MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING VIETNAM NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF EDUCATIONAL SCIENCES NGUYEN THI HUONG LAN ASSESSMENT OF HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS'''' CREATIVE COMPETENCE IN CREATING ARGUMENTATIVE WRITING Maj[.]
MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING VIETNAM NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF EDUCATIONAL SCIENCES NGUYEN THI HUONG LAN ASSESSMENT OF HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS' CREATIVE COMPETENCE IN CREATING ARGUMENTATIVE WRITING Major: Code: Theory and methodology of teaching 14 01 11 SUMMARY OF DOCTORAL THESIS HANOI, 2022 The thesis is completed at: The Vietnam National Institute of Educational Sciences Supervisors: Assoc Prof Dr Nguyen Thi Hong Van Assoc Prof Dr Hoang Hoa Binh Reviewer 1: Reviewer 2: Reviewer 3: This thesis shall be defended at the Thesis Examination Committee at the institute level, The Vietnam National Institute of Educational Sciences, 101 Tran Hung Dao street, Ha Noi, at ……… h……… dated ……… year ……… This thesis is available at: - The national library of Vietnam - The library of the Vietnam National Institute of Educational Sciences INTRODUCTION Reasons for choosing the topic 1.1 The world is witnessing the fourth industrial revolution with the powerful and miraculous development of technology that has changed many aspects of social life Borderless technological innovations have sparked significant changes around the world The root of that positive development comes from the increased capacity of people That is also why the requirement to develop human competencies has become an educational goal of global significance Among those competencies, it is impossible not to mention creative competence Thanks to creative competence, people can face challenges in life Creative competence is also a condition for people to overcome what they already have, conquer more remarkable achievements, and promote the progress of society 1.2 In the general context of the world, Vietnam is facing conditions and opportunities to take advantage of the fourth industrial revolution to accelerate the industrialization and modernization of the country But in fact, breakthrough innovations also pose many challenges when the paradigm shift takes place in all aspects of society, including the education system That requires us not only to learn from the educational experiences of developed countries but also to apply those experiences creatively, to find our own development path suitable to the country's speciâ Orientation to solve this issue, Resolution 29/NQ-TW dated November 4th, 2013 of the Party on the fundamental and comprehensive renovation of education and training, Vietnam Education Development Strategy 2011-2020, and Law on Education 2019 (Article 29) show that in parallel with the teaching of knowledge, the development of creative competence is considered as an important issue in human education 1.3 In 2018, the Ministry of Education and Training announced the General Education Curriculum, including the Overall Education Curriculum and the Program of Subjects and Experiential Activities This is one of the biggest changes in the 2018 General Education Curriculum compared to the 2006 General Education Curriculum The core of change is to shift the teaching process from content-oriented (mainly knowledge-based) to development-oriented of dignity and competence for learners Integrating into that flow, the Literature subject with the characteristic of being an instrumental and humanistic subject not only assumes the goal of developing the specific competencies of the subject but also has to work towards the development of general dignities and competencies, including creative competence 1.4 Developing creative competence is extremely important for students; the Literature subject is also a subject with many hidden "ores" to be able to "sustainably exploit" to develop creative competence Many students and teachers also aspire to express themselves on the creative path, However, assessing students' creative competence with diverse learning products and requirements for creating and receiving texts is still a big question needed to be answered step by step That is why we chose the topic "Assessment of high school students' creative competence in creating argumentative writing" with the desire to contribute a voice on the issue of developing creative competence - one of the most important goals of the current general education reform Research goals Based on theoretical and practical research on creative competence in creating argumentative writing, and assessing high school students’ creative competence in creating argumentative writing, the thesis proceeds to build assessment standards and design assessment tools that are open-ended questions to assess high school students' creative competence in creating argumentative writing, contributing to the renewal of assessment of learning outcomes in the Literature subject at high schools in the direction of developing learners' competencies Research object and tasks 3.1 Research object The object of the thesis is the assessment of creative competence in creating argumentative texts of high school students 3.2 Research tasks - Determining the theoretical and practical basis of assessment of creative competence in creating argumentative texts of high school students; - Determining orientations and foundations for building assessment standards and assessment tools of creative competence in creating argumentative texts of high school students; - Developing assessment standards and assessment tools of creative competence in creating argumentative texts of high school students; - Implementing pedagogical experiments to initially confirm the feasibility and reliability of assessment standards and assessment tools of creative competence in creating argumentative texts of high school students that the thesis proposes Research scope The topic is only limited to the scope of building tools to assess creative competence in creating argumentative writing of high school students, meeting the goal of assessing creative competence of the 2018 Literature Program; mainly focus on open-ended questions, which is the most appropriate tool in assessing students’ creative competence; experimental content is conducted in grades 10 and 11 Research methods In the process of implementing the thesis, a combination of the following research group methods was used, including Theoretical research methods, Practical research methods, Pedagogical experimental methods, and some other methods Scientific hypotheses Creating argumentative texts in high schools is the process by which learners express their personal opinions and views on an issue in life or a literary work This process clearly shows the creative imprint of each individual Therefore, if the assessment standard is developed and the assessment tool as the system of open-ended questions is well used, students will be encouraged and created opportunities to demonstrate their creative competence in the process of creating argumentative texts, at the same time, performing the role and function of students' competence assessment activities, including creative competence New contributions of thesis - In theory: The thesis systematized research achievements on the assessment of creative competence in creating argumentative writing in the direction of competence development; presenting the concept of creative competence in creating argumentative writing; determining the components and expression of creative competence in creating argumentative writing The research results of the thesis contribute to supplementing the theories of creative competence, evaluating creative competence in general, and evaluating creative competence in creating argumentative writing in high schools - In practice: The thesis proposed assessment standards of creative competence in creating argumentative writing, and designed open-ended questions to evaluate the creative competence in creating argumentative writing used in two forms of regular assessment and periodical assessment, contributing to the goal’s achievement of developing learners’ dignities and competence according to the requirements of the 2018 General Education Curriculum in the Literature subject Thesis structure In addition to the introduction, conclusions and recommendations, references, and appendix, the thesis is structured into 03 chapters Chapter I - Theoretical basis of assessment of creative competence in creating argumentative writing of high school students Chapter II - Development of assessment standards and assessment tools of creative competence in creating argumentative writing of high school students Chapter III - Pedagogical experiment CHAPTER THEORETICAL BASIS OF ASSESSMENT OF CREATIVE COMPETENCE IN CREATING ARGUMENTATIVE WRITING OF HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS 1.1 Overview of issue research 1.1.1 Studies of creative competence By studying a number of research works of foreign authors such as J.P Guiford, Holland (1959), Blom, Getzels, L.X Vygotsky, M.N Sacdacop, G Polia, E.P Torrance, May (1961), Mackinnon D.W, Yahamoto (1963), E.P Torrance (1965), Barron, Blom, Getzels, Helmholtz, and some Soviet (former) authors such as A.N Luck, V.N Pushkin, B.M Kedrop, M.G Larosepsky, G.S Klostul and N.A Mensinxkaia, X.L Rubinstein, X.L Vygosky, N.G Alexayep, Ia Derner, E.M Maiarski… and in Vietnam such as Phan Dung (1992); Pham Van Hoan (1967); Nguyen Canh Toan, Nguyen Van Le, Chau An (2004), Le Hai Yen (2008), Nguyen Trong Hoan (2016), Nguyen Ba Kim, Vu Duong Thuy, Nguyen Ke Hao, Vu Quoc Chung, Tran Hiep, Do Long, Ton Than, Tran Luan, Nguyen Huy Tu, Duc Uy Tran Tuan Lo, Huynh Van Son (2009), Tran Viet Dung (2013), Tran Thi Bich Lieu (2013), Pham Thi Bich Dao (2014), Hoang Hoa Binh (1997), Nguyen Thi Hong Van (2017), it can be seen that the issues of creative competence are studied mainly in the psychological aspect as creative thinking, and studied primarily on conjunction with other issues, in many different scientific fields There is still a lack of applications in each specific area, not going into the study of the structure, nature, characteristics and working mechanism of creative thinking The studies on creative competence in the Literature subject are the necessary suggestions so that the author can continue to delve into the study of creative competence in each specific content circuit of the subject 1.1.2 Studies of creative competence in creating argumentative writing Related to this issue, we conducted a research on several authors’ works, such as Katie Larsen MacClarty and Matthew N Gaertner (2015), Barbara E Walvoord, Melanie Williams, Nguyen Thi Lan Phuong (2016), Do Ngoc Thong (2013), Pham Thi Thu Huong (2013), Tran Thi Hien Luong (2013), Nguyen Thi Hanh (2013), Nguyen Thi Hong Van (2013), Nguyen Thu Hanh and Nguyen Thi Cham (2013), Phung Thi Van Anh, Tran Van Vu, Bui Dinh Ha, Pham Gia Manh, Dang Thi May, Nguyen Thi Anh Nguyet, Nguyen Tri,… The studies of the above authors have given us essential concepts and orientations to further learn about the issues raised by the thesis topic In particular, the suggestions of authors Nguyen Thi Hanh and Tran Thi Hien Luong on the assessment of writing competence and the use of open-ended questions in the assessment of writing competence are necessary suggestions to apply to the evaluation of creating texts of students in higher education levels, and at the same time also shows the need to continue to learn about open-ended questions - an effective tool in assessing students' creative competence that has been mentioned a lot in the past However, at present, no research work gives a full conception of the connection between the assessment tool, which is open-ended questions/ open-ended themes with the goal of assessing students' creative competence in creating texts, thereby providing assessment standards of creative competence in creating argumentative writing of high school students in the Literature subject 1.2 Theoretical basic 1.2.1 The concept of creative competence and creative competence in creating argumentative texts 1.2.1.1 Creativity Through understanding the concepts of some foreign and domestic authors, within the framework of the thesis, we conceive that Creativity is an individual's activity to create something new, unique, valuable and meaningful, or new solutions or proposals The result of the creative process is a product made by an individual or a group, having the personal imprint of the creator, valuable and recognized 1.2.1.2 Competence In the framework of the thesis, we choose the competence approach of the General Education Curriculum (2018) This concept is consistent with the recognition of the competence of authors, researchers and international organizations in identifying the following three issues: (1) Competence is an attribute of the individual; (2) Competence is acquired through the mobilization and synthesis of knowledge, skills and other personal attributes to deal with a specific type of activity effectively; (3) Competence is demonstrated through activities in specific conditions and contexts 1.2.1.3 Creative competence From domestic and foreign perspectives and definitions, creative competence can be generalized as follows: it is the ability of an individual or a group, expressed in the process of thinking and exploring to discover, to propose new ideas, to consider issues in a new way, to discover what is new in the old, to create new products Based on the studies of the structure of creative competence and the above-proposed expression of creative competence, it is possible to generalize the elements of creative competence as follows: Proposing new ideas Generating and implementing new ideas Coming up with new solutions and putting them into practice Creating new products 1.2.1.4 Creative competence in creating argumentative texts of high school students a) Argumentative texts From the definitions, it is shown that an argumentative text is a type of text where the writer and speaker give arguments combined with evidence to convince readers and listeners to agree with their views on a certain issue An argumentative text is always created based on a definite requirement (called a topic or question) All requirements of an argumentative text must revolve around the topics’ requirements This is also the basis for determining the requirements and criteria for evaluating students' argumentative texts b) Creative competence in creating argumentative texts of high school students We believe that students' creative competence in creating argumentative texts is expressed according to the following specific requirements Criteria Indicators Discover particular ideas and (1) Propose new ideas (correct - appropriate) directions for the issue (2) Develop the proposed idea (3) Connect more ideas Fluent, flexible in mind (4) Propose solutions to implement ideas (system of ideas, arguments) (5) Give new evidence, create surprises and interesting (6) Connect arguments and evidence smoothly, create coherent and flexible steps for texts Unique and multi-dimensional (7) Approach the issue from multiple perspectives view (8) Have critical thinking, compare, turn over and over Flexible and impressive (9) Use good and aesthetic words, sentences, and paragraphs expression (10) Attractive writing style, attractive to readers Attractive presentation (11) Use a unique form of presentation to highlight the content (letter, poem, drama, ) (12) Combine several forms of expression (text channels, image channels) The diagram of the structure of students’ creative competence in creating argumentative texts is presented as follows Creative competence in creating argumentative texts Proposing ideas Implementing solutions Presenting products Propose new ideas Propose the system of arguments Develop ideas Find out evidences Add, complete ideas Organize ideas smoothly Use unique forms of presentation Approach multiple perspectives Present multi channels Use words, sentences, paragraphs flexibly Have own writing style Critical thinking From the above structure diagram, we identify and describe the expression levels of students’ creative competence in creating argumentative texts according to the following table: Level Expression Spread and inspire Students pursue many new ideas in perceiving social and literary creativity issues; have their own discovery, unique and attractive in the way it is presented; have the ability to persuade others to be in tune with the individual's feelings and thoughts; have their own way of applying knowledge of social and literary issues to their own lives Evaluate ideas and Students discover many valuable aspects when approaching social solutions and literary issues; know how to look at issues from many perspectives, not easily accept one-way information; unbiased when considering and evaluating issues; having the ability to think independently to adjust and change the solution to the issue; willing to consider, re-evaluate the issue Share and implement Students are able to detect new and positive elements in the opinions the solution of others and apply them effectively when solving social and literary issues; analyze and synthesize opinions to choose the appropriate implementation method; identify reliable arguments and evidence for the issue implementation process Connect information Students have the ability to develop ideas when receiving social and and identify solutions literary issues; think about and connect relevant information; know how to ask questions according to individual needs to find out different information from many different sources to provide information to the reader about a social and literary issue Identify information Students can identify some initial information and identify issues and initially propose from the given sources according to the instructions; express personal ideas opinions on social and literary issues; initially gather information on the issues presented in the received documents The determination of the expression of students’ creative competence in creating argumentative texts according to the above levels is the basis for studying and proposing contents related to the assessment of students’ creative competence in creating argumentative texts 1.2.2 Assessment of creative competence in creating argumentative texts of high school students 1.2.2.1 Assessment Through the analysis of concepts, we see that assessment is both activities of teachers and students Therefore, “student assessment is the process of collecting information; analyzing, processing and explaining the current learning situation of students; determining the causes, proposing measures to improve teaching and learning so that students gradually progress towards the educational goals” Thus, it can be seen that assessment is a process consisting of 04 basic stages: (1) Collecting information (2) Processing and analyzing necessary information (3) Explaining the status quo, possibility or cause of education quality (4) Providing activities to improve education quality 1.2.2.2 Competence assessment a) Concepts On the basis of inheriting the studies of previous authors, we propose the concept of competence assessment: “Learners’ competence assessment is the process of collecting, analyzing, processing and interpreting evidence on the competence development of learners; identifying the causes, proposing measures to improve teaching and learning based on performance standards” Competence assessment not only assesses what students “know” but also needs to assess what students “do”; paying more attention to the progress and level of each individual's competence revealed in the learning process, thereby adjusting teaching contents and methods accordingly Competence-based assessment takes the learners’ outputs and performance aspects as a basis, paying attention to the assessment contents that are integrated, and associated with solving practical situations b) Form of competence assessment In terms of continuity and timing, there are two types of assessment: regular assessment/ process assessment, and periodical assessment/ summary assessment * Regular assessment/ process assessment: the assessment of the quality of student achievement in that learning process Teachers can promptly receive feedback, timely adjust to close the gap between the teaching process and teaching goals At the same time, thereby promptly improving the teaching method of the teacher and the learning method of the students * Periodical assessment/ summary assessment: the assessment after completing a period, a part of the curriculum, or after a semester The summative test aims to assess the general learning competence, the ability to generalize, systematize knowledge, and the ability to present in a methodical, clear and transparent manner Periodical assessment results help teachers and students look back on the results of teaching and learning after certain deadlines, assess the students' level of grasping a relatively systematic amount of knowledge and skills, consolidate and expand the knowledge and skills learned, and lay the foundation to continue to new lessons c) Competence assessment tools Some commonly used assessment tools, such as written test, observation sheet; types of questionnaires, learning sheets,… In current assessment tools, open-ended questions/ topics are considered to be tools that are used effectively in assessing students' essays d) Competence assessment standards When implementing the process of competence assessment, one of the most important steps is to develop the assessment standard Competence assessment standards are descriptions, images, or both of the paths that competencies follow throughout the educational process (over time) Assessment of any learner’s competence also needs to explain the results according to that competence assessment standard, or competence assessment scale - which describes different levels of competence development according to established criteria Competence assessment scales need to describe the development of student achievement and competence, from low to high, corresponding to each field and each learning stage Assessment standards of creative competence are the basis for designing rubrics for assessing creative competence in creating argumentative texts of high school students 1.2.2.3 Assessing creative competence in creating argumentative texts of high school students a) The framework for assessing creative competence in creating argumentative texts of high school students Some assessment researchers have developed rubrics to define criteria and frameworks for assessing creative competence generally, and a framework for assessing creative competence for students' writing with specific descriptions and examples The ways to determine the criteria, expression, and level in the assessment framework of creative competence generally and creative competence in creating texts of students particularly are the basis to propose an assessment framework of creative competence in creating argumentative texts of high school students This is the content that will be presented in the next chapter of the thesis b) Assessment tools of creative competence in creating argumentative texts of high school students Based on the criteria and manifestations of creative competence in creating argumentative texts of high school students, and the criteria, expression, and level of the assessment framework of creative competence, the thesis selects and proposes tools to assess 10 ... goal of assessing students'' creative competence in creating texts, thereby providing assessment standards of creative competence in creating argumentative writing of high school students in the... research on creative competence in creating argumentative writing, and assessing high school students? ?? creative competence in creating argumentative writing, the thesis proceeds to build assessment. .. of creative competence in creating argumentative texts of high school students Based on the criteria and manifestations of creative competence in creating argumentative texts of high school students,