1 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 RATIONALE A good test can be used as a valuable teaching device Heaton (1991:5) states that “test may be constructed primarily as devices to reinforce learning and to motivate the student or primarily as a means of assessing the students’ performance in the language.” According to this linguist, the relationship between testing and teaching is “so closely interrelated that it is virtually impossible to work in either field without being constantly concerned with the other” For proper evaluation and assessment of the English language learning and teaching process, testing, an important tool in educational research and for program evaluation (Lauwerys and Seanlon (1969:2) is employed as an indispensable part of the training program at Ngo Quyen high school (NGHS) in Hai Phong city However, the designing a good test is not simple Having been a teacher of English for many years, I have been involved in designing, administering and marking many kinds of English tests such as progress and end-of-term tests and also have often heard teachers and test-takers at NQHS complaining that some of the final achievement tests for 12 th form students not faithfully reflect the real linguistic competence of the test-takers What is tested is not really taught and the test measures neither the achievement of the course objectives nor the expected linguistic skills and knowledge of the students Probably, this is because the test writers use the tests which are designed elsewhere and are not suitable for the students What test writers are concerned with seems to be the reliability of the test rather than its validity The situation coincides with the comments made by some test researchers as Brown (1994: 373) and Hughes (1989:1) on recent language testing, “a great deal of language testing is of very poor quality Too often language testing has a harmful effect on teaching and learning and too often they fail to measure accurately whatever it is they are intended to measure” Another reason is that language testing here has not been paid enough attention to I have not witnessed either comprehensive or systematic evaluation on the effectiveness and appropriateness of these tests For the above-mentioned reasons, the author is encouraged to undertake this minor thesis with the aim at investigating the designing final written achievement tests for the 12 th form students at NQHS through evaluating a current final achievement test by both students and teachers mainly in terms of its validity I hope that the result of the study can then help to improve the quality of the final achievement tests for the 12 th form students at NGHS 1.2 SCOPE OF THE STUDY Due to the limitations of time and ability, the scope of the study is limited to research on examining the current final achievement test for the 12 th form students at NQHS mainly in terms of its validity The study provides empirical evidence of the current final achievement test and proposes practical suggestions on the improvement of the final tests for the 12 th form students at NQHS in general 1.3 AIMS OF THE STUDY The study is aimed at reporting the result of the examination of current final achievement test for the 12 th form students at NQHS in terms of its validity It highly emphasizes analyzing the teachers’ and students’ evaluation on the test and their suggestions towards its improvement The specific aims of the research are: - To investigate the NQHS English teachers’ and the 12 th form students’ evaluation of the current final achievement test in terms of its validity - To find out the differences and similarities (if there are any) in teachers’ and test takers’ evaluation of the test and to suggest reasons why there are such similarities and differences - To provide some practical recommendations for the improvement of the final achievement tests so as to achieve more accurate measures of students’ English competence 1.4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS The research questions of the study are as follows: - How is the current final achievement test for the 12th form students at NGHS evaluated by both students and teachers in terms of its validity? - What improvements are recommended by the teachers and students with regard to the validity of the test? 1.5 METHODS OF THE STUDY In order to achieve the above aims, a study has been carried out with the following methodologies First, the author based herself both on the theory and principles of language testing, major characteristics of a good test (with special focus on test validity), achievement test and practical tips to write it From her critical reading, many reference materials have been gathered, analyzed, and synthesized to draw out a theoretical basis to evaluate the current final achievement test for the 12th form students at NQHS Second, qualitative methodologies involving data collected through survey questionnaires were employed Two questionnaires were administered to the 12 th form students and teachers of English at NQHS in order to investigate their evaluative comments on the current final achievement test in terms of its validity and their suggestions for its improvement Besides, many other methods such as interviews, informal discussion with students, teachers, and classroom testing observation are also used to get more needed information 1.6 STRUCTURE OF THE STUDY The minor thesis is organized into five major chapters: - Chapter one presents basic information such as the rationales, the aims, the research questions, the methods, and the structure of the study - Chapter two is about a review of related literature that provides the theoretical basis for evaluating and building a good language test This review consists of background on language testing, criteria of a good test, theory on the written achievement test such as its two kinds and practical tips for writing achievement tests - Chapter three, the main part of the study, analyzes the results of the survey including the questionnaires and direct interviews to find out the existing problems in designing the current achievement test in particular and other final achievement tests in general at NGHS - Chapter four proposes some suggestions on improvement of designing the final achievement tests basing on the mentioned theoretical and practical study - Chapter five provides a summary and suggestions for further research on the topic, and reference materials as well CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 DEFINITION OF TESTING A test is generally defined by Carroll (1968:46) as “A psychological or educational test is a procedure designed to elicit certain behavior from which one can make inferences about certain characteristics of an individual” Simply put, a test is an instrument designed to elicit a specific sample of an individual’s behavior Similarly, Davies (1991:13) states that the tests are operational in nature, i.e, they are intended to measure whether or not the candidates can certain things in English The “things” they are asked to are specified at each level and represent authentic tasks of the sort which confront language users in real life Genesee and John A Upshur (1996) look at tests as a task that measures one’s ability to perform a particular task They argue that a test is, first of all, about something That is, it is about intelligence, or European history, or second language proficiency In educational terms, tests have subject matter or content Second, a test is a task or set of tasks that elicits observable behavior from the test taker The test may consist of only one task, such as writing a composition, or a set of tasks, such as in a lengthy multiple-choice examination in which each question can be thought of as a separate task Different test tasks represent different methods of eliciting performance Third, tests yield scores that represent attributes or characteristics of individuals In order to be meaningful, test scores must have a frame of reference Test scores along with the frame of reference used to interpret them is referred to as measurement Thus, tests are a form of measurement (p.141) In other words, content, methods and measurement are three aspects of tests The quality of the end-of-year tests depends on whether the content of the test is a good sample of the relevant subject matter If the content of a test is a poor reflection of what has been taught or what is supposed to be learned, then performance on the test will not provide a good indication of achievement in that subject area What a test is measuring is a reflection of not only its content but also the method it employs Tests that employ different methods are measuring somewhat different skills, no matter how similar their content might be Tests in education measure differences in degree They describe how proficiently students can read a second language or how appropriately they speak in particular social situations, for example In the foreign language teaching context, a test can be defined as an educational instrument which is designed to measure what someone can with the foreign language to serve a particular purpose (McNamara:11) As an instrument, a test may be responded to differently by testees and test-users Understanding testees and test-users’ responses to, and perceptions of tests has been a critical issue in foreign language testing Such understanding is even more important where learner-centredness is promoted as a philosophical orientation in foreign language teaching Testing, the act of administering a test, is closely related to teaching and learning This relationship is discussed in the next section (section 2.2) 2.2 RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN TESTING, TEACHING AND LEARNING With regard to the relationship between testing, teaching and learning, there have been two extreme views In the past, there was a common view that teaching and learning were separated both theoretically and in practice According to this view, a test is a necessary but unpleasant imposition from outside the classroom: it helps to set standards but uses up valuable class time But other researchers acknowledge the close link between them For example, Harrison (1991:7) believes that far from being divorced from each other, testing and teaching are closely interrelated A test is seen as a natural extension of classroom that can serve each as a basis for improvement Upshur (1971) adds that, language testing both serves and is served by research in language acquisition and language teaching Language tests can be valuable sources of information about the effectiveness of learning and teaching Language teachers regularly use tests to help diagnose student strengths and weaknesses, to assess student progress, and to assist in evaluating student achievement Language tests are also frequently used as sources of information in evaluating the effectiveness of different approaches to language teaching As sources of feedback on learning and teaching, language tests can thus provide useful input into the process of language teaching That kind of feedback is termed “backwash” by Hughes (1989) who defines the term as “the effect of testing on teaching and learning” He goes on to explain that testing can have either a beneficial or a harmful effect on teaching and learning “If a test is regarded as important, then preparation for it can come to dominate all teaching and learning activities And if the test content and testing techniques are at variance with the objectives of the course, then there is likely to be harmful backwash” (p.1) However, he notes that the relationship between teaching and testing is that of partnership In other words, we cannot expect testing only to follow teaching; rather a good test is an obedient servant since it follows and apes the teaching (Davies (1968: 5) What we should demand of it, however, is that it should be supportive of good teaching and, where necessary, exert a corrective influence on bad teaching If testing always had a beneficial backwash on teaching, it would have much better reputation amongst teachers (Hughes:2) Cohen (1994) discusses the effects of backwash more broadly, in terms of “how assessment instruments affect educational practices and beliefs” (p.41) Wall and Alderson (1993), go a little bit farther to argue convincingly on the basis of extensive empirical research, that backwash has potential for affecting not only individuals, but the educational system as well Read (1983:2) points out: “A test can help both teachers and learners to clarify what the learners really need to know assuming that it is unrealistic to expect them to master everything they are presented with during a particular course.” The result of tests shows teachers not all but part of learners’ ability, which helps teachers to improve ways of teaching or revise knowledge According to Heaton (1898:7), “a well-constructed classroom test will provide the students with an opportunity to demonstrate their ability to perform certain tasks in the language and the students should be able to learn from their weakness” Obviously, under the influence of the tests, the students are motivated to use what they have done and avoid the mistakes and errors that they have made The learners know how far they have achieved the object of the course so that they can upgrade their level or they have to learn more “A good test can sustain or enhance class morale and aid learning.” (Madsen, (1983:3) Because of the important role a test plays in either supporting or impeding teaching and learning, it is critical that a test must be supportive of good teaching This raises the necessity to investigate the opinions of the test users, specifically the learners and the teachers 2.3 TYPES OF ACHIEVEMENT TESTS An achievement test is one of the means available to teachers and students alike of assessing progress According to Hughes (1990:10), “achievement tests are directly related to language course, their purpose being to establish how successful individual students, groups of students, or the courses themselves have been in achieving objectives” To make it clearer and to distinguish it from others simultaneously, Harrison (1991) stresses that “an achievement test looks back over a longer period of learning than the diagnostic test” (p.7) He provides a clear distinction between achievement and diagnostic tests in that achievement tests cover a much wider range of material than a diagnostic tests and relate to long-term rather than short-term objectives Achievement tests are designed to assess the whole course or even a number of courses Those students who have finished an English course will sit for the test and will be evaluated whether or not they have learnt it well Their standards and differences are judged in relation with other students in the same stage by test results On the other hand, diagnostic tests also look back on the previous course for persistent errors for which they from remedial work It can be referred that diagnostic tests can be used to predict and improve future teaching and learning Additionally, Heaton- when widening the concept of achievement tests- defined them as the ones “based on what the students are presumed to have learnt- not necessary on what they have actually learnt nor on what has actually been taught” (Heaton, 1991:172) According to the time of administration and designed objectives, achievement tests can be subdivided into two kinds of achievement tests: Progress achievement and final tests 2.3.1 Progress achievement tests Progress achievement tests are always administered during the course, after a chapter or a term, and often written by the teacher They are based on teaching program Hughes (1990:12) claims “these tests are intended to measure the progress that students are making.” Since “progress” in achieving course objectives, these tests should be related to objectives These should make a clear progression towards the final achievement tests based on course objectives Then if the syllabus and teaching methods are appropriate to these objectives, progress tests based on short term objectives will fit well with what has been taught If not, there will be pressure to create a better fit Progress achievement tests are supposed to help the teacher to judge the degree of success of his or her teaching and help to find out how much students have gained from what have been taught Accordingly, the teachers can identify the weakness of the learners or diagnose the areas not properly achieved during the course of study In short, progress achievement tests can be regarded as a useful device that provide the students with a good chance to perform the target language in a positive and effective manner and to gain additional confidence in doing them This way can be a good preparative and supportive step towards the final achievement test for the students because they will get familiar with the tests and the strategy to them 2.3.2 Final achievement tests Final achievement tests, as the name suggest, is usually a formal examination, given at the end of the school year or at the end of the course to measure how far students have achieved the teaching goals (Hughes(1990:10) They may be written and administered by ministries of education, official examining board, or by members of teaching institutions The content of these tests must be related to the courses with which they are concerned Hughes (1990:11) suggests two approaches towards designing achievement tests: syllabus-content approach and objective content approach The syllabus-content approach means that the content of a final achievement tests should be based on a detailed course syllabus or on the books and other material used The tests designed basing on what the students have already learnt in the course books can be considered fair tests On the contrary, the badly designed syllabus or badly chosen material which is different from the course objectives may bring about misleading results which are unlikely to show what students have achieved on the other When this occurs, test results will fail to meet the test validity in terms of course objectives The syllabus-objective approach is to design the test content directly on the objectives of the course This approach has some good points Firstly, it forces course designers to elicit about course objectives Secondly, this approach can help to work against the poor teaching practice that syllabus content-based tests fail to However, this approach has to cope with the problems in testing what the students have neither learned nor prepared Of the two approaches mentioned, Hughes (1990:11) favors the latter one by arguing that it will provide more accurate information about individual and group achievement, and it is likely to promote a more beneficial backwash effect on teaching 2.3.3 Roles of achievement tests The roles of achievement tests are clearly shown by McNamara(2000:6): “ Achievement tests accumulate evidence during or at the end of a course of study in order to see whether and where progress has been made in terms of the goals of learning Achievement tests should support the teaching to which they relate.” That is, achievement tests play an important role in the teaching-learning process Besides bearing all the characteristics of a normal test, achievement tests can supply more accurate and fuller information because they look back on the course students have been learning These tests’ backwash effect can show teachers how appropriately or effectively their teaching has been Furthermore, results obtained from achievement tests enable teachers to become familiar with the of each student and with the progress of the class in general (Heaton, 1991:1) With final achievement tests and progress achievement tests, teachers can take usual control of their class through their results This type of test works mainly as a motivation to learning It should “encourage the students to perform well in the target language and to gain additional confidence” (Heaton, 1990:171) When a good test is conducted and the test results are high, students may feel encouraged and try more Even a bad performance can be an incentive to work more, because the frequency of progress achievement test during the course of study is very high In short, the achievement test works as assessment of both teachers’ and students performance during the whole course and as an encouragement to both teachers’ and students’ progress Thus, it cannot be neglected in any syllabus and any teaching program 2.3.4 Practical tips for writing achievement tests Harrison (1991) states that designing and setting an achievement test is a bigger and more formal operation than the equivalent work for a diagnostic test An achievement test involves more detailed preparation and covers a wider range of material as it relates to long-term rather than short-term objectives (p.64) As for Harrison (1983:7), it is necessary for test writers to draw out a test specification before writing a test Test specification is resulted from the process of designing test content and test method (Mc Namara (2000:31) The specifications include information on the length, the structure of each part of the test, the type of materials, the extent to which the candidates will have to engage, the source of materials, the extent to which authentic materials may be altered, the response format, the test rubrics and how responses are to be scored They are usually written before the test and then the test is written on the basis of the specifications After the test is written, the specification should 10 be consulted again to see whether the test matches the objective set in the specification Therefore, writing specifications is an important step because it insures that item writers can write up test items that measure appropriately whatever the test developers intend to and that the range of conditions suitable for the test objectives will not be exceeded When writing specifications, teachers should use an index card on the top of which they can write the test objectives and below is the table of specifications They should try not to repeat the wording of the objective; remember to increase the level of detail preparatory to writing tests items The final step is writing the items themselves and entering them on the back of the index card Harrison (1983:16) indicates the following factors to be taken into consideration when one sets up the table of specification for a test - Time: The first factor teachers should be attended on is answering the question how much can be tested in the time available for the test They should decide a reasonable amount of time for the majority of the test takers to be able to complete the test If not, a counter effect will happen, as the students are too panic and fearful to the work under pressure of time Students who are not given enough time will not be able to demonstrate their full achievement On the other hand, students who are given too much time to a test can treat it like a puzzle rather than an actual language test - Coverage: The next important factor to be taken into account is determining the test content in terms of grammatical and functional items and skills so that it accurately reflects the syllabus and objectives It also involves determining whether the test should ask for the main idea, specific details or inferences, etc - Test techniques: subjective and objective methods: There are many techniques for testing both language and skills Most of them are only familiar to teachers They should also be familiar to students before being used in a test Heaton (1988:27) takes a similar view on test techniques by arguing that a good classroom test will usually contain both subjective and objective test items Each method has its own strong points and weak points The reason he gives for such a combination of test techniques is that it helps to guarantee a high quality of the test The choice of test type will depend on what has been taught, to what extent and how, that is to say, it depends on the syllabus Objective items (for instance, multiple choice items, matching, true-false items, etc.) can be marked very quickly and completely reliably because it has only 36 is that teachers should carefully consider language ability and needs when designing the test This can successfully done if teachers make their own test rather than borrow the tests designed elsewhere because teachers are the ones who work directly with the students and know what they have provided the students It is very important as it motivates students’ efforts in accomplishing the test Moreover, teachers are also the ones who know the objectives of the test clearly, so their tests can be hoped to be valid, reliable and practical It is certain that teachers have to spend a lot of time drawing test specifications, drafting, revising, and meet difficulties in choosing materials, in writing test items as well as when building their own test 4.1.2 Preparing the test content The test content should be prepared carefully The taking ready-made tests elsewhere does not truly reflect the teaching content of the course and thus disadvantage their students Teachers have to bear in mind that the teaching syllabus is helpful in choosing test content It is useful to use a variety of authentic materials for test inputs and the type of the chosen test should reflect the goals of the language teaching practice 4.1.3 Considering the language difficulty level The results from the collected data showed that the current final test lacked validity as it is too easy for some students (D stream) on the one hand, and too difficult for some others (A stream) on the other This problem can be solved by taking into account topics and language difficulty level The level of difficulty of items included in the test should relate and be familiar to what the students have been taught It is advisable that the test should have a common part for the two groups and a separate one for each 4.4.4 Selecting a variety of test items to measure language skills for the tests In order to meet the training objectives, the final achievement tests should measure testees’ grammar and vocabulary, phonology, reading comprehension, listening and writing skills In fact, multiple-choice questions are used for the whole test Multiple-choice questions can be used to measure different things at different learning level However, the result sometimes is not satisfactory among students Some students can get the high scores just thank to fortune To discriminate students better, individually speaking, some more test items should be added to the final tests such as open-ended comprehension questions and answer, guessing meaning of unfamiliar words from context for testing reading comprehension besides true-false or multiple-choice questions In writing, with sentence 37 transformation and sentence building, writing on one of the topics covered in the syllabus using suggested words is necessary This subjective technique may bring about difficulty in scoring as the testees may have different answers to the same question However, it encourages students’ creativeness as well as activeness in using language ability Also, to measure students’ speaking and listening skills, some more test items should be taken into consideration Otherwise, the final tests not meet the objectives of the course book 4.4.5 Clarifying a reasonable time allowance for the test Time allowance for the test is another factor need testers’ attention focus as it contributes to the quality of a good test The time given for the test will be reasonable if the majority of the testees can complete the test Because the time allowance for the final tests is fixed (60 minutes), it is useful to consider the length of different test items or part of the test That is, the testers should set up a test specification before designing any particular test basing on necessary amount of time for the testees 4.4.6 Establishing an appropriate marking scale for the test The marking scale of the current test is found inappropriate both for the students and the teachers It is important to provide a better and more appropriate making scale to the final tests The test writers should keep in mind that the balance of the different test items in the final result should be also taken into consideration to ensure that it reflects the intentions of assessment as a whole More scores should be put on Reading and Writing sections so that the better students can get higher marks This plays an important role in discriminating students’ level 4.2 Training teachers in designing the test One of the causes to those existing and serious problems of the testing situation at NQHS is teachers’ lack of understanding of testing specifications Given this fact, teachers at NQHS should be encouraged to catch up with testing knowledge and testing theories apart from their teaching practice Training teachers in the area of designing tests , writing testy items is the first and foremost important thing in the to-do for enhancing NQHS training quality For a better improvement of the current testing situation, more workshops on test design strategies and test development should be held regularly for teachers and test writers And only those who with good knowledge of language testing should be invited to write the test 38 4.3 Building a test item bank for the test The final recommendation to improve the testing situation at NQHS is the establishment of a testing committee who will be responsible for test production, test administrations and test development The testing committee should collect responses on the test difficulty, the time limits, test validity from their colleagues and testees Furthermore, in order to guarantee the variety of test choices, test quality and teat confidentiality, a test item bank should be systematically built up base on a careful constructed test specification Thanks to this test system, the testing situations can be much improved Conclusion In this chapter, the author gives some suggestions in order to improve the testing situation at NGHS With the teachers’ effort in teaching, their consciousness of the principles, techniques of test constructions and skill in preparation of their own test, the final achievement tests are believed to be improved much in terms of its validity and other qualities of good tests Hopefully, students will not have to struggle with the very difficulty items of language and structures and they can happy that their efforts in studying and their true ability are accurately evaluated CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION The aims of the study are to investigate the current testing situation through the test evaluation by the students and the teachers at NQHS and to give some practical suggestions for improving it As the findings of the study indicate there is not much differences between teachers' and students' opinions of most aspects of the final achievement test used at NQHS However, there are five aspects in which there is a sizable difference between teachers and students There is the time allocated to the test, the weighting of different components of the test, the coverage of grammar and vocabulary, the validity of grammar items as well as that of the writing component Specially, more teachers agreed on the validity of grammar items and the writing component of the test than the students The study also reported some suggestions for improvement of the test from the teachers' and students' perspectives 39 Like other papers, this study has some limitations First, the questionnaires were administered to a limited number of students (200 of 700 students) Second, one-shot interviews were used Third, the evaluation was carried out on only the current final achievement test, not all the achievement ones Last but not least, the design of a sample achievement test has not done yet Thus, further research to evaluate more achievement tests, in-depth interviews, and design such tests are needed to measure student's achievement and to guarantee all the necessary characteristics of a good tests BIBLIOGRAPHY Alderson, C.J, C Clapham, and D Wall (1995) Language test construction and evaluation Cambridge, Cambridge University Press Bachman, L F (1990) Fundamental considerations in language testing Oxford: Oxford University Press Bachman, L.F., and Palmer, A.S., (1996) Language testing in practice: Designing and developing useful language test Oxford: Oxford University Press Baker, D (1989) Language testing: A critical Survey and Practical Guide London: Edward Arnold Carroll, J.B and P.J.Hall, (1985) Make your own language tests London: Pergamon Press Carroll, J.B (1968) The psychology of Language Testing In A.Davies (Ed) Language testing symposium A psycholinguistics perspective (pp.15-28) London: Oxford University Press 40 Cohen, A.D (1991) Second language testing In M.Celce-Murcia (Ed) Teaching English as a second or foreign language Boston, Massachusetts: Heinle and Heinle Publishers (Pp 38-104) Davies A (1968) Demonstration occupational English test Council on Overseas Professional Qualifications (COPQ) Davies, A (1978) Language teaching and linguistics Abstracts 11 10 Davies, A (1997) The construction of Language Tests In JP.B Allen & A Davies (Eds) Testing experimental methods (pp 38-104) The Edinburgh Course in Applied Linguistics Volume Oxford: Oxford University Press 11 Harold, S Madsen (1983) Techniques in testing Oxford: Oxford University Press 12 Harris, D.P (1969) Testing English as a second language NewYork: McGraw, Hill Book Company 13 Harrison, A (1987, 1991) A Language testing handbook New York: Macmillan publishers 14 Heaton, J.B (1988) Writing English language tests London: Longman 15 Henning, G (1987) A guide to language testing Cambridge: Newbury House Publishers 16 Hughes, A (1989) Testing for language teachers Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 17 Lador, R (1961) Language testing London: Longman 18 Madsen, H.S., (1983) Techniques in testing New York: Oxford University Press 19 May, P (1996) Exam classes Oxford: Oxford University Press 20 Moore, K.D (1992) Classroom testing skills New York: McGraw Hill, Inc 21 Nunan, D (1991) Language teaching tethodology London: Prentice Hall International 22 Oller, J.W.Jr (1979) Language testa at school London: Longman 23 Tuckman, B.W (1988) Testing for teachers New York: Longman 24 Valette, R.M (1997) Modern language testing New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Publishers 25 Wiersma, W7 Jurs, S.G (1990) Educational measurement and testing Boston: Allyn and Bacon 41 APPENDIX THE SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE (For the 12th form students at Ngo Quyen High School) This questionnaire asks for your comments and ideas about the final written achievement test for the 12 th students at NQHS The purpose of this survey questionnaire is to find out how you assess the present final achievement tests based on the criteria of a good test Your responses are important as they will enable improvement on test design All information you provide will be kept confidential Thank you very much for your valuable contribution I General questions Please tick (√) the column you think the most suitable Questions Strongly disagree Disagree Don’t know Agree Strongly agree 42 The test measures what the students have been taught The task types given in the text are familiar to the students Time allowance for this test is enough The weighting demonstrated on the marking scale of the test is appropriate In terms of test item format, this English test mainly intends to measure the students’ grammar and vocabulary knowledge The Grammar and Vocabulary part is long enough and related to what students have been taught A student who is given a high score in the grammar and vocabulary section of the final achievement test is the one who has good grammar and lexical knowledge The topics of the reading passages are familiar to students The length of the reading passages is long enough The reading passages are of the right level in terms of linguistic difficulty The reading section of the final achievement test tells us accurately about the students’ reading ability The grammar structures and 43 expressions given in writing tasks are familiar to students Sentence building and transformation measure students’ grammar and vocabulary knowledge A student who is given a high score in the writing section of the final achievement test is the one who can write English as well as the course requires II Questions for improvements of the final achievement tests In your opinion, should we change the construction of the grammar and vocabulary part of the current achievement test in terms of format? a Yes b No c If “yes”, please specify how In your opinion, should we change the construction of the reading part of the current achievement test in terms of format? a Yes b No c If “yes”, please specify how In your opinion, should we change the construction of the writing part of the current achievement test in terms of format? a Yes b No c If “yes”, please specify how In your opinion, should we change the construction of the current achievement test in terms of the total points for each part? 44 a Yes b No c If “yes”, please specify If you choose YES, please tick (√) to indicate the appropriate language skills that should be tested for 12th form students at NQHS a Listening comprehension b Speaking c Reading comprehension d Writing In your opinion, which of the following language elements should be tested for 12 th form students at NQHS a phonetics b Grammar usage c Vocabulary d Others (Please specify) Please give comments or suggestions towards the improvement of the existing final achievement test for the 12th students at NQHS …………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………… ………………………… 45 APPENDIX THE SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE (For Teachers of English at Ngo Quyen High School) This questionnaire asks for ideas about the final written achievement tests for the 12th students at NQHS The purpose of this survey questionnaire is to find out how you feel about the present final achievement tests based on the criteria of a good test Your responses are important as they will enable improvement on test design All information you provide will be kept confidential Thank you very much for your valuable contribution I General questions Please tick (√) the column you think the most suitable Questions Strongly disagree The test measures what the students have been taught The task types given in the text are familiar to the students Time allowance for this test is enough Disagree Don’t know Agree Strongly agree 46 The weighting demonstrated on the marking scale of the test is appropriate In terms of test item format, this English test mainly intends to measure the students’ grammar and vocabulary knowledge The Grammar and Vocabulary part is long enough and related to what students have been taught A student who is given a high score in the grammar and vocabulary section of the final achievement test is the one who has good grammar and lexical knowledge The topics of the reading passages are familiar to students The length of the reading passages is long enough The reading passages are of the right level in terms of linguistic difficulty The reading section of the final achievement test tells us accurately about the students’ reading ability The grammar structures and expressions given in writing tasks are familiar to students Sentence building and transformation measure students’ grammar and vocabulary 47 knowledge A student who is given a high score in the writing section of the final achievement test is the one who can write English as well as the course requires II Questions for improvements of the final achievement tests In your opinion, should we change the construction of the grammar and vocabulary part of the current achievement test in terms of format? a Yes b No c If “yes”, please specify how In your opinion, should we change the construction of the reading part of the current achievement test in terms of format? a Yes b No c If “yes”, please specify how In your opinion, should we change the construction of the writing part of the current achievement test in terms of format? a Yes b No c If “yes”, please specify how In your opinion, should we change the construction of the current achievement test in terms of the total points for each part? a Yes b No c If “yes”, please specify how If you choose YES, please tick (√) to indicate the appropriate language skills that should be tested for 12th form students at NQHS a Listening comprehension 48 b Speaking c Reading comprehension d Writing In your opinion, which of the following language elements should be tested for 12 th form students at NQHS a phonetics b Grammar usage c Vocabulary d Others (Please specify) Please give comments or suggestions towards the improvement of the existing final achievement test for the 12th students at NQHS …………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………… ………………………… 49 APPENDIX INTERVIEW QUESTIONS I For teachers How long have you been teaching English? Have you ever designed an achievement test of your own? Have you been trained in test writing? How long you spend writing a test paper? What, in your opinion, is the purpose of an achievement test? What content you think should be included in the achievement test? What you think about the marking scales for each part of the current achievement test? What about the time allowance? In general, how appropriate is the achievement test we use to our students? 10 In general, how appropriate is the achievement test we use to the objective of our course? 11 What improvements you think are needed for the achievement test we use in our school? II For students Do you satisfy with the mark you get for the current achievement test? Is the test closely related to what you have been taught? 50 Does the test reflect your real ability? Which part of the test you find the most difficult? How fair you think the test is? What you think about the time allowance? What you expect for a better test? ... step towards the final achievement test for the students because they will get familiar with the tests and the strategy to them 2.3.2 Final achievement tests Final achievement tests, as the name... be summarized and reported as all the informants answer the same questions Most importantly, the questionnaires give the student-informants an opportunity to express their opinions and needs without... format, the test rubrics and how responses are to be scored They are usually written before the test and then the test is written on the basis of the specifications After the test is written, the