention to the practice of teaching and learning Writing skills However, the majority of research relating to these aspects are carried out within the high school context mainly With an awareness of a shortage of concern for the tertiary level, this

p per ims to investig te te hers’ writing ssessment liter y nd writing assessment practices at university level In particular, this study seeks to discover English te hers’ per eption of writing ssessment liter y, their current writing assessment practices as well as factors influencing their practices of classroom writing assessment The study employs a mixed method design with data collected from questionnaires from 17 teachers and interviews with 3 selected individuals Findings of the research indicate that teachers possess a rich understanding of Writing abilities and knowledge of the writing procedures, measurements and skills, and abilities to carry out writing assessment Noticeably, despite the dominant consisten e etween p rti ip nts’ writing ssessment liter y nd their urrent practices, there still exist obvious contradictions This issue is largely the result of

v rious f tors ffe ting te hers’ l ssroom writing ssessment pr ti e These influences could be divided into two groups which are significant impacts and small impacts Moreover, results from the study also points out different problems that Vietnamese teachers confront when assessing writing skills at tertiary level

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1.1 Statement of research problem and rationale for the study

Vietnam has experienced a growing concern for language testing and assessment in recent decades Efficient teaching methods are no longer the only primary concern of scholars, educators as well as stakeholders Instead, greater attention has been shifted

to ssessing students’ perform n es nd hievements With the introdu tion of the

N tion l proje t “Te hing nd Le rning Foreign L ngu ges in the N tion l Form l Educational System in the Period of 2008 – 2020” or Proje t 2020, the urri ulum constructed for teaching English subject experienced a significant change with a shift into communicative teaching approach As a results, the practice of teaching and learning Writing skills has received greater concerns from scholars However, in ontr st to ri h ody of studies rried out within high s hool ontexts, te hers’ writing assessment literacy as well as their actual practice of this at tertiary level fall short of sufficient attention

Being w re of this issue, this study, entitled “An investig tion into te hers’ writing ssessment liter y nd writing ssessment pr ti es t university in Th i Nguyen” expects to bridge the afore-mentioned research gap This research aims to answer the three following questions:

1 Wh t is English l ngu ge te hers’ per eption of writing ssessment liter y t the Faculty of English teachers education of a University in Thai Nguyen?

2 What are the current practices of classroom writing assessment conducted by these teachers?

3 What factors affect the practices of classroom writing assessment of these teachers?

1.2 Scope of the research

This study is limited to writing assessment literacy, current practices of writing assessment and factors influencing assessment decisions of teachers in a Faculty of English language teachers education of a University in Thai Nguyen

1.3 Significance of the study

This study wishes to provide in-service university English teachers and educators

with more in-depth information about writing assessment literacy and actual practices

of writing assessment This would consequently support them to build suitable plans

as well as make appropriate adjustments for teaching writing at university level Significantly, this research might also be a reference for establishing training programs and courses of writing assessment literacy and teaching methodology for pre-service teachers

1.4 Methods of the study

This research adopts a mixed method design To be more specific, the quantitative procedure is applied for analysis of data collected from the questionnaire Meanwhile, the qualitative one is employed during the analyzing procedure of data from the interview

CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 The definitions of assessment for language education

In a smaller scale of classroom, assessment is also considered as a process whi h “ egins with the identifi tion of purpose for g thering the inform tion, proceeds to selection of an appropriate way to gather information, and concludes with use of the results to enh n e the qu lity of te hers’ de isions” (M Mill n & Workman, 1998, p.10)

2.2 Language assessment procedure

One of the most popular concept of language assessment process is proposed

by Bachman and Palmer (1996) in which assessment is suggested as a conceptual three-stage process including Design, Operationalization and Administration

Another description of the assessment process is proposed by Shohamy and Inbar (2006) The language assessment procedure starts with setting assessment purposes, defining language knowledge to be judged and selecting appropriate assessment processes After that, actual tasks and items are developed and generated

In the next step, assessment instrument is administered, and its quality is then assessed along with validity and reliability Especially, expected difficulties during the administration needs to be listed Lastly, results from the assessment will be interpreted and reported to relevant bodies

2.2.1 Identifying purposes of language assessment

Among a variety of assessment purposes, this study would concern most about the following ones due to its fo us on te hers’ ssessment liter y nd their pr ti e The list of purposes of assessment that would be utilized to construct several questions later in this research can be concluded as follow:

1 Planning, conducting and evaluating instruction

2 Di gnosis (student’s diffi ulties, strengths nd we knesses)

3 Placement

4 Feedback and Grading

5 Evaluating (academic learning, appropriateness, effectiveness, efficiency of teaching programs

2.2.4 Designing items and tasks

After identifying the constructs of assessment, assessors possess enough foundation to design specifi items nd t sks An item is onsidered s “ dis rete

me sure” nd “me sure one fe ture of onstru t t time” (Cheng & Fox, 2017, p 116) Meanwhile, a task does not focus on a single feature only Therefore, rating a task requires a range of criteria in correlation with different features of a performance (Cheng & Fox, 2017)

2.2.4.1 Writing the test specifications

Test specifications are usually called in a short version as specs or blueprints Fulcher and D vidson (2007, p.52) omp re test spe ifi tions s “gener tive expl n tory do uments for the re tion of test t sks” nd they provide inform tion of

“how to phr se the test items, how to stru ture the test l yout, how to lo te the passages, and how to m ke host of diffi ult hoi es” during the prep r tion of test materials

2.2.4.2 Writing items and tasks

Major considerations for item and task writers include the likelihood of producing evidence that are ratable and the relevance of the score to desirable claims

of learner ability (Fulcher & Davidson, 2007) Besides, writers also need to ensure the appropriateness of both test items and materials with test purpose and provided specifications In addition to these aspects, the validity and reliability of measurement also require considerable attention from item writers as they depend on the level that

test items ssess test t kers’ knowledge, skills nd ilities ppropri tely s well s their ilities to produ e “ omp r le nd v lid test questions of appropriate diffi ulty nd dis rimin tion” (S hedl & M lloy, 2014)

2.2.5 Administer assessment

The procedures of administering a test are suggested by Bachman & Palmer (1996) to include four steps which are preparing the testing environment, communicating the instruction, maintaining a supportive environment and collecting the tests

2.2.6 Assessing assessment procedure’s quality

Two m jor riteri reg rding ssessment of pro edure’ qu lity re v lidity nd reliability (Shohamy & Inbar, 2006) Reli ility m inly “refers to the onsisten y with whi h test me sures wh tever it’s me suring” (Poph m, 1995, p.33) Meanwhile, validity focuses on elements which generate reliable variance in test scores or the identification of abilities constructing this reliable variance (Bachman, 1990)

2.2.7 Interpreting results

After collecting results, various benchmarks and data need to be applied to gain professional understanding of them (McMillan, 2015) Among various methods to interpret assessment results, Blerkom (2009) suggested two most popular ones which are Norm-referenced interpretation and Criterion-referenced interpretation

2.2.8 Grading and Feedback the results

Grading is the act of assigning certain symbolic figures or letters with a purpose of providing a brief summary of students' academic achievements after a course of time

Nitko (2009) also suggested various methods to give feedback to students such

as letter grades, number or percentage grade, two-category grade, checklist and rating scales, narrative report or pupil-teacher conference With regard to communicating the results with parents of students, parent-teacher conferences and letters to parents are the two approaches listed

2.3 Factors affecting teachers’ classroom assessment practices

2.3.1 Teacher knowledge, beliefs, expectations, and values

Firstly, pulling for students w s expl ined s te hers’ ttempt to provide students with chances to su eed This, ordingly, results in te hers’ d pt tion of their assessment practices

Se ondly, te hers’ philosophy of edu tion lso exerts profound imp t on ssessment de ision m king Noti e ly, te hers’ eliefs nd v lues or their cognition re lso “sh ped y the experien es te hers umul te” (Borg, 2003, p.95)

Promoting students’ underst nding lso pl ys n import nt role in sh ping

te hers’ ssessment pr ti es Assessment of students’ progress is sed on n lysis

of their in-depth comprehension, ability to use knowledge and application in resolving issues or making decision (McMillan, 2003)

Fourthly, the dem nd of ssessment v riety lso ffe ts te hers’ de isions in

l ss M Mill n (2003) knowledged te hers’ ppli tion of their general belief regarding the role of adjusting to individual distinction for further changes of assessment type in his research

The fifth influen e in M Mill n nd N sh (2000) model is te her’s elief in terms of students’ eng gement

2.3.2 External factors

Extern l f tors re those eyond te hers’ m n gement (M Mill n, 2003)

A ording to the model, there re three m jor extern l influen es on te hers’ assessment decisions which are state-mandated high-stake tests, district policies and requirements, and parents

2.3.3 Classroom realities

McMillan (2003) considered classroom realities as factors beyond the control of teachers These influences are social promotion, excessive absenteeism, disruptive behavior and heterogeneity Findings from the research caried out by Richards and Pennington (1998) also indicated the negative impact of issues related to students on

te hers’ l ssroom pr ti es su h s ig l ss size, dis our ged students, students’ level of English competency and even their refusal to conform to new learning method

low-2.4 Writing assessment

2.4.1 Defining Writing construct

An important beginning for assessing a skill is defining it (Weigle, 2002) and the case of writing assessment is not an exception

An aspect worth consideration when defining writing ability is its components suggested from models of language knowledge related to writing Building upon a series of previously published models of Hymes (1972), Canale and Swain (1980) and Bachman (1990), Grabe and Kaplan model outlines a general view of various factors of language competence According to this model, language knowledge is categorized into linguistic knowledge, discourse knowledge and sociolinguistic knowledge

2.4.2 Selecting the methods to assess writing

2.4.2.1 Essays

The most frequently applied form of open-ended tasks in writing is essays Nitko (2001) divided essay items into two major groups which are restricted and extended response items

2.4.2.2 Timed impromptu Writing test

Direct test of writing or timed impromptu writing test is argued by Weigle (2002) to be the most popular method for testing writing There are five major features of this writing assessment method (Hamp-Lyons, 1991, p.5) including: 1/ test takers are required to produce in minimum one piece of continuous text, 2/ a set

of instructions is provided and requires time for responding to the prompt, 3/ judgements need to follow certain principles and should be demonstrated in numerical forms, 4/ the production of text is restricted within limited amount of time and 5/ the topic is not revealed for test takers before test time

2.4.2.3 Portfolio

A portfolio is a collection of written works produced for various aims during a certain course of time (Weigle, 2002) Therefore, it allows writers to exhibit a wide range of writing performances (Hamp-Lyons and Codon, 2000)

2.4.3 Designing writing tasks

The four most basic requirements for assessors to consider were mentioned by White (1994), including clarity, validity, reliability and interest

2.4.4 Crafting the Rating scales

2.4.4.1 Holistic scale

The main purpose of the Holistic scale is providing a precise score of the overall proficiency of the writers As a result, the score based on this scale is an integral of all writing patterns

2.4.4.2 Analytic scoring

In contrast to combining all the rates of different features into one single score, Analytic scoring assesses writing according to various sets of criteria Raters are expected to provide scores for each category

2.4.4.3 Trait-based Scoring

According to Hamp-Lyons (1991, as cited in Nodoushan, 2014), the major purpose of the Trait-based scoring is providing a clear identification of the particular topic as well as characteristics of the genre belonging to the task being assessed

2.5 Writing assessment literacy

2.5.1 Assessment literacy

The term “Assessment liter y” w s first introdu ed y Ri h rd Stiggins (1991) He contends that assessment literacy includes fundamental understanding of ssessment nd relev nt te hniques to me sure students’ perform n es Significantly, Fulcher (2012) proposes an expanded definition of language assessment literacy which points out that there are three dimensions of knowledge types included in it, including practice, principles and contexts

2.5.2 Writing assessment literacy

Writing assessment literacy can be understood as a combination of knowledge about formative and summative assessment, quality of good assessment, skills and abilities to conduct writing tasks

2.6 Studies and Official documents for Writing assessment literacy and

practices at tertiary level in the context of Vietnam

2.6.1 Official requirements of writing assessment literacy

2.6.1.1 Writing assessment methods

Current methods to assess writing skills at tertiary levels in some schools mainly apply Multiple choice questions, writing essays and interviews while assessing learning procedures only accounts for a minor part (Tran, 2017) Besides, summative tests and indirect testing methods still dominate in non-specializing contexts (Ngo, 2018) Another alarming issue discovered by Le (2014) is that many teachers lack guidelines on methods to assess students in classignificantly, the International standardized tests such as TOEFL, TOEIC or IELTS are exploited as major yardstick to assess students’ skills (writing in luded) in m ny institutions (Hoang, 2010)

2.6.1.2 Rating scale and Scoring practice

Te hers’ dis retion pl ys m jor role in the de ision of r ting s le (Ngo, 2018) This on lusion m t hes Tr n’s (2017) omment on the s oring pr ctice at her school Another noticeable problem is the focus of teachers during the scoring practice of writing performances Trinh and Nguyen (2014) point out that Vietnamese EFL teachers have a preference for grammatical correction instead of paying attention to communicative discourse

2.6.2 Current issues of Writing assessment practice at Tertiary level

At tertiary level, Regulations of Standards for University Teachers published

y MOET (Vietn m’s Ministry of Edu tion nd Tr ining) in 2018 provide gener l requirements for university teachers as well as how to assess and rate them According to the second standard for professional competencies presented in these regulations, teachers should be able to design, employ assessment tools and use the results of assessment to develop training programs as well as adjust their teaching

activities However, this is the only requirement concerning the aspect of assessment

2.6.3 Factors affecting Vietnamese teachers’ classroom assessment practice

With specific target at university level, Phan (2018) listed syllabus time-frame and class size s neg tive influen es Ph n (2018)’s findings lso onform to these of Nguyen (2021) reg rding students’ v ri les Spe ifi lly, students’ limited motiv tion nd low linguisti ility for ed p rti ip nts in Ph n (2018)’s study to follow provided teachers’ guidelines nd use mostly Vietn mese in l ss to ensure pupils’ omprehension of the lesson ontent