Vinh university foreign languages department ===  === graduation thesis Written tests of English at Vietnam high schools nowadays and some suggestions Supervisor: Student: Lê đình thảo (M.a) Nguyễn vinh Class: 41A2 English Course: 2000 - 2004 Vinh - 2004 =  = ThÞ ACKNOWLEdGEMENTS If there had been no guidance, help and encouragement from my teachers, my parents and my friends I could not have completed my thesis First of all, I would like to express my thanks to the Science Council of the foreign language department for offering me a chance to carry out the study Second, I would particularly like to express my deep gratitude to my supervisorsenior teacher- Mr Lê Đình Thảo (M.A) and my examiner Viet Huong who spent me so much help during my researching Next, I also wish to show my grateful words to the teachers and students of Hång LÜnh high school who supported and supplied me with useful information for the thesis, especially the teacher Quách Thị Lâm Finally, I would like to thank my parents who always stood by me right in the most difficult days of studying Vinh, April 2004 Ngun ThÞ Vinh =1= Table of contents Page 4 6 Part A: Introduction Reasons for choosing the topic Aims of the study Scope and limitation of the study Methods of the study Design of the study Part B: Contents Chapter I: Theoretical background Tests – characteristics characteristics 1.1 Types 1.1.1 Placement tests 1.1.2 Diagnostic tests 1.1.3 Progress or achievement tests 1.1.4 Proficiency tests 1.2 What is a good test? 1.2.1 Validity 1.2.2 Reliability 1.3 Why test? 1.3.1 Advantages to the teacher and to the learner 1.3.2 Cases against examination Stages designing as well as writing a test 2.1 Before giving a test 2.2 Designing stages 2.2.1 Determining test aim 2.2.2 Determining test content 2.2.3 Selecting suitable questions 2.2.4 Designing questions 2.2.5 Assembling test Types of test item, making and teaching the test 3.1 Types of test items 3.1.1 Direct and indirect test items 3.1.2 Indirect test possibilities 3.2 Marking 3.3 Teaching the test Chapter II: Written tests in Vietnam high schools =2= 7 7 8 9 11 11 12 13 13 13 14 15 15 15 16 17 18 18 18 19 20 22 2.1 The real situation of the activity of testing and evaluation at Vietnam school in general and the upper in particular 23 2.2 Tests in Vietnam high schools 25 2.2.1 Written test and its types 25 2.2.1.1 Test 15’ 26 2.2.1.2 Test 45’ 27 2.2.1.3 Term test 29 2.2.2 Mark – characteristics counting 30 2.2.3 Written tests – characteristics good or not good 30 2.2.4 Textbook programme 31 2.3 Traditional test item types 31 2.3.1 Traditional items 32 2.3.2 Comparison between a university entrance test and class test 32 2.4 New test item types 2.4.1 What are new test item types? 37 2.4.2 Recognition 38 2.4.3 Reproduction 2.4.4 Limitations of the new test items 39 2.4.5 Comparison between the traditional and the new test items 42 2.4.6 The model test performed at HongLinh school 42 2.4.7 Suggestions for a quicker application of the new test item types 44 Chapter III: New tendency of testing and evaluation At high schools 3.1 Suggestions for designing and taking the test 3.2 New tendency of testing and evaluation 3.2.1 The self -thought test 3.2.2 The objective test 3.2.3 Comparison between the self-thought test and the objective test Model tests:  Grammar test  Vocabulary test  Phonology test  Reading test 45 46 46 48 51 52 53 54 57 Part C: Conclusion References =3= =4= Part A: introduction Reasons for choosing the topic While my friends are scurrying in all directions to look for interesting and adventurous topics for their theses, I keep thinking about one thing people are discussing a lot recently the field of ‘testing and evaluation’ This is not new without doubt but very much helpful to my future career as a teacher of English first Second, testing is an area of importance However, there has not been much valuable research on it I would like to contribute, to some extent, my own suggestions to a more effective assessment Third, the new method in teaching and learning is being used widely Still, the testing and evaluation stands rooted to the spot with the dominance of the traditional elements I would like to find out causes and feasible solutions to this problem To sum up, coming to this topic not out of learning purpose, shortcomings and limitations are unavoidable I hope that there will be honest contributions from the side of teachers and all readers Aims of the study The study reported in the thesis aims to: - give an overview of the important role of testing and evaluation - help teacher realize the weaknesses and the strengths of the traditional test items, approach the new test items, know new tendency of testing and evaluation, from which they will make an appropriate adjustments in such a way the activity becomes more effective and attracts learners’ attention - make some suggestions for teaching English Scope and limitation The study is devoted to written tests in Vietnam high schools (both three- year course and seven-year course) There is a more concentration on three main kinds: 15minute test, 45-minute test, term test Methods of the study In order to carry out this thesis, due to the characteristics of thesis I have to base on some main methods - Collective method - Analytic method - Statistic method - General method Design of the study =5= Apart from acknowledgements and table of contents, the study is divided into three parts Part A is devoted to introduction in which I present reasons for choosing the topic, aims, objectives, limitation and method of the study Part B is the most important that is divided into three chapters The first chapter tells us about theoretical background of test The second chapter is to study tests in Vietnam, consisting of the real situation of testing in Vietnam, kinds and advantages of tests, traditional test items as well as new test items, then comparison followed by suggestions The last chapter is new tendency of testing and evaluation in Vietnam There are also suggestions for taking and designing the test in this section Conclusion belongs to part C References are at the end of the study =6= Part B: contents Chapter I: Theoretical Background Some preliminary definitions Oxford dictionary says ( 1995: page 1233) ‘A test is a short examination of knowledge or ability, consisting of questions that must be answered or activities that must be carried out’ A test may be defined in another way as an activity whose main purpose is to convey (usually to the tester) how well the testee knows or can something It is often conventionally assumed that tests are mostly used for assessment The test gives a score on which teachers base to know what level students are at This may be in order to decide she or he is suitable for a certain job or admission to an institution, has passed a course, can enter a certain class For the teachers in high schools, tests are really a testing instrument by which they assess learners’ studying results in mark This thesis concentrates on testing as a teaching act Characteristics of tests 1.1 Types of tests There are four main reasons for testing on which people base to divide tests in to four different categories 1.1.1 Placement test Placement tests, as their name suggests, are intended to provide information that helps teachers to place their students at classes of different teaching program most appropriate to their abilities This kind of tests is extremely helpful to assign learners to classes at different level in a school The testing contents are designed basing on the syllabuses and materials the learner has been following It tests grammar and vocabulary knowledge as well as assesses their productive and receptive skills 1.1.2 Diagnostic test Diagnostic tests are used to identify students’ strengths and weaknesses Through the test, learners expose clearly what in knowledge they are short of, also difficulties, gaps they have in learning program From which teachers know what they should teach on, what need reviewing, where they should stop longer to explain, to make it clearer 1.1.3 Progress or achievement tests These tests are designed to measure, learners’ language command and skill progress in relation to the syllabus they are running Achievement tests only work well if their test items types are familiar with learners They can only the tasks they know before, not exactly the same This means that the test papers they in testing =7= room are similar to the exercises they have ever done in types So if students are faced with a completely new question, the test won’t measure the learning that is taking place, even though it can still prove general language command 1.1.4 Proficiency test Unlike placement, diagnostic and progress tests, proficiency test gives us a general picture of a student’s knowledge and ability rather than measure progress They are used as learners have to pass if they want to be admitted to a university abroad, get a job or obtain some kinds of certificate This means that tests not depend on what program they are running In some proficiency test, ‘proficient’ means having sufficient command of the language for a particular purpose We have ever known the famous international examinations like first certificate examinations, proficiency examination, and the Oxford ELF examinations The functions of these tests are to show whether candidates have reached a certain standard or not Despite differences between content and level of difficulty, all proficiency tests have something in common, a fact that they are not based on course that testees might have previously taken 1.2 What is a good test? Have you ever wondered what a good test is? What elements need ensuring for a good test? In order to judge the effectiveness of any test We should set up detailed criteria Here we deal with two basic criteria: validity and reliability 1.2.1 Validity Validity is something well-organized and logical A test is said to be valid if it measures accurately what is intended to measure In this section, I mention content, criterion– characteristicsrelated validity, construct validity, and face validity and the use of validity 1.2.1.1 Content validity A test is accepted to have content validity if its content constitutes a representative sample of the language skill, structures Thanks to a specification of the skills and structures, we can know whether or not a test has content validity What is the importance of content validity? First the greater a test’s content validity, the more accurate it measures what it is supposed to measure Secondly areas which are not tested are likely to be ignored in teaching and learning Too often, the content of tests is determined by what is easy to test rather than what is important to test 1.2.1.2 Criterion- related validity Another approach to test validity is to see how results on the test agree with the well-defined criteria about assessment of the learner’s ability There are two kinds of criterion related validity: concurrent validity and predicate validity Concurrent validity is established when the test and the criterion are administered at about the same time =8= Predictive validity concerns the degree to which a test can predict candidate’s future performance 1.2.1.3 Construct validity A test, part of a test is said to have construct validity if it supposed to measures the ability that it supposed to measure The word ‘construct’ refers to underlying ability For example, the skill to read involves a number of sub-abilities such as the ability to guess the meaning of unknown words from the context in which they are used 1.2.1.4 Face validity A test is said to have face validity if it looks as if it measures what it is supposed to measure For example, a test that pretended to measure pronunciation ability but did not require candidates to speak might lack face validity 1.2.1.5 The use of validity Above all, to make sure that a test is valid, content validity need ensured first, then building up some criteria in particular where it is intended to use indirect testing Reference should be made to the research literature to confirm that measurement of relevant underlying constructs has been demonstrated using the testing techniques that are to be used 1.2.2 Reliability Another feature of any satisfactory test is its reliability as a consistent measure of what is to be tested Subjective marking and assessment unavoidable involves value judgments, opinion on the part of the examiner, especially when the marker knows the candidates personally A test may be below average level but the marker raises it 1.2.2.1 The reliability coefficient The reliability of a test can be qualified in the form of a reliability coefficient Reliability coefficients allow us to compare the reliability of different tests-the ideal reliability coefficient is 1– characteristicsa test with a reliability coefficient of is one which would give precisely the same results for a particular set of candidates regardless of when it happened A test having a reliability coefficient of zero would give sets of results quite unconcerned with each other 1.2.2.2 Scorer reliability It is perhaps worth making explicit something about the relationship between scorer reliability and test reliability If the scoring of a test is no reliable, then almost certainly be lower than scorer reliability since other sources of unreliability will be additional to what enter through imperfect scoring I take an example; the scorer reliability on a composition-writing test was 92 while the reliability coefficient for the test was 84 Validity in the performance of individual candidates accounted for the difference between the two coefficients =9= ... chapter CHAPTER II Written tests at Vietnam high schools 2.1 The real situation of the activity of testing and evaluation at Vietnam high schools The new method in teaching and learning foreign... famous international examinations like first certificate examinations, proficiency examination, and the Oxford ELF examinations The functions of these tests are to show whether candidates have reached... tests in Vietnam high schools =2= 7 7 8 9 11 11 12 13 13 13 14 15 15 15 16 17 18 18 18 19 20 22 2.1 The real situation of the activity of testing and evaluation at Vietnam school in general and