Background to the research
English education in EQuest Academy
In EQuest, an English language program is officially offered for all students at differrent levels with a variety of English courses (pre-intermediate, intermediate, upper intermediate and advanced) The curriculum has put an increasing emphasis on enhancing students‟ oral communication skills However, there are few opportunities to evaluate students' speaking skills because speaking assessment is not administered in any formal exams including the high school entrance exam and final course examination Unlike with the curriculum focus, in practice, English education in almost school in Vietnam which puts a greater emphasis on passing the course exam EQuest Academy emphasis on enhancing oral communication skills, classroom assessment is widely practiced in EQuest classroom For many students in EQuest, classroom assessment is the only opportunity to have their speaking skills assessed when they take tests such as the Test of Spoken English (TSE), the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL), and the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) Despite the strong recommendation of assessment by classroom teachers, there is still a challenge which stems from the emphasis for a measurement driven orientation toward assessment In other words, even if the rationale for classroom assessment is to provide both students and teachers with information about their current level of speaking skills and how to improve their speaking skills on the basis of their real language performance, teachers are nevertheless under pressure from such a policy to reflect the results of classroom assessment as a certain portion or percentage of the students‟ final courses.
Characteristics of English assessment in EQuest Academy
In EQuest, most of students learn English for IELTS or TOEFL certificate to study oversea, so English assessment plays an important role in determining whether students move to the higher level This accounts for a high stakes test situation in class High stakes testing refers to tests upon which test-takers‟ futures or study plans In other words, test outcomes are likely to affect the students‟ future careers or life directions Because of the substantial impact of such assessment on students‟ futures and careers, students and parents are greatly concerned with their grades of English in EQuest and the accurate judgment of this assessment work by their teachers Therefore, under the high pressure from students and parents, EQuest English teachers tend to develop less subjective testing in order to improve reliability and objectivity
Assessing four discrete skills The high stakes test situation influences the traditional exam-dominated culture in Vietnamese schools For instance, in terms of the assessment format, pencil-and paper tests prevail and the style is based on multiple choice questions where the correct response is sought to each This test format may be seen as improving assessment reliability and objectivity because as Hughes (2003) points out, no judgment is required on the part of the scorer so that scoring may be objective At the same time, teachers are supposed to assess all four language skills in a balanced manner so as to satisfy the assessment guidelines as noted in the previous section
Consequently, teachers tend to assess the four skills separately More specifically, conventional pencil and paper tests assessing reading comprehension including grammatical knowledge are the primary type of assessment while speaking and writing assessments which do not have any authorized assessment tools, may be conducted as part of classroom assessment.
Research aims
Despite the increasing attention paid to assessment of foreign language learners in recent years among linguistic scholars and practitioners, few studies have been found concerning teachers‟ perceptions on assessment of students‟ speaking skill, especially ways in which different teachers‟ perceptions affect how students speaking skill would be assessed The present study is to investigate what features classroom speaking assessment present in the situation where it is expected to achieve both pedagogic usefulness and meet the desired measurement purpose
Also, this study explores whether the current practice of classroom assessment in EQuest Academy can be effective in terms of pedagogical benefits and speaking assessments There is still a strong tendency here towards traditional formal testing to measure and report learning outcomes Moreover, there has been a lack of theorization of classroom assessment in the English language teaching field, with researchers pointing to much variability, a lack of systematic principles and procedures, and a reliance on traditional psychometric testing Moreover, there are few studies carried out in outside school context Thus, this study focuses on EQuest English teachers' perceptions of speaking assessment.
Research questions
Key term definitions
In this study, the term assessment is distinguished from the term test According to Brown (2004), tests refers to prepared administrative procedures that occurs at particular times in a curriculum in which learners manifest their competence for the best achievement, knowing that their responses are being measured and evaluated
Whereas used in a broader sense, assessment is an ongoing process of judgment, encompassing a teacher‟s comment and written phrase responding to students‟ performance as well as a form of reporting measurement (Brown, 2004) That is, unlike tests, the results of assessment do not need to be reported all the time, and furthermore, they are not necessarily reflected in the final grades Thus, the term assessment is used to incorporate a wide range of methods for evaluating student performance and attainment, including formal testing Specific terms (i.e., standardized tests, formal tests, or school administered tests) are used in cases where the discussion focuses on specific forms of assessment
Since there is little research specifically into classroom speaking assessment, this study makes reference to definitions of a few terms used interchangeably: classroom based assessment, teacher assessment, and alternative assessment According to Brown (2001), classroom-based assessment encompasses both teacher-designed formal and informal assessment in the context of day-by-day interaction with students, contrary to large-scale testing initiated by the school It can be equivalent to teacher assessment (Underhill, 1987) which refers to tests designed by individual teachers (or a group of teachers) and administered in the process of classroom learning According to HuertaMarcías‟ (1995) claim, alternative assessment refers to alternatives to traditional testing Thus, the characteristics of alternative assessment are summarized: (1) integrated in the curriculum; (2) provides information on the strength and weaknesses of each individual student; (3) provides multiple indices that can be used to gauge student progress; and (4) is more multiculturally sensitive and free of norms Although such terms highlight 10 different aspects of the assessment process, all tend to share common concerns: a more teacher-mediated, context-based, classroom-embedded assessment practice, explicitly or implicitly defined in opposition to traditional externally set and assessed large scale formal examinations used primarily for selection and/or accountability purposes.
The advantages of classroom assessment
This section presents research findings on the advantages of classroom speaking assessment over traditional formal testing or external standardized tests in two aspects: pedagogical advantages and advantages for speaking assessment
One major advantage of classroom assessment is that it can exploit its inherent feature, formative evaluation (Leung, 2005; SBA Consultancy Team, 2005;
Davison & Leung, 2009) Bachman and Palmer (1996) suggest that the high feasibility of formative evaluation is largely due to the relatively fewer resources required for administering classroom assessment: for instance, a short vocabulary quiz and a sole teacher playing a role of an assessor According to Brown (2004), the purpose of formative assessment is to evaluate students in the process of forming their competences and skills with the goa 16 of helping them to continue that growth process Also, Davison and Leung (2009) claim that there are two key functions of formative evaluation−forming and informing−which bring benefits to the teachers as well as the learners
For the teachers, formative evaluation allows them to form more reliable judgments in an ongoing process rather than making a quick decision based on a snapshot evaluation because here they are provided with sufficient opportunities to gather a great deal of information about knowledge, abilities and skills of the learners during classes (Underhill, 1987; Genesee & Upshur, 1996; Brown, 2001; Harris, 2007;
Fulcher & Davidson, 2007) In addition, the information from formative evaluation is useful for teachers in planning their subsequent lessons in the teaching process, examining the effectiveness of their pedagogical objectives, and diagnosing student‟s strengths and weaknesses (Black & Wiliam, 2004)
Concerning the advantages to learners, feedback to such learners provided by formative assessment allows them to understand what they have learned and what they need to learn more (Black & Wiliam, 1998; Black, 2001; Black, Harrison, Lee, Marshall, & Wiliam, 2003; Brown 2004) In this regard, research to date has provided evidence of the importance of feedback formats Stobart (2006) explains the vice of „marks and grades only‟ feedback by citing Thorndike (1913) and other studies (Kohn, 1993; Reay and Wiliam, 1999; ARG, 2002) That is, grades can impede learning because they do not offer specific information but simply a comparison to others In line with this, Butler (1988) investigates the effect of three different forms of feedback−„comments only‟, „grades only‟, and „a combination of grades and comments‟−between two different ability groups The study identified that lower achieving students expressed most interest towards the type of
„comments only‟ feedback Byon (2005) and Gunn (1995) advance the argument of the effectiveness of criterion-referenced assessment in which the learner‟s performance is interpreted by reference to predetermined criteria According to them, unlike the summative tests primarily aimed at grading, marking criteria are informative and constructive regarding the extent to which learners can use language to achieve their communicative goals
In fact, little research on classroom assessment which targets oral skills has been conducted Most studies examine classroom assessment in general; for example, Dochy & McDowell (1997); Adamson & Davison (2003); Cumming & Maxwell (2004); and SBA consultant team, (2005) Thus, this section examines the advantages of classroom assessment for assessing oral skills by reference to research concerning performance assessment and communicative language tests as well as classroom assessment
First, classroom assessment is more likely to offer opportunities for teachers to directly observe linguistic performance through classroom observations or direct testing (Brown, 2001) According to the Universal Grammar approach, linguistic competence referring to the underlying linguistic abilities or knowledge of language cannot be directly observed, whereas linguistic performance―the domain of language use―can be directly observed (Mitchell & Myles, 2004) McNamara
(1996) points out that the assessment of linguistic performance allows us to make direct inference of an individual‟s ability to use language appropriately or correctly in a variety of situations Thus, a reliable and valid assessment method needs to evaluate a test-taker‟s performance rather than her/his linguistic knowledge In particular, if the target language domain of assessment is speaking, then the importance of direct testing using performance tasks is critically increased This is in line with Brown‟s (2001) argument that performance assessment contributes to improving content validity since students actually perform the target language use
Also, Moon and Callahan (2001) insist that performance assessment can promote test authenticity because it presents learners with situations or asks them to perform academic exercises that simulate real-life experiences or problems Test authenticity in relation to performance assessment can be considered in the communicative language teaching approach In terms of Canale and Swain‟s (1980) communicative competence model, speaking by its nature needs to be judged on the basis of social context, interaction, communication, and integrated skills, all of which can be provided in the classroom context involving peers and a teacher
Third, classroom assessment can serve as a powerful motivation factor Crooks
(1988) argues that tests in general have positive effects on enhancing learning motivation According to Savignon (1997), especially in relation to communicative assessment, discrepancy between the test taker‟s grammatical competence and communicative competence is manifested Lastly, classroom assessment may be beneficial for reducing any student anxiety associated with test taking Concerning the relationship between test anxiety and test results, both Phillips (1992) and Crooks (1988) provide evidence of a negative correlation between such anxiety and test achievements in the overall assessment situation Crooks (1998) concludes that the negative influence of a learner‟s higher anxiety on achievement tends to be greater on standardized tests than in classroom assessment Underhill (1987) explains the positive function of classroom assessment in reducing test anxiety in relation to the test-taker‟s familiarity with the test environment and the assessor
Namely, when assessed by the students‟ own teacher in the familiar classroom, students are more relaxed and confident and hence usually able to demonstrate better performance and proficiency than they can demonstrate in standardized tests.
Issues related to reliability in classroom assessment
The concept of reliability is particularly important when considering communicative language testing (Porter, 1983) Reliability is concerned with the extent to which we can depend on the test results (Weir, 1990) Rater reliability is important to overall test reliability What raters need to do for this purpose is to achieve high inter-rater reliability for these assessments? The degree of inter-rater reliability is established by correlating the scores obtained by candidates from rater A with those from rater
B The concern of the rater is how to enhance the agreement between raters by establishing explicit guidelines and maintaining adherence to them for the conduct of this rating (Bachman, 1990)
Although reliability is something raters need to try to achieve in the tests, it may not be the prime consideration all the time (Bachman, 1990) It is said that there is a reliability-validity tension Reliability offers a possible compromise It is occasionally essential to sacrifice a degree of reliability to enhance validity (Davies,
1990) For example, in certain circumstances, reliability and validity are mutually exclusive However, if a choice has to be made, validity is more important for speaking assessment (Bachman, 1990).
Issues related to validity in classroom assessment
Spolsky (1975) stated that validity is the central problem in foreign language testing Validity is concerned with whether a test measures what it is intended to measure (Weir, 1990) A test of speaking ability in a classroom setting is usually an achievement test An achievement test should have content and face validities (Davies, 1983) Since content validity asks if the test content matches the content of the course of study (Bachman, 1990), what teachers can do is to match the course objectives and syllabus design with the test items This attitude by teachers is crucial in a classroom test because teachers may tend to use test tasks different from the course objectives especially when oral aspects are involved (Nakamura,1993)
Face validity pertains to whether the test 'looks valid' to the examinees, the administrative personnel and other technically untrained observers (Bachman,
1990) Face validity is a must in a classroom speaking test, because the students' motivation is promoted for speaking if a test has good face validity (Hughes, 1989)
Language testing can be put on a scientific footing through construct validity (Hughes,
1989) Bachman (1990) also highlighted that construct validity is the most fundamental validity for a speaking test Construct validity examines if the test matches a theoretical construct (Bachman, 1990) This cannot easily be handled by classroom teachers because of the abstract nature of language abilities (Nakamura, 1993).
Teachers' perceptions
Pham Lan Anh (2008) found that the teachers‟ classroom assessment practices were influenced by personal and contextual factors such as their beliefs of how children learn, constraints built into the curriculum, and institutional assessment requirements There was a complex and non-linear relationship between teaching, learning and assessment practices related to classroom assessment due to the teachers‟ internalized conceptions of CA and contextual constraints including the educational policy Main sources of teachers‟ beliefs were their core beliefs of teaching and working with people, their in-service training and exchanged experiences from colleague The purpose, approach, procedure and focus of assessment depended on three types of assessment conducted in the three schools as specified in the official assessment document issued by on-going, periodic and final
Teachers „classroom assessment practices were also shaped by the school culture and by the directives of the specialized groups Teachers‟ assessment process followed the planning, framing, implementing and using assessment results
This current study involving teachers‟ responses to the current practice of classroom speaking assessment in EQuest Academy, so I have decided to do a survey research
A survey is a study which focuses on a group‟s attitudes, opinions, and/or characteristics (Brown, 2005) To investigate the research problem, this study addressed two research questions: (1) what are teachers’ perceptions of speaking assessment’s positive effects? (2) In what ways do EQuest English teachers conduct assessment of students' speaking? These two investigations involved a questionnaire and an interview respectively and the sample of my survey is quite small (ten Equest teachers) and therefore qualitative method is used First, a qualitative dataset was collected from the questionnaire portraying the overall picture of classroom assessment of speaking in EQuest Second, the data from teacher interviews was collated to provide in-depth information about individual teacher‟s perception of its benefits
This study used a qualitative approach According to Wiersma (1995), qualitative research investigates the complex phenomena experienced by the participants by examining people's words and actions in descriptive ways Qualitative research uses the researcher as the data collection instrument and employs inductive analysis (Maykut and Morehouse, 1994) The researcher operates in a natural setting (Wiersma, 1995) Also, McDonough and McDonough (1997: 53) say, "qualitative research usually gathers observations, interviews, field data records, questionnaires, transcripts, and so on"
In this study, two qualitative data collection instruments were used: 'a questionnaire' and 'semi-structured interviews' with teachers
According to Maykut and Morehouse (1994), questionnaire research is popular among educational researchers in general and ELT research in particular
McDonough and McDonough (1997: 171-172) state the advantages of questionnaires as follows:
The knowledge needed is controlled by the questions, therefore it affords a good deal of precision and clarity
* Questionnaire can be used on a small scale, in-house and on a large scale, requiring little more extra effort than photocopying and postage
* Data can be gathered in several different time slots: all at once in a class, in the respondents' own time as long as it is easy to return, at convenience when a suitable respondent happens to come along, and in different locations at different times; but in all of these the data is comparable, the questions are the same and the format is identical
* Self-completion questionnaires allow access to outside contexts so information can be gathered from colleagues in other schools and even other countries
Semi-structured interviews were conducted with some of the participants because
"the interview is a very good way of accessing peoples' perceptions" (Punch, 1998:
174) As well, the interview was considered a method of triangulation, a "checking out the consistency" (Patton, 1990: 464) of the data obtained from the questionnaire responses Further, it was believed that such triangulation of data may yield factors not mentioned by the participants in the questionnaire (Punch, 1998) McDonough and McDonough (1997: 184) remark 'a semi-structured interview' is regarded as
"being closer to the qualitative paradigm because it allows for richer interaction and more personalized responses"
3.2 Steps in the selection of participants
A questionnaire (Appendix A) was administered to ten English teachers who were working at EQuest Academy Two males and eight females responded to the questionnaire Table 1 shows that the participants ranged in age from 24 to 31 years, with the majority in their 20s The participants' experience in teaching English ranged from one to 6 years All participants had experience in conducting speaking assessment in EQuest
Table 1: Background of Questionnaire Participants
The questionnaire consisted of two sections The first section had questions about teacher profiles including gender, age, and length of teaching experience In addition, the size of the class they taught was included
The second section contained the two subsidiary questions and built on the information gathered in the first section above: what the primary purposes of classroom speaking assessments are and what the assessment practices in terms of assessment tasks, frequency, and teacher feedback are There were three types of questions used here: open-ended question, Likert scale and questions with fixed alternatives Two questions about current assessment purposes and the importance of assessment purposes as perceived by the teachers were asked: (Q3) indicate in effect for what purpose you employ classroom speaking assessment and (Q4) indicate the importance of the purpose of classroom speaking assessment Teachers were encouraged to indicate one or more among the seven options in response to Q3 and to evaluate the importance of the assessment purposes as they perceived on a scale 1 to 5 in response to Q4
In research question about assessment practices, the three survey questions included assessment methods, specific speaking task formats, frequency, and format of teacher feedback as follows:
(Q5) Which are the primary methods of classroom speaking assessment?
(Q6) Please indicate the kinds of tasks/activities that you use and (Q7) Please choose one primary feedback that you would use below
Because these were closed questions, teachers were asked to choose options
The questionnaire took approximately fifteen minutes to complete Teachers were asked to complete the survey with their own nicknames to identify themselves in case of withdrawal The questionnaire was piloted by two qualified English teachers prior to the main study The full questionnaire is provided in Appendix A
Among those who indicated their willingness to participate in the interviews, teachers actually participated in these follow-up interviews, and of these, all ten teachers were ultimately selected for interview by following "Patton's maximum variation sampling" (cited in Lincoln & Guba, 1985: 200) The researcher considered maximum variation in participants' age, gender, teaching experience, teaching setting, and taught It was decided that teachers must be represented in the group of interview informants and as well Two other parameters, informants' age and years of teaching, were also included to ensure as much variety as possible In this way, ten original participants were selected for interview (See Table 2)
Table 2: Background of Interview Informants
The interviews were conducted to obtain further information about teachers‟ perceptions regarding classroom speaking assessment in EQuest Academy A semi- structured interview format was selected on the basis of being the most appropriate for the research purpose, time availability, and requirements of flexibility It allowed the researcher to ask a set of questions in a similar manner but also to maintain the flexibility to probe into relevant information where necessary The interview consisted of seven questions in three parts: (1) background information on teaching experience, teaching approach and assessment practices; (2) teacher‟s perception of effectiveness of classroom speaking assessment; and (3) difficulties in conducting such assessment The full interview questions are provided in Appendix B
The research was carried out using a questionnaire and interview method
Firstly, in an attempt to develop an appropriate survey instrument for this study, a pilot questionnaire was administered to ten English teachers who were attending a workshop for English teachers in EQuest The pilot questionnaire served to identify those items which were unclear, repetitive, and unnecessary The final version of the questionnaire (Appendix A) included open-ended question, Likert scale and questions with fixed alternatives generated from the data collected in the pilot survey It asked for opinions on speaking assessment as well as the teachers' professional, educational, and personal background The questionnaire was written in English
The responses to that questionnaire were gathered from ten EQuest English teachers After they had received an explanatory statement and signed consent forms, it was explained that their participation in the project was entirely voluntary
After analysis of the questionnaire responses, these participants were chosen for interviews on the basis of maximum variation in age, gender, teaching experience, teaching setting, and grades taught These ten were invited to be interviewed so that their perceptions of speaking assessment could be further explored All interviews were conducted at the quiet restaurant and each interview lasted approximately 10 minutes
Findings
3.1.1 Teachers' perceptions of speaking assessment in EQuest
3.1.1.1 Teachers' perceptions of the effectiveness of speaking assessment
The results of the analyses of the interview data are reported in this section The two questions asked relating to teachers‟ perceptions of effectiveness of classroom speaking assessment were: what they thought the role of classroom speaking assessment was, and what positive effects of classroom speaking assessment they perceived on teaching and learning were 2 teachers had approximately average 4 year teaching experience in EQuest, and the main teaching approach was a grammar-translation method They used the responsive, the extensive (monologue), and the interactive type of speaking tasks as similarly as the frequently used task formats revealed from the questionnaire survey Further details are provided in Appendix
3.1.1.2 Role of classroom speaking assessment
Eight of ten teachers showed positive attitudes towards classroom speaking assessment as indicated by the comments involving benefits for the students‟ confidence, learning motivation, class participation and so on:
Assessment is an effective tool to encourage students to learn especially in a short term Without assessment, it would be difficult to get students eager to involve speaking activities (Teacher 2)
Teacher 2‟s belief that assessment can encourage students‟ participation during the regular class time was in accordance with her assessment practices Namely, she commented that her only assessment criterion was a student‟s attempt to use English Thus, she gave marks if a student participated in class activities Teacher 3 said that classroom assessment may contribute to reducing students‟ inhibition caused by their low proficiency She maintained that students can have more opportunities not only to practice oral skills while preparing the assessment but also to speak out in front of many people She expected that eventually, her students could somewhat build up their confidence
However, the other two teachers had a negative outlook regarding the role of classroom speaking assessment, in particular, that the current speaking assessment methods hardly allow teachers to assess students‟ genuine speaking competence
Teacher 10 made the strongest claim of all as shown below:
I think that the current classroom speaking assessment does not play any important role to facilitate speaking or to motivate learning Currently, it just serves to mark students’ instant memorizing abilities and to report the outcomes Moreover, it creates a great deal of assessment stress to students.(Teacher 10)
3.1.2 Positive effects of classroom speaking assessment on teaching and learning
Only two teachers mentioned any positive effects of classroom speaking assessment on their teaching, the other four teachers not perceiving any evident effects The first two teachers commented that classroom speaking assessment was beneficial for speaking instructions and organizing the next teaching plan That is, Teacher 2 said that she employed a greater variety of communicative activities apart from the structured curriculum based on the textbook, in order to conduct speaking assessment
The reason given was that assessment should be in line with what students have already learned during classes Also, Teacher 5 stated that she used general feedback about students‟ weaknesses provided by the classroom speaking assessment to set up her next teaching plan In terms of learning, teachers‟ attitudes can be divided into three categories: positive, neutral, and negative The majority of interviewees, four teachers, had a somewhat neutral position, and the rest of two teachers revealed respectively positive and negative opinions about its effectiveness for learning Only Teacher 3 perceived positive effects on students‟ motivation towards learning, stating “classroom speaking assessment may increase students‟ recognition of how important speaking is in learning English Although the (speaking) assessment is not frequently conducted, I think that even one or two opportunities in a semester could address the requirements of learning English.” All of the four teachers who had a neutral position commonly indicated the limitations of the current methods of classroom speaking assessment Teacher 3 and Teacher 8 mentioned that with the current method based on memorization, it would be hard to see positive effects on learning in the short term, but it may be beneficial to some students‟ real language uses in the long term In this regard, Teacher 2 who commented on its positive function in encouraging students‟ participation during the class was not fully convinced of its direct effect on learning:
I think that classroom speaking assessment is meaningful because it can offer opportunities for students to use English Because of lacking confidence my students are not willing to speak out I am not sure that such assessment has evident positive effects.(Teacher 2)
Teacher 8 was even less convinced, stating “with respect to the current assessment tasks, it may facilitate linguistic competence including grammar and vocabularies
However, those domains can be assessed by other types of assessment, not merely by speaking assessment Thus, I do not want to implement speaking assessment in my classroom if possible.” Teacher 3 was most pessimistic Her claim stemmed from the English learning environment in EQuest, that is, an English as a Foreign Language (EFL) situation She commented:
I am doubtful about the effectiveness of classroom speaking assessment
Most students easily forget what they learned during assessment As mentioned earlier, they are provided with few opportunities to enhance what they learned either in the classroom or in the real life (Teacher 3)
To sum up, the teachers were somewhat consistent in their attitudes towards the positive effects of classroom speaking assessment with their attitudes towards its role Most teachers‟ pessimistic attitudes stemmed from the current assessment methods which were characterized by a lack of spontaneous responses and interpersonal exchanges
3.1.3 Types of speaking assessment tasks used by EQuest teachers
The speaking assessment tasks reported by EQuest teachers based on the completed questionnaires are shown in table 3 These responses will be discussed in detail in the following section
Table 3: Major assessment tasks used by EQuest teachers
Let the students pick up one or two questions
Self- introduction or family introduction
Rote memory of text dialog
3.1.3.1 Let the students pick up one or two questions in the question box containing many questions
The responses of ten participants to the questionnaire indicated that they used speaking assessment tasks which gave the students less burden and so helped to lower the affective filter (Krashen & Terrell, 1984) Because students' unprepared responses were not expected from this task, teachers announced questions, topics and tasks in advance so that students could prepare their answers Students were asked to select and answer one or two questions from a question box The teachers mentioned several advantages of this type of task
This task is related with listening Though teachers announce interview questions in advance, only when students can understand teachers' questions, they can respond
This allows interaction between a teacher and the students This task can give the students motivation to study language functions to be covered in the textbook
Though students are asked to answer one or two questions by the teacher, they need to prepare for more answers They don't know which questions are to be asked of them because there are many questions in the question box (Teacher 10)
This task allows a teacher to elicit students' responses, though their responses were not unprepared I guess it is close to authentic speaking assessment task, compared with other tasks similar to memory test (Teacher 2)
This type of assessment task was used by seven participants For this task, students were asked to bring real objects such as pictures and their favorite personal belongings to the classroom from home Then they showed them to the teacher, and described them in English As this type of task did not need the teachers' English speaking proficiency and elicitation, the teachers' role was that of a scorer only rather than that of an interviewer The teachers had only to score students' performances on the basis of their degree of preparation It's good to elicit students' utterances Anyway, they have to describe about something in English As a teacher, my role is to score their performances Students are interested in this task (Teacher 4)
3.1.3.3 Self-introduction or family introduction
Six participants used self-introduction or family introduction This task was used particularly by the participants who were teaching elementary students probably because of the requirements of the syllabus at that level
Discussion
The ways of speaking assessment in the EQuest classrooms
As Bostwick and Gakuen (1995) state, assessment can be used to improve instruction and help students take control of their own learning That is more likely to be accomplished when assessment is authentic and tied to the instructional goals of the program However, in this study it seemed that the speaking assessment conducted by EQuest teachers did not reflect authentic interaction between the teacher and the students Firstly, teachers did not elicit students' responses as an interviewer As a result, there was no face-to- face communication between the teacher and the students Secondly, teachers announced questions and tasks in advance, even though, according to Morrow (1977), communication is unpredictable in both form and message Thirdly, students' responses were not unprepared but rehearsed because of the predictable nature of tasks The types of non-authentic speaking assessment tasks
Several types of such non-authentic speaking assessment tasks used by EQuest teachers were identified through this study Firstly, teachers used speaking assessment tasks which gave the students less psychological burden As beginners in English, many students in EQuest Academy had a very small vocabulary and a limited number of English structures Thus, they found assessment of their speaking by the teacher to be very stressful Secondly, teachers tried to lower students' affective filter (Krashen and Terrell, 1984) by minimizing the effects of unpredictable factors and anxiety "Performers with optimal attitudes have a lower affective filter" (Krashen and Terrell, 1984:38) It will encourage students to interact with teachers with confidence Students in EQuest felt intimidated by unfamiliarity with the test type And also lack of preparation for the test seemed to lead them not to reflect in their performance the best that they are capable of
Thirdly, teachers used time-saving speaking assessment tasks designed for the convenience of construction and administration because they taught large classes for relatively short periods of time and were already overloaded with excessive work in their school They felt burdened by speaking assessment Lastly, teachers used the speaking assessment tasks which did not demand them to take the role of an interviewer Such assessment tasks helped teachers function as a rater only, scoring students' responses on the basis of their promptness and the degree of preparation
Teachers' perceptions of theory of speaking assessment This study also indicated that EQuest teachers were not equipped with an adequate theory of communicative speaking assessment As a consequence, the teachers had little confidence in conducting speaking assessment
Teachers showed positive attitudes towards classroom speaking assessment as indicated by the comments involving benefits for the students‟ confidence, learning motivation, class participation and so on:
Assessment is an effective tool to encourage learning motivation especially in a short term Without assessment, it would be difficult to get students eagerly involving speaking activities (Teacher 2)
Teacher 4‟s belief that assessment can encourage students‟ participation during the regular class time was in accordance with her assessment practices Namely, she commented that her only assessment criterion was a student‟s attempt to use English
Thus, she gave marks if a student participated in class activities Teacher 7 said that classroom assessment may contribute to reducing students‟ inhibition caused by their low proficiency She maintained that students as a result could have more opportunities not only to practice oral skills while preparing the assessment but also to speak out in front of many people She expected that eventually, her students could somewhat build up their confidence However, the other three teachers had a negative outlook regarding the role of classroom speaking assessment, in particular, that the current speaking assessment methods hardly allow teachers to assess students‟ genuine speaking competence Teacher 6 made the strongest claim of all as shown below:
I think that the current classroom speaking assessment does not play any important role to facilitate speaking or to motivate learning Currently, it just serves to mark students’ instant memorizing abilities and to report the outcomes Moreover, it creates a great deal of assessment stress to students.(Teacher 7)
Teachers' perceptions of the practical constraints in conducting communicative speaking assessment
In addition, this study revealed the practical constraints in conducting authentic speaking assessment in the contexts of the EQuest classroom Most of the teachers in the study appeared frustrated by the big gap between theory and practice
Participants mentioned constraints in conducting communicative speaking assessment, such as large classes and time-consuming, excessive work in addition to classroom teaching, lack of training in conducting speaking assessment, lack of effective and efficient assessment instruments, difficulty in eliciting students' responses Consequently, most of the teacher simply did not venture to try communicative speaking assessment while others gave it up after a brief try
Teacher's personal belief However, another factor was shown to be important in determining the use of communicative assessment, that of the teacher's personal belief in trying new ways of communicative speaking assessment, and willingness to persist, despite the practical constraints of EQuest classrooms One teacher, when responding to the questionnaire indicated that she used picture description to elicit students' responses and endured the students' hesitation in making their appropriate responses
Recapitulation
This study investigated the current practice of classroom speaking assessment in EQuest by examining its current status and teachers‟ perceptions on its effectiveness The questionnaire and interview targeted English teachers who were working in middle schools The questionnaire drew out data which could portray the current status of assessment including purposes and practices, the latter encompassing the methods, and teacher feedback The results of the data analysis show that classroom assessment was broadly conducted using specific speaking tasks and that criterion description plus marking scores were the main types of teacher feedback This suggests that classroom speaking assessment currently conducted in Equest had the possibility of being an authentic tool in terms of being both a benchmark speaking assessment style and a supportive learning strategy with informative feedback Still, it presented a strong tendency towards traditional formal testing for measurement and reporting learning outcomes Although this tendency seems to stem from the need for measurement and testing, it is evident from this study that this system of assessment needs improvement in order to facilitate more effective teaching and learning
In conducting speaking assessment, EQuest teachers were not equipped with an adequate theory of speaking assessment For example, they seemed not to be aware of 'backwash effect' (Bachman, 1990) of testing on teaching, of inter-rater reliability and of the necessity to be trained in the application of assessment criteria through rigorous standardization procedures As a consequence, they had little confidence in conducting speaking assessment
This study revealed the practical constraints in conducting communicative speaking assessment in the EQuest classroom context Participants reported such constraints as
* excessive work in addition to face- to- face classroom teaching
* lack of training in conducting speaking assessment
* lack of effective and efficient instruments
* difficulty in eliciting students' responses The findings of this study suggest that teachers need to have assistance and encouragement to try new ways of communicative assessment in their classrooms
This can be achieved by conducting in-service teacher education programs
Furthermore, EQuest teachers need to make conscious and persistent efforts to introduce more communicative speaking assessment in spite of practical difficulties
They need to be aware of the shift in social and educational need The researcher believes that teachers are the end users of an innovation Their perceptions of the feasibility of a communicative assessment innovation is crucial in determining the ultimate success or failure of that innovation (Li, 1998) Teachers are central to changes in any attempt to improve education (Frymier, 1987).
Implications
This study showed that EQuest teachers agreed with the effectiveness of speaking assessment because it motivated students Most teachers expressed a strong desire to learn how speaking assessment can be effectively and efficiently administered in EQuest classroom context To solve the problem, there may be the need for EQuest teachers to change their perceptions of assessment: from being a tool for measurement to one for learning In fact, changes in individual beliefs are even more difficult than implementation of the new policy or an innovation Thus, it is important to support for teachers to try new ways of communicative assessment
This can be achieved by conducting in-service teacher education programs, in which teachers have opportunities to retrain and refresh themselves in communicative speaking assessment
One of the major reasons which teachers gave for not conducting communicative speaking assessment was the perception that the speaking assessment tasks suggested for ESL contexts could not meet needs of learners in EQuest Thus, it is suggested here that EQuest teachers develop their own appropriate version of the communicative speaking assessment suitable for their EFL classroom situations
More importantly, EQuest teachers need to be aware of the shift in social and educational requirements of international examination (IELTS, TOEFL)
Therefore, teachers need to make conscious and persistent efforts to introduce more communicative speaking assessment into their classrooms and to be equipped with some measurement tools to evaluate their students' oral proficiency.
Limitations of the study
The most obvious limitation of this study is the small number of participants
Because of this, the findings cannot be generalized to other English teachers in Vietnam
There are some limitations in this study The first possible limitation resides in the choice of participants The lack of regional balance may not be sufficiently representative of the whole teaching population The second limitation is related to the questionnaire As Thomas (2003) indicates, unlike interviews, questionnaires rarely provide opportunities for participants to receive any clarifications of confusing items Due to this, the wording of some of the questions might cause some misunderstandings for respondents Lastly, the absence of the students‟ view of the effectiveness of classroom speaking assessment remains a limitation of this study due to the difficulty in recruiting young people.
Suggestions for further study
This study sought to explore the EQuest English teachers' perceptions of conducting communicative speaking assessment For further research there is a need to extend the scope of the investigation and to select a range of teachers providing a regional balance By including students‟ perceptions in the study along with those of teachers and also balancing teacher participants across the nation, a more complete picture of the purposes and practices of classroom speaking assessment in Vietnamese schools can be drawn and also an improvement in the level of confidence given to the authenticity of the results, effected
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① 23-30 years old ② 31-35 years old ③ 36-40 years old
④ 41-45 years old ⑤ above 45 years old
3 How many years have you been teaching in EQuest Academy?
① less than 1 year ② 1-2 years ③ 2-5 years ④ more than 5 years
1 Do you include speaking assessment in your classroom? ( Yes / No)
→ If you answer „No‟, please go to No 2
→ If you answer „Yes‟, please go to No 3
2 What is your real purpose of assessment ? Please indicate in effect for what purpose you employ classroom speaking assessment, and approximately how much times you typically spend on them in your curriculum
Time spent (hrs) Assessment of students for class placement
Pre-topic planning Ongoing programming (lesson planning) Ongoing student assessment (e.g marking, feedback) Final evaluation of topic/unit of work
Providing information to others (e.g parents, school) Following the policy of EQuest academy
3 Methods of assessment: Please indicate 1) which of the following methods you use in your course; and 2) how many times you use it (or them) during a semester
Methods of assessment Frequency observation of students in typical speaking activities during regular classes marking of a specific test tasks peer assessment self assessment Others:
※ This is for those who choose the second option, ‘marking of a specific test tasks’ in No 5
4 Please indicate the kinds of tasks/ activities that you use and how often you use these activities and please tell how many times you use it (or them) during a semester
Frequency 1.Let the students pick up one or two questions
3 Self-introduction or family introduction
5 Rote memory of text dialog
4 Please indicate the format of feedback that you use ( for open- ended question)
② criterion description plus score of marking
Thank you for your participation If you are willing to participate in the follow-up interview, please put a tick and let me know your contact details
Yes, I can □ Contact details: (email) @ (phone)
1 How long have you worked in EQuest ?
2 What is your language teaching approach?
4 What is the language element focused on in the assessment?
5 What do you perceive the function of classroom-speaking assessment?
6 Do you perceive any positive effects of classroom speaking assessment on teaching and learning?
7 If you have any difficulty in conducting classroom-speaking assessment, what are they?
APPENDIX C: PARTICIPANT CONSENT FORM AND PARTICIPANT INFORMATION SHEET
I have read the accompanying letter explaining the project named “Survey research into an assessment of students' speaking skill by teachers at EQuest Academy” The project is being conducted by Nguyễn Quỳnh Anh, a Master student of English Teaching Methodology, and supervised by Assoc.Dr Ngô Hữu Hoàng from the University of Languages and International Studies
The participation to this study is voluntary;
I will be asked to participate in a questionnaire survey on classroom- based speaking assessment
It will take about 10 minutes;
My confidentiality and privacy will be respected, future publications resulting from the study will use pseudonyms to ensure the anonymity of persons;
I may request a copy of any publications arising from the work;
I can withdraw my consent at any time without explanation In that case, my record will be destroyed, and the data will be removed from the data analysis;
I can contact Quỳnh Anh on quynhanhnguyen04091988@gmail.com or +84 1644 958825 to request further information about the project
I agree to participate in the above mentioned research project conducted by Quỳnh Anh under the supervision of Dr, Ngô Hữu Hoàng