(LUẬN VĂN THẠC SĨ) An evaluation on the validity of English tests used for English 10 at some Higher Secondary School in the Middle and North of Vietnam, from Ha Tinh to Ha Nam

Vietnam national university, noi College of foreign languages ……… nguyễn thị hoàng lân An evaluation on the validity of english tests used for English 10 at some Higher Secondary Schools in the middle and north of viet nam , from tinh to nam đánh giá tính hiệu lực kiểm tra tiếng anh dành cho häc sinh líp 10 ë mét sè tr-êng thpt miền trung miền bắc việt nam; từ hà tĩnh ®Õn hµ nam ======== ======== Ma thesis Field: methodology Code: Supervisor: Dr Hà cẩm tâm Ha Noi, 2009 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com Vietnam national university, noi College of foreign languages nguyễn thị hoàng lân an evaluation on the validity of english tests used for English 10 at some Higher Secondary Schools in the middle and north of viet nam , from tinh to nam đánh giá tính hiệu lực kiểm tra tiÕng anh dµnh cho häc sinh líp 10 ë số tr-ờng thpt miền trung miền bắc việt nam; từ hà tĩnh đến hà nam ======== ======== Ma thesis Field: methodology Code: Ha Noi, 2009 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com v table of contents Introduction Rationale of the study Scope of the study Aims of the study Methods of the study 5 Research questions 6 Organization of the study Development Chapter 1: literature review 1.1 Basic concepts of testing 1.2 Achievement Tests 10 1.2.1 Definition 10 1.2.1.1 Kinds of achievement tests 11 1.2.1.2 Final achievement tests 11 1.2.1.3 Progress achievement tests 12 1.3 Characteristics of a good language test 13 1.3.1 Reliability 13 1.3.2 Discrimination 14 1.3.3 Practicability 15 1.3.4 Validity 15 1.3.4.1 Content validity 16 1.3.4.2 Construct validity 17 1.3.4.3 Criterion-related validity 18 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com vi 1.3.4.4 Face validity 19 1.3.4.5 Backwash validity 20 1.3.4.6 Souces of invalidity 21 1.4 Test items for phonetics, structures and vocabulary 22 1.4.1 Test items 22 1.4.2 Language components 23 1.4.3 The test items types used to evaluate phonetics, structures 23 and vocabulary 1.5 Syllabus Objectives on language components 24 Chapter 2: The study 2.1 Research Questions 26 2.2 Data Description 26 3.Analytical framework for data analysis 29 2.3.1 Content validity 29 2.3.2 Construct validity 30 2.3.3 Face validity 30 2.3 Data Analysis and Discussion 31 2.3.1 Content validity of the tests used 31 2.3.1.1 Content validity of 45 minute written tests 31 2.3.1.2 Content validity of 15 minute written tests 36 2.3.1.3 Content validity of final written tests 41 2.3.2 Construct validity of the tests used 46 2.3.3 Face validity of the tests used 53 Conclusion 3.1 Conclusion 55 3.2 Implications 56 Limitations and Suggestions for further studies 59 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com vii References 61 Appendix: survey questionaire 64 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com iv List of tables Table 1: The test item types 24 Table 2: Syllabus Objectives 25 Table 3: Format of 45 minute tests and final tests 28 Table 4: Specification for fourty five minute tests 32 Table The contents tested in the fourty five minute tests 34 Table 6: The contents tested in the fifteen minute tests 37 Table 7: Test Specification for final written tests 41 Table 8: The contents of language components in the final tests 43 Table 9: Specification for language components 46 Table 10: Teachers’ opinions on the investigated tests 54 Table 11: Testing techniques 57 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com Introduction Rationale of the study English has played an integral role in increasing the development of science, technology, culture and international relations This fact has resulted in the growing demand for English language learning and teaching in many parts of the world In addition, the world-wide globalization process has confined English the most widely used means of international communication The need to master English to access to information and interactions with each other is increasingly growing in many parts of the world English teaching is undoubtly the ultimate capacity-building tool Fully recognizing the importance of this global language, Vietnamese Ministry of Education has encouraged and required pupils of Secondary Schools to learn it as a compulsory subject during at least seven years English is also a compulsory subject in the Higher Secondary graduation examination To evaluate and assess the English learning and teaching process, testing is apparently employed as an important and powerful tool This is because ever since language began to be taught in formal settings, the development of tests to assess the learner's performance has been an integral part of language learning and teaching process Language testing, then, is central to language teaching Therefore, It is also widely accepted that testing plays a significant role in the process of learning and teaching foreign languages The main purpose of language testing is to provide opportunities for learning, both for the students who are being tested and for the professionals who are administering the tests Through the tests students can learn from the work they with the teacher, and by themselves in preparation for the tests, the opportunities arising during the tests for developing what they know and what they can do, especially the feedback which they receive after the tests, both from their own reflection and from professionals who have monitored their performance on the tests The teachers can pinpoint strengths and weaknesses in the learned abilities of the students and gain the information about the progress the students are making or what the students are likely to be able to with the TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com language in a target context or what the students know and what they not know (both explicitly and implicitly) about the target language In general, a language test can be a “sample language behaviour and infer general ability in the language learnt” (Brown D.H, 1994: 252) From the results of the tests and depending on different kinds of tests with different purposes as well, the teacher can infer a certain level of language competence of his students in such different areas as grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation, or speaking, listening , writing and reading Lanwerys & Seanlon (1969) contends in their book “testing is an important tool in educational research and for programme evaluation, and may even throw light on both the nature of language proficiency and language learning” “Language testing is a form of measurement It is so closely related to teaching that we cannot work in testing without being constantly concerned with teaching” (Heaton, 1988:5) Therefore, it is undeniable that the most effective and fastest way to check students' understanding is testing Besides, thanks to testing, teachers can evaluate the effectiveness of the used syllabus or its contents, objectives, methods and to identify, locate the difficult areas that their pupils are being confronted with in learning process through tests For the past ten years or so, there have been a number of changes in the practice of English teaching in Viet Nam tertiary education Some regard methodology, from Grammar translation method to Communicative approach Some involve in course books Some are concerned with technology, from traditional tape recorders to modern LCD projectors Some are related to testing For example, at Higher Secondary Schools in recent years there is a shift in testing from Subjective tests to Objective tests, which has great effects on teaching and learning process Therefore, in testing pupils’ progress, teachers tend to design more objective tests and many mid-term or final tests are multiple choice questions This is considered as a good preparation for students to perform well in the entrance university tests which exists in multiple choice questions However, the problem is that the English 10 is one of the three new course books of Ministry of Education which focus on improving the four skills reading, writing, speaking and listening and help students to consolidate their grammar in the Language Focus part Thus, multiple choice questions seem to fail to test pupil’s progress accurately The question arising is that whether the tests used at High Schools test what students are supposed to acquire TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com according to the objectives of the textbook This is also one of the major reasons why I carried the research on validity In addition, Test researchers and developers have admitted that validity are critical for tests and referred to as integral measurement qualities Because this quality provides major justification for using test score numbers as a basic for making inferences or decisions (Bachman and Palmer, 1996:19) From educative perspectives that both teachers and students should have their voice heard about instructional content, mode of syllabus delivery, and assessment As analyzed above, validity is an indispensable quality of all good tests Opinions from test takers and test raters, therefore, are essential and important to the process of test construction More importantly, it is impossible for test writers to try in vain to increase the validity of a reliable test due to the features of test items that constructs it From the outset of test construction, test validity should be of most essential focus of all Heaton (1988:60) argued that "face validity can provide not only a quick and reasonable guide but also a balance to too great of concern with statistical analysis." He stated that the students' motivation is maintained if a test has good face validity and most students will try harder if the test looks sound Thus, the face validity plays a certain role in any test and it is also of great concern in this thesis Moreover, the emphasis on test validity is also confirmed in Hughes (1989) that, "the greater a test's content validity is, the more likely it is to be an accurate measure of what it is to measure." To put it in another way, if major areas in the test specification are not identified or not represented, the test is said to be inaccurate Furthermore, such an inaccurate test is likely to have harmful backwash effect because those are not presented or tested will probably be ignored in teaching and learning Bachman ( 1990: 289) also insists that :'' The most important quality to consider in the development, interpretation and use of language tests is validity, which has been described as a unitary concept related to the adequacy and appropriateness of the way we interpret and use test scores." In general , the reasons discussed here are regarded as a strong impetus that initiates this thesis into investigating the validity of the achievement tests at Higher Secondary Schools from Ha Tinh to Ha Nam Some studies and researches have been done in some particular schools to design an English achievement test for the 10th form pupils as a Case Study such as the study by Ta Thi Minh Hien (2005) However, there has not been any study on investigation into and evaluation on tests used for 10th form pupils High Schools in The Middle and in the TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com North of Viet Nam While it is undeniable that good evaluation of tests can help us measure skills and knowledge of pupils more accurately For example, test analysis can help us remove weak items even before we record the results of the tests Another reason for the selection of this research topic lies in the fact that language testing at Higher Secondary Schools has not been paid enough attention to As a teacher, I have been involved in designing, administering and marking any kinds of English tests Yet I have also witnessed neither comprehensive nor systematic evaluation nor research on the effectiveness and appropriateness of these tests No formal discussions or seminar on test construction or test methods have been carried out There is a lack of a language test item bank, a professionals testing committee, who judges the quality of the tests and takes the responsibility for the given tests For the above-mentioned reasons, as a learner, a teacher, and a beginning researcher of English, the author has been encouraged to conduct the study entitled: “An evaluation on the validity of English tests used for English 10 at Higher Secondary Schools in the middle and north of Viet Nam , from Ha Tinh to Ha Nam” with a view to evaluate the validity of the tests used for pupils at Higher Secondary School It is hoped that the study will benefit the author as well as teachers at Higher Secondary Schools and those who are concerned with language testing in general and English testing techniques at Higher Secondary School in particular Scope of the study In this study the author intends to focus mainly on the content validity, construct validity, face validity of progress achievement tests including 15 minute tests, mid-term tests, and final achievement tests consisting of final- term tests and final tests in the school years of 2007-2008 and 2008-2009at the 12 high schools in provinces from Ha Tinh to Ha Nam The results can be seen as the basis for providing some suggestions for test designers as well as raters TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com 47 85% of the tests in group two to ask pupils to find out the underlined part ( usually a consonant, a vowel) that is pronounced differently from the three others For example, the phonetics exercise in Test (45 minute test of term 2) is designed as follows: Choose the words that has the underlined part pronounced differently from the others A environment B hydroelectric C circulation D wild A nation B tourist C study D return A.pair B rain C afraid D straight A cancer B dam C plan D constant In the rest tests, pupils are required to put the words with underlined parts into the correct column as in the following exercise in Test (the 45 minute test 1-term 1): Put the words in the box with underlined parts into the correct colum: pump husband /e/ harbour village /i:/ sand fat /٨/ peasant read city /a:/ contented /æ/ /i/ This task also asks pupils to recognize the different vowels It can be said that these two techniques can well measure pupils' knowledge of phonetics because basing on the syllabus of the text book, pupils are required to distinguish different sounds However, the teachers tend to prefer to use multiple choice questions to test pupils' pronunciation They TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com 48 said that this kind of exercise asks pupils to pronounce more words than other kinds of exercises Structures is probably the most important part in teaching and learning process at Secondary Schools To test structures, teachers designed exercises using the following testing techniques: multiple choice, verb form, gap- filling with given cues, gap-filling, sentence building, sentence transformation All of these techniques satisfy the need to test pupils' structures The most popular techniques used by teachers to test this part is multiple choice question which are also encouraged by many language testing handbook ( Hughes:1989: 143) because they can offer necessary detractors According to Hughes (1989) the given techniques are also the common ones used to test pupils' knowledge of structures because they require the student to supply grammatical structures appropriately Therefore, it is not surprising that this testing technique appears in 65 % of the tests in group two However, to give a more accurate picture of pupils' ability, more testing techniques were employed For example, in Test 5; to test pupils' understanding of using passive voice, the teacher used both multiple choice question and sentence transformation technique as follows: I Choose the best answer among A, B, C or D If John……that there was a test yesterday, he… A know/ will study B knew/ would study C had known/ would have studied D knew/ would have studied Unless you………harder, you won't succeed A will try B try C are trying D have tried II Complete the second sentence so that it has a similar meaning to the first one I'm not a millionaire so I can't such a thing If I………………………………………………………………… If nobody rings the police, he'll get away with the money Unless…………………………………………………………… The two techniques not only test pupils' ability to recognize but also to produce the structure of conditional sentences TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com 49 Eighty percent of the tests analyzed contain exercises of verb form to test the understanding of using tenses, passive voice, gerund and infinitive For instance, in Test 8, to test pupils' ability to remember verbs followed by gerunds and infinitives,the teacher designed the following exercises: I Complete the sentences with the correct form of the words in brackets The city intends… a new traddic ligh as its most dangerous intersection (install) The bus drivers are on the strike They refuse… back to work until they get a new contract (go) Little Daniel pretends… a monster whenever someone comes to the door (be) Besides, it was realized that the testing items such as sentence building (40%), sentence transformation (55 %) are frequently used to test pupil's structures such as passive voice, reported speech, tenses These two techniques can give the appearance of measuring productive skills because some items permit flexibility and original expression; and there is no exposure to incorrect grammatical form In the author's opinion, these testing techniques can truly measure pupils' ability of using structures Vocabulary is also the part which both teachers and pupils pay lots of attention to Teachers also designed various exercises to test whether their pupils can remember and use the words they learnt in different contexts Therefore, it was found out that exercises on vocabulary in the tests collected can test the ability of remembering and using new words of pupils The familiar tasks given in testing vocabulary are word formation, gap filling, Gap- filling with given cues, multiple choices and open cloze For example, in Test 5, word formation technique was employed to measure pupils' vocabulary Supply the correct form of the word in bold Many dolphins can dive to………of 200 meters ( deep) The police have completed their ………into the accident (investigate) In seventy percwent (70%) of the tests in group two, teachers used multiple choice technique to test pupils' vocabulary Sixty percent (60%) of the tests were designed to include word formation exercises Gap filling exercises were not often used and only TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com 50 account for twenty percent of the tests - may be this kind of exercise is a bit challenging for most pupils Morweover ferwer words are tested in this way and there is some difficulty in avoiding ambiguous constexts Therefore chose gap- filling with given cues technique to test pupils' vocabulary because these exercises are easier to deal with for pupils because they are provided with cues Thus,twenty five of the collected tests employed this technique Open cloze exercises only appear in fifteen percent of the test collected However, These techniques can well reflect pupil's vocabulary Each test in group two used at least two testing technique to measure pupils' structures and vocabulary The investigation and evaluation also show that these testing techniques can well test pupils' ability of distinguishing the learnt vowels and consonant, the recognization, usage and produciton of the learnt structures and vocabulary Therefore, all of the test of group two are valid in terms of construct In conclusion, of 30 (20%) collected tests lack construct validity, the rest tests (80) possess construct validity, 2.3.3 Face validity of the tests used According to the information gathered from the survey questionnaire for the teachers of English group (30 teachers) Fifty percent (50%) of the teachers interviewed strongly agree phonetics tested truly reflect what pupils are taught Twenty percent (20%) of the teachers interviewed agree that this part can correctly measure pupils' ability of pronunciation The same proportion of the teachers interviews only partly agree that phonetics tested truly reflect what pupils are taught because they think that most phonetics exercises are multiple choice one Therefore, it seems that pupils can randomly choose the correct answers without knowing how to pronounce words tested correctly The others disagree because they suppose that it is difficult to test pupils' ability of pronunciation only basing on paper tests They assume that speaking tests or calling pupils to pronounce words taught can truly measure the phonetics pupils are taught Concerning the structure part of the tests, eighty percent (80% ) teachers accept that this part can truly reflect what pupils are taught Ten percent (10%) teachers agree that this part can truly measure what pupils are taught The rest partly agree for the fact that some TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com 51 pupils can learn very well, remember structures taught and know how to use them correctly however in the test they may fail to perform well for some reason ( health, concentration, confusion) Some teachers argue that multiple choice exercises can lead pupils to choose correct answers randomly Therefore, the result of the test cannot truly reflect pupil ability of using structures In the Vocabulary part, eighty percent (80% )strongly agree that the vocabulary tested can truly reflect what pupils are taught The rest agree with the given question All teachers said that pupil only vocabulary exercises when they acquire the meaning and the use of those words The following table illustrates teachers' opinion about the tests Table 10: Teachers’ opinion on the investigated tests Question Strongly agree Agree Partly agree Disagree 50% 20% 20% 20% 80% 10% 10% 80% 20% Strongly disagree In general, most teachers feel good about the tests they designed for pupils Tests are suitable for the level of pupils can measure true pupils' ability of using English This is very important because it means that the teaching process is effective Therefore, it can be concluded that the tests used for the 10 form pupils at Upper Secondary Schools from Ha Tinh to Ha Nam are face valid Conclusion TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com 52 In the conclusion part, the author will summarize the study, some implications will be suggested, besides limitation as well as suggestions for further studies will be given 3.1 Conclusion The study is aimed at investigating and evaluating the validity ( focusing on content validity, construct validity and face validity) of the tests used for 10th form pupils at Higher Schools from Ha Tinh to Ha Nam The study has reached a number of important conclusions First, From the comparison between the content of 30 tests collected from some High Schools in the Middle and North of Viet Nam and the content required to be tested in the textbook, it is concluded that the test content in the tests taken are designated in much accordance to the "syllabus- content approach" Most of the tests analyzed contain knowledge of phonetics, structures and vocabulary listed in the specifications To put in another way, these achievement tests were designed basing on the textbook- English 10 and the detailed course syllabus In addition, they are also based on what the pupils have already learnt in the course book and the level of the pupils Therefore, it can be concluded that these collected tests are valid in terms of content Only a few tests lack content validity because they test what are not included in the objectives of the syllabus Second, it was found out that only a few tests lack construct validity because teachers only employed multiple choice questions techniques to measure pupils' Phonetics, structures and vocabulary Although this technique is effective to a wide range of knowledge, it sometimes fails to reflect real ability of pupils because pupils tend to choose the correct answers by chance when they are unable to decide which one is correct In addition, this test technique may be a poor indicator of someone' ability to use structures and vocabulary because the person who can identify the correct response in the items above may not be able to produce the correct ones when writing or speaking While pupils of grade 10 are required to use and produce the learnt knowledge appropriately Most of the tests possess construct validity in the meaning that the test items used can test pupils' ability to distinguish learnt sounds, use learnt structures appropriately and use vocabulary in different contexts TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com 53 Third, basing on the result of the survey questionnaire, it was found out that most tests possess face validity in the meaning that phonetics, structures and vocabulary tested can reflect what pupils are taught However, these parts cannot truly measure what pupils have learnt because of the testing techniques used ( multiple choice questions) Pupils can choose correct answer by chance In conclusion, only a few collected tests lack construct validity and content validity Besides, the contents tested were not distributed evenly between vocabulary and structures Some tests contain too many structure item, some tests include too many vocabulary items All of teachers interviewed agreed that the tests collected in general can reflect what pupils were taught 3.2 Implications In order to improve the content, construct validity of the tests under investigation, the following things should be taken into consideration First, to improve construct validity of the tests under investigation, two or three testing techniques should be employed to measure pupils' ability of using and producing structures and vocabulary For example, to test vocabulary, both multiple choice question and word formation technique should be employed Besides, other techniques are used flexibly such as word formation, word form, sentence transformation and sentence building Both objective and subjective method should be used to ensure that teachers can give the most accurate as possible picture of pupils' ability The following testing techniques can be used to test language components Table 14: Testing techniques Testing focus Subjective methods Objective methods TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com 54 Phonetics - Recognizing vowels or Odd one out consonants Multiple choice questions Classification exercises Matching Structures Open-ended Expansions exercices Sentence completion Scrambled exercises Rewriting Transformation exercises Multiple choice questions Vocabulary Composition and essays Crosswords Paraphrasing Classification exercises Matching exercises Labeling For example, in test 5, to test the passive voice, besides multiple choice question, sentence transformation technique can be used The following exercise can be design to test pupils' ability of producing passive sentence: Change these sentences into the passive voice People should send their complaints to the main office ……………………………………………………………….…… Somebody might steal your car if you had left the keys in it ……………………………………………………………….….… Or vocabulary in test can be tested in this technique beside multiple choice question: Fill in each gap with one word from the box conserves consists forester floods fauna flora 1.The park .hundreds of species of endangered animals TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com 55 A is a person working in the forest, taking care of trees and planting new ones The heavy rain has caused in many parts of the country Conditionals in Test can be tested in these ways: Rewrite the following sentences, using Conditional Sentences People cut down a lot of trees so the environment is seriously polluted She wants to give up her job, but she can't because she needs the money Second, teacher can improve all the tests that are invalid in term of content validity because of testing stress which is not included in the objectives of the syllabus by omitting stress items The two given sollutions can solve the problems in the ten invalid tests However, more attention should be paid to test designing to ensure construct, content and face validity as follows: Both construct, content and face validity of the invalid collected tests can be improved if teachers inspect test items regarding their correspondence to the objectivities of the textbook The test writer should clarify clearly the test objectives prior to test development Then drawing up a detailed specification for the test is of great importance to guarantee the test objectives and therefore to ensure that the test possess content validity This can be done by selecting and constructing the items carefully basing on the syllabus of the textbook It is also advisable that teachers well prepare the content of the test before designing tests They shouldn't take ready-made tests elsewhere because that not truly reflect the teaching content and thus disadvantage pupils Therefore, teachers ought to well select authentic materials for test inputs in order that the test can reflect the goals of teaching and is closely related to what pupils are taught and to the textbook content We have gone through major conclusions from the research and a number of implication for test improvement which may be of certain help for teachers Higher Secondary Schools and test writers The next section will discuss some limitations of the thesis and propose direction for further research TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com 56 3.3.Limitations and Suggestions for further studies As with any social science research, this research is working under limited conditions and is not without its share of weaknesses The research limitation can be summarized as follows: - Sample achievement tests have not yet developed, piloted and evaluated due to constraints of finance and administration - The test evaluation is limited to evaluating content, construct and face validity, other factors have not yet been taken into consideration such as practicality, concurrent validity, reliability, etc Besides, the study only focuses on the language components of the tests, other areas such as skills: reading, writing or listening were not mentioned - The backwash effect of the achievement tests has not been paid attention to due to limited time - To evaluate the face validity of the tests, the author only administered questionnaire to teachers, The student population was not included because of time limitation and some other reasons relating to the time lap between the tests and the study So as to generate a more comprehensive picture of achievement tests used for pupils at Upper Secondary Schools from Ha Tinh to Ha Nam, a number of issues could be considered for further research They are: -What is the backwash of the tests? - How reliable are the tests? - What are the problems with the test development? In spite of its small scale, this thesis may make a significant contribution to evaluating not only the current English achievement tests used for the 10 form pupils in TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com 57 terms of content, construct and face validity but also the language testing situation at Upper Secondary Schools from Ha Tinh to Ha Nam Finally, it is hoped that the dissertation will improve worthwhile to those who are involved in the design of their own tests and encourage other researchers to engage more in the field, especially in those areas identified for future research It is also wished that this dissertation will greatly contribute to the improvement of language testing at Upper Secondary Schools in the North and Middle of Viet Nam from Ha Tinh to Ha Nam References Anastasi A., (1982) Psychological testing London: Macmillan Alan Davies, Annie Brown, Cathie Elder, Kathryn Hill, Tom Lumley, Tim Mcnamada (1999), Dictionary of language testing, University of Melbourne Alderson, C.J., C Clapham, and D Walll (1995) Language test construction and evaluation Cambridge, Cambridge University Press Bachman, L.F., (1990) Fundamental considerations in language testing Oxford University Press Bachman, L.F., (1991) What does language testing have to offer? (in) TESOL quarterly No.25 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com 58 Bachman, L.F., Palmer.A.S., (1981) Basic concerns in test validation (in) Read, J.A.S (ed), (1981) Bernard Spolsky (1989), Communicative Competence, Language Proficiency, and Beyond, Applied Linguistics, Vol 10, No 2,Oxford University Press Broughton, G.Brumfit, C.Flavell, R Hill, P.& Pincas, A (1990) Teaching English as foreign language London: routlege Education Books Brown, F.G (1971) Measurement and evaluation Hascs, III, F.E Peacock 10 Canale, M and M Swain, (1980), Theoretical basis of communicative approaches to second language teaching and testing Applied linguistics 11 Carroll, B.J and P.J Hall, (1985) Make your own language tests, London: Pergamon Press 12 Carroll, J.B (1968) The psychology of language testing (in) A Davies (ed) Language testing symposium A psycholinguistic perspective London: Oxford University Press 13 Cohen, A.D (1981) Second language testing (in) Teaching English as a second foreign language Celce-Murcia, M (ed) Boston, Massachusetts: Heinle and Heinle Publishers 14 Davies, A (1968) Demonstration occupational English test Council on overseas professional qualifications 15 Davies, A (1978) Language testing: Survey article (in) Language teaching and linguistics: Abstracts 11 16 Finochiaro, M., & Sako, S (1983) Foreign language testing a practical approach New York: Regent Publishing Company, Inc 17 Glen Fucher, (1999) Assessment in English for academic purposes: putting content validity in its place Applied linguistics, Oxford University Press 18 Harris, D.P (1969) Testing English as a second language New York: McGra, Hill Book Company 19 Harrison, A (1983) Communicative testing jam tomorrow London: Academic Press 20 Harold S Madsen (1983) Techniques in testing, Oxford University Press 21 Heaton J B (1988) Writing English language tests London, Longman 22 Henning, G (1987)., A guide to language testing Cambridge: Newbury House Publishers 23 Hughes, A (1989), Testing for language teachers, Cambridge, Ca,bridge University Press TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com 59 24 Ingram E (1997), Basic concepts in testing (in) Testing and experimental methods Allen, J.P.B & Davies, A (eds), The Endinbur gh Course in Applied Linguistics, Volume 4, Oxford University Press 25 J Charles Alderson and Caroline Clapham (1992)Applied Linguistics and Language Testing: A Case Study of the ELTS Test, University of Lancaste, Applied Linguistics, Vol 13, No 2, Oxford University Press 26 Lado R (1961) Language Testing London Longman 27 Lanwerys, J.A., and Sealon, D.G., (1969) The world year book of education 1969 London, Evans 28 Lyle F Bachman and Adrian S Palmer (1996), Language in Testing in practice: Designning and Developing useful language tests 29 Lyle F Bachman (1990) Fundamental Considerations in Language Testing, Oxford Unversity Press 30 Madsen, H.S., (1983) Techniques in testing, Oxford University Press 31 Moore, K.D (1992) Classroom testing skills USA: McGraw Hill, Inc 32 Morrow, K.E., (1979) Communicative language testing: revolution or evolution (in) Brumfit, C.J and K.Johnson (eds).1979 33 Nunan, D (1992) Qualitative and quantitative researches Research Methods in Language Learning Cambridge University Press 34 Vallete, R.M (1997), Modern Language Testing, New York, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Publishers 35 Weir C J(1990), Communicative Language Testing Prentice Hall International (UK) Ltd TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com 60 Appendix Survey questionnaire ( For teachers of English at Upper Secondary Schools under investigation) This questionnaire asks for comments and ideas about the face validity of English tests used for the 10 form pupils The purpose of the survey questionnaire is to find out how you assess the current English tests in terms of its phonetics, vocabulary and structures Your responses are important, as they will enable improvement on test design All information you provide will be kept confidential Thank you so much for your valuable contribution! In your opinion, in the tests Phonetics tested truly reflects what students were taught A strongly agree B agree C partly agree TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com 61 D disagree E strongly disagree Vocabulary tested truly reflects what students were taught A strongly agree B agree C partly agree D disagree E strongly disagree Structures tested truly reflects what students were taught A strongly agree B agree C partly agree D disagree E strongly disagree Thank you very much for your great contribution! TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com ... entitled: ? ?An evaluation on the validity of English tests used for English 10 at Higher Secondary Schools in the middle and north of Viet Nam , from Ha Tinh to Ha Nam? ?? with a view to evaluate the validity. .. thesis into investigating the validity of the achievement tests at Higher Secondary Schools from Ha Tinh to Ha Nam Some studies and researches have been done in some particular schools to design an. .. process has confined English the most widely used means of international communication The need to master English to access to information and interactions with each other is increasingly growing in