An investigation into achievement tests designed by teachers at quang tri continuing education center

TABLE OF CONTENTS Contents Pages Statement of Authorship Acknowledgements Contents List of Abbreviations .5 Lists of Tables Lists of Figures Abstract CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Overview 1.2 Rationale 1.3 Research Aims and Objectives 11 1.3.1 Reasearch Aims 11 1.3.2 Reasearch Objectives .11 1.4 Research Questions 11 1.5 Research Scope 12 1.6 Significance of the study 12 1.7 Organization of the Research 12 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 14 2.1 Overview 14 2.2 Definitions of Key Terms 14 2.2.1 The Definition of a Test 14 2.2.2 The Purpose of a Test 14 2.2.3 Criteria as a Framework for Designing a Test 15 2.2.3.1 Reliability 15 2.2.3.2 Validity 17 2.2.3.3 Practicality 18 2.2.3.4 Authenticity 19 2.2.3.5 Interactiveness .20 2.2.3.6 Impact 20 2.2.4 Achievement Tests 21 2.2.4.1 Definitions 21 2.2.4.2 Types of Achievement Tests .21 2.2.4.3 Construction of achievement tests 23 2.2.5 Communicative Approach to Testing 23 2.2.6 Interpretations of washback 24 2.2.6.1 Test washback .24 2.2.6.2 Language Teachers and Washback .25 2.2.6.3 Language Students and Washback 27 2.2.6.4 Positive and Negative washback 28 a Positive Washback 28 b Negative Washback 29 2.3 Non-formal Education and Adult Learners 30 2.3.1 Non-formal Education 30 a) Non-formal Education .30 b) Lifelong Learning 31 2.3.2 Adult Learners 32 a) Difficulties in Learning English 32 b) Learning Experiences 32 c) Adult learners and Other Characteristics 33 2.4 Summary 34 CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY .35 2.1 Overview 35 3.2 Research Approach 35 3.3 The Participants 36 3.4 Instrumentation 39 3.4.1.1 Questionnaires 39 3.4.1.2 The Pilot Survey 39 3.4.1.3 Administration of the Questionnaires 40 3.4.2.1 Interview 41 3.4.2.2 The Administration of Interviews .42 3.5 Data analysis .42 3.6 Achievement Tests‟ Analysis 43 3.7 Procedure .43 3.8 Summary 44 CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION .45 4.1 Overview 45 4.2 Findings .45 4.2.1 Perceptions of Teachers towards Language Testing Criteria When Designing Achievement Tests 45 4.2.1.1 Teachers‟ Perceptions towards Reliability of Achievement Tests 46 4.2.1.2 Teachers‟ Perceptions towards Validity of Achievement Tests 48 4.2.1.3 Teachers‟ Perceptions towards Practicality of Achievement Tests 49 4.2.1.4 Teachers‟ Perceptions towards Authenticity of Achievement Test 50 4.2.1.5Teachers‟ Perceptions towards Interactiveness of Achievement Tests 51 4.2.1.6 Teachers‟ Perceptions towards Impact of Achievement Tests 52 4.2.2 Application of Language Testing Criteria in designing Achievement Tests ……………… …………………………………………………………… 53 4.2.2.1 Demonstration of the Reliability in the Achievement Tests 53 4.2.2.2 Demonstration of the Validity in the Achievement Tests 55 4.2.2.3 Demonstration of the Practicality in the Achievement Tests 57 4.2.2.4 Demonstration of the Interactiveness in the Achievement Tests 59 4.2.2.5 Demonstration of the Authenticity in the Achievement Tests .59 4.2.2.6 Analysis of some Achievement Tests Designed by Teachers at Quang Tri Continuing Education Centre 60 4.2.3 Testing Effects on Teaching .74 4.2.4 Testing Effects on Learning 76 4.3 Discussions 78 4.4 Summary 87 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS .88 5.1 Overview 88 5.2 A Summary of the Findings .88 5.3 Implications 91 5.3.1 To Teachers .91 5.3.2 To Educational Administrators 94 5.4 Contributions of the Study 97 5.5 Limitations 97 5.6 Suggestions for Further Research .97 5.7 Summary 98 References … 99 Appendices 105 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS NFE : NON-FORMAL EDUCATION EL : ENGLISH LANGUAGE LIST OF TABLES Table 3.1: Background Information of Teacher Participants from Questionnaires 37 Table 3.2: Background Information of Learner Participants from Questionnaire 38 Table 3.3: Background Information of Teacher Participants from Interview 38 Table 4.1: Teachers‟ Perception towards the Importance of Teacher-made Achievement Tests and of Testing Qualities 45 Table 4.2: Teachers‟ Perceptions towards Reliability of Achievement Tests 47 Table 4.3: Teachers‟ Perceptions towards Validity of Achievement Tests 48 Table 4.4: Teachers‟ Perceptions towards Practicality of Achievement Tests .49 Table 4.5: Teachers‟ Perceptions towards Authenticity of Achievement Tests 50 Table 4.6: Teachers‟ Perceptions towards Interactiveness of Achievement Tests 51 Table 4.7: Teachers‟ Perceptions towards Impact of Achievement Tests 52 Table 4.8: Rating Scale in the Achievement Tests and the Learners‟ Evaluation 54 Table 4.9: Demonstration of Learners‟ Desire, the Correlation between the Test Tasks and the Course Objectives, and the Balance of Language Skills and Language Areas .………… 55 Table 4.10: Language skills and Language Areas in the Tests 56 Table 4.11: The Presentation of Answer Sheets 58 Table 4.12: The Disadvantage of the Answer Sheet 58 Table 4.13: The Topics and the Contextualization of the Test Tasks 59 Table 4.14: The Combination of Language Skills and Language Areas 59 Table 4.15: The Use of Topical Knowledge, Affective Schemata and Language Ability .60 Table 4.16:The Frequency of Language Skills and Language Areas in the classes.73 Table 4.17: Factors that Influence Test Design 76 Table 4.18: Reasons for Learning English .77 Table 4.19: The Effects of the Achievement Tests 77 Table 4.20: They Best Ways to Prepare for Tests 78 LIST OF FIGURES Figure 2.1: Test Washback Effects on Teachers (Teacher- level) 26 Figure 2.2: Test Washback Effects on Students (Student-level) 27 Figure 4.1: Test Instructions 53 Figure 4.2: The Test Scores Reflecting the Learners‟ EL Abilities 54 Figure 4.3: Learners‟ Evaluation on the Previous Achievement Tests 55 Figure 4.4: Time Constraints 57 Figure 4.5: Teaching Progress 75 Figure 4.6: The Promotion of Confidence and Enthusiasm in teaching, designing and implementing tests .75 Figure 4.7: Narrowing the curriculum 76 ABSTRACT This study sets out to investigate Quang Tri Continuing Education Centre teachers‟ perceptions towards and their demonstration of language testing criteria in achievement test design The study has three main aims: (1) to explore the perceptions of Quang Tri Continuing Education Centre teachers towards language testing criteria and their application when designing achievement test; (2) to discover the effects of the achievement tests on teaching and learning; (3) to offer some implications for improving teachers‟ perceptions as well as their practice The data for the study was obtained through two instruments- two questionnaires for teachers and adult learners and interviews for teachers The subjects consist of teachers (for questionnaires) and teachers (for interviews), who are working parttime at Quang Tri Continuing Education Centre 160 learners from three classes KT 43, QLXH 40 and LUAT 33 were willing to participate in the study The data collected were analyzed and presented in descriptive statistics and charts The findings of the study indicate that Quang Tri Continuing Education Centre teachers‟ perceptions towards language testing criteria were positive, although sometimes they were not completely right The results also point out that teachers‟ testing practices have not been corresponded to their perceptions e.g most of the teachers said that test items in their tests were contextualized, and test topics were meaningful Meanwhile, a few learners said that test tasks in their achievement test are not authentic Therefore, testing results affected negatively adult learners‟ motivation The findings of the research pointed out that most of the learners learn English only for the requirement of a diploma, so they tend to cram for the tests However, teachers were still optimistic when they confirmed that they did not teach to the test and promote confidence and enthusiasm in teaching and designing and implementing achievement tests Also, some pedagogical implications related to perceptions towards and demonstrations of language testing criteria were suggested In addition, limitations and suggestions for further researches were mentioned CHAPTER INTRODUCTION 1.1 Overview The Chapter focuses on the rationale of the study in which background of the research and the reasons for researching are presented Also, objectives of the research, research questions, research scope, significance of the study and its organization are mentioned by the researcher 1.2 Rationale Teaching English as a Second or Foreign Language has become a very popular profession in today‟s world thanks to the fact that English has become an international language Therefore, the teachers of English around the world use various techniques and methods to ensure that students learn basic language areas and achieve language skills Also, the teachers at Quang Tri Continuing Education Centre would agree that testing is one of the most important keys to determine if teaching objectives were reached, evaluate teaching methods, diagnose student needs or motivate students to study Some studies point out that testing has an influence on teaching and learning For example, Pearson (1988) indicates that good tests can be applied and designed as positive teaching and learning activities in order to encourage a beneficial teaching –learning process The influence of a test obliges teachers and learners to things to promote teaching –learning process (Alderson &Wall, 1993) Many theorists and researchers have found that classroom achievement tests is a crucial part of the second language learning and teaching processes Therefore, Hughes (2003) included that achievement test are used in making classroom-level decision and designed with particular reference to the course objectives or learning goals Furthermore, some researchers claim that certain perceptions and beliefs that teachers hold about assessments influence their use of them (Dorr-Bremme, 1983; Pedulla et al, 2003) The teacher‟s perceptions and beliefs of testing criteria and their practices are influenced directly or indirectly by many factors The first thing is the teacher‟s language testing competence and their awareness of language testing criteria in designing tests Some teachers think that it is difficult to design a test so it is the work of test experts They rarely develop their own language tests and they just select and adapt published language test for their own students It means that they are unmotivated to design test and they not consider test as the need for their professional work To develop their motivation in designing tests, according to Bachman and Palmer (1996), language teacher should establish understanding of fundamental considerations in designing, developing and use of language test The understandings of fundamental consideration in designing conclude the awareness of language testing criteria such as validity, reliability, practicality, authenticity, interactiveness and or washback Second, research into teachers‟ perceptions generally show that teachers might have positive perceptions towards langauge testing criteria in test design However, their perceptions is not consistent with their test demonstration or test practice For example, they think that it is necessary for adult learners to develop listening and speaking skills, but those skills are not tested Finally, the ideas for doing this research also come from my own experience as a teacher of English at the centre Quang Tri Continuing Education Centre, founded in 1990, was chosen as the context of the investigation The major task of this centre is defined as comprises organized learning activities that cater to persons not enrolled in formal education Learners are at the age of 18 and older The adult learners who according to Knowles (1984a) perform roles associated by the culture with other adult such as spouse, parents, worker and responsible citizen and are responsible for their own lives The teachers who work part-time at the centre are teaching in different high schools in Quang Tri or in other cities such as Hue and Hanoi They are at different ages with different educational qualifications Teaching such special students, the teachers‟ perceptions toward language testing criteria in designing tests might offer a source to research 10 their learners this kind of achievement test even when they know that it would not be successful or effective in promoting teaching and learning – both teachers and learners focus on what will be tested Besides this negative washback, most teachers still gain confidence and enthusiasm in teaching, designing and implementing tests Teachers‟ confidence appears to be an important factor in teaching It is apparent that the teachers‟ perceptions and the reality were not always consistent Effects of testing on teaching and learning Testing has a positive impact on the way learners learn and their high learning motivation is expected by all teachers and educational administrators Wiggins (1998) argued that when teachers and educators design and use testing and assessment, they should focus on 'educative assessment' It means that the nature of testing and assessment influence what is learned and the degree of meaningful engagement by students in the learning process The findings of the research revealed that most of the learners learn English only for the requirement of a diploma, so they tend to cram for the tests Learners‟ intrinsic and integrative motivation in learning English should be considered because of their importance At the same time, the research indicates ways to increase the positive impact and decrease the negative impact on learners‟ learning motivation such as giving practice for test taking but infrequently, improving self-assessment among learners, making tests look good to learners High motivation, as said by Dornyei (1998, p.117) “ make up for considerable deficiencies both in language aptitude and learning” Although the impact of testing on learning is not satisfactory, teachers at Quang Tri Continuing Education Centre hope that the learners‟ further learning will have a new prospect Most of the teachers said that testing helps them to know how their learners and their own teaching are progressing and they gained much confidence and enthusiasm in teaching, designing and implementing EL tests The test design was affected by a variety of external (the aims of the course, the objectives of text books, learners‟ motivation and expectations as well as university‟s expectations) 88 and internal factors (teachers‟ training, and teachers‟ views) These factors interplayed to influence their process of EL teaching and designing tests In addition, it discusses the implications of the study in term of the testing and professional development in Quang Tri Continuing Education Center 5.3 Implications It is true that there may be occasions when the teaching is good and appropriate whereas the testing is not And there may be occasions when teaching is poor or inappropriate but testing is able to exert a beneficial influence Therefore, to decrease the harmful backwash, teachers should improve testing knowledge and skills as well as perceptions towards testing criteria If they promoted the above issues, they would design better tests And if testing always had a beneficial backwash on teaching, it would have a much better reputation amongst teachers 5.3.1 To Teachers Based on the research findings, some implications can be made to teachers as follows: First of all, the study found that although teachers were aware of language testing criteria, there can be a distance between their perceptions, knowledge and intentions and their actual practices It is important that teachers should reflect their attitudes toward language criteria upon their practices Williams and Burden (1997) affirm that teacher beliefs (or „perceptions‟ used by Schulz, 2001) playing an important role in teaching and learning process Thus, teacher perceptions affect everything they in the classroom including test design Also, if teachers are open and willing to narrow the gap between their perceptions and their practices, successful changes can occur Secondly, as far as the communicative approach in testing English is concerned, teachers should relate language in their tests with cognitive and affective areas, subject matter knowledge, communicative skills, real-life context and the like It means that teachers should make their test tasks more interactive and authentic Adult learners need more real-life test tasks than younger learners They can share 89 life experiences that they may have in “real world” with one another Moreover, they will be able to work on relevant material more than material that is not meaningful (Wlodkowski, 1999) Teachers can choose topics such as family, boss that adult learners can share their life experiences in a number of effective ways, and think about how those related to class information This helps adult learners to be confident and interactive when doing tests Thirdly, validity is the most important characteristic of a test which all teachers must be concerned It can be seen from table 4.10 that a high percentage of the learner informants indicated that the test tasks were not appropriate to the objectives of the course That is to say, achievement tests implemented at Quang Tri Continuing Education Centree lack content validity In other words, if the test content and testing techniques are at variance with the objectives of the course, then there is likely to be harmful backwash on teaching and learning Adult learners not only have the goal of passing the course but also desire to improve knowledge and skills for their job So, tests should be designed in order to help them to achieve the goals Fourthly, it is also necessary for teachers to be well aware of the reliability of the test There are some possible figures of a test which might make it unreliable such as unclear instructions, ambiguous questions, items that result in guessing on the part of the test takers The way the test scored is related to designing and implementing tests A composition may be received different scores by different markers In addition, adult learners are more likely than younger learners to have a clear understanding of the meaning of scores and grades This may be considered as one factor that enables adult learners to be more motivated during the course if criteria of rating scale and grade evaluation are already determined Therefore, a detailed rating scale and grade evaluation should be carried out Teachers in the study not pay much attention to the second case, so their tests tend to be less reliable than it should be Fifthly, when thinking about practicality of tests, all teachers paid attention to time of testing, however, only half of the learners had enough time to finish their 90 tests “The time chosen for testing was influenced primarily by considerations of reliability and practicality” (Bachman and Palmers ibid p.232) Therefore, time constraint is one factors should be in accordance with the content of the tests Learners will “avoid fatigue and loss of concentration” (Bachman and Palmers, ibid), if they had sufficient time for testing Furthermore, testing time should be relevant to adult learners‟ abilities and learning background To adult learners the need for more time to complete test tasks is one of disadvantages It may be difficulty for them to recall information (Wlodkowski, ibid.) Moreover, table 4.21 shows that only few adult learners prepare for the tests with the classmates Learners spend a little time on working together because of many reasons, for example, the English classes were short, the lack of confidence in communicating face to face In this case, class blog with web-based dialogues can become quite effective complementary equipment Adult learners have more opportunity to share their knowledge, life experiences, to discuss how to prepare well for testing, or give comment on the strengths and weaknesses of the previous achievement tests The use of class blog may be extremely beneficial to adult learners to gain confidence and collaboration among teachers and their learners Therefore, teachers will receive much useful feedback on testing from their learners Also, adult learners suffer from greater test anxiety than younger learners do, thus, it is very important to prepare a comfortable testing environment for them This involves material, equipment, personal characteristics, physical conditions and testing time Sixthly, analysis and reporting of test information is also a crucial step in the teaching and testing process The information will provide teachers with deep insights on the progress of teaching and testing as well as learning For example, - What are particular strengths and weaknesses of the test, of teaching methodology, or of learners‟ language knowledge and skills? - What teachers will have to to improve the quality of the tests? In other words, testing results inform teachers of what has been taught well and not so well Also, they inform students of whether they have learned well or not 91 Last, but not least, changing teachers‟ perceptions towards language testing criteria will help them to promote better examinations Teaching and learning process will receive more benefit impact Firstly, testing is one of factors that motivate learners to learn better We know that adult learners return to school for a range of reasons such as preparing for promotions, updating employment skills, changing careers, or lifelong learning to obtain new knowledge (Wetzel, 2009) Thus, teachers should investigate what they need or what they intend to learn for Exploring adult learners‟ motivation helps many teachers in test design Adult learners will be more motivated if test tasks meet their need- they can use the target language to communicate, to promote jobs or to obtain new knowledge Secondly, tests with six criteria: reliability, validity, authenticity, practicality, interactiveness and impact will create benefit impact on teaching Teachers will not narrow the curriculum and lose instructional time that leading to “teaching to the test.” To summarize, tests for adult learners have some particular characteristics compared to tests for learners of other age groups Therefore, besides ensuring language testing criteria such as reliability, validity, authenticity, interactiveness, practicality and impact, teachers should pay attention to adult learners‟ characteristic, learning background, learning goals and needs and the like 5.3.2 To Educational Administrators First, the achievement tests applied at Quang Tri Continuing Education Centre dealt with the current disconnection between the communicative language teaching and communicative testing approach because the tests only test learners‟ reading skill, writing skills, grammar and vocabulary Communicative language tests covering four language skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing should be applied It will create positive washback in learning process as the learners will move from passive to active ones Similarly, teachers will be encouraged to apply communicative language teaching and to use textbooks such as New Cutting Edge, Headways, Lifelines, Know How as meaningful materials in teaching In other words, adult learners will be more likely to continue and benefit of the course if the materials are relevant to their abilities and their goals Therefore, administrators and 92 teachers should choose materials that meet current requirements In addition, both universities and Quang Tri Continuing Education Centre must create an atmosphere that allows teachers to apply communicative language teaching and communicative testing approach effectively Second, teachers should be given opportunities to participate in testing workshops or testing training activities (workshops for teachers who are teaching adult learners) These activities will help teachers articulate their perceptions and use them to reflect on their test practice The connection between teachers‟ perceptions and routine practice can be made when teachers are aware of this Thus, teachers should revaluate and renew their perceptions Nespor (1987) argues that instructional change needs teachers not only to abandon their existing beliefs but also to gradually replace them with more relevant ones In testing workshops, teachers are provided with the knowledge, skills and perceptions necessary for writing effective language tests As a result, they will always not use or adapt published language tests for their own learners In addition, they are trained how to construct test tasks, those are ensured testing criteria Also, they will have enough practice in different processes of constructing test tasks It means that teachers will have a deeper insight into the techniques and fundamentals of the testing Moreover, educational administrator should introduce rating bands to teachers Teachers will learn how to make subjective judgments reliable This may help teachers limit the “teaching to the test”, improve their assessment abilities as well as minimize negative impact on learners‟ motivation In addition, teachers will ensure the reliability of tests designed by them Third, educational administrators should collect information from teachers‟ reports of testing feedback on which the test tasks require to integrate language ability, topic knowledge and schemata Then like teachers, administrators need analysis skills to effectively interpret the information and make relevant judgments about the meaning of the results These results will help them evaluate the construct validity, authenticity and interactiveness of teacher-made tests 93 Fourth, NFE applied in at Quang Tri Continuing Education Centre as well as other centres aims to develop programmes for adults for relevant continuing education, lifelong learning opportunities and hence to enhance a learning society Learners are offered a non-formal educational program whose purposes, timing, and content delivery systems are different from those of formal educational programs (Simkins, 1976) They are part-time learners with a short-term course 45 period English classes (about one week) are too short and too stressful for adult learners to promote both language knowledge and skills Therefore, administrators should be flexible in organization and methods The organization and curriculum planning should preferably be changed Forty-five periods should be divided into three weeks Learners have more time to revise and practice what they have learned Furthermore, they have enough time to prepare for tests After two or three English classes, four skills should be integratively tested The testing scores should be used for both graduating the course and being conferred a certificate of A level of English Although this focuses on the outcomes of a program (considered as summative assessment), it is obvious that it still meets adult learners‟ need and goals However, to maximize positive motivation on learners, university administrators should establish a positive testing policy and culture in instructional units Besides summative assessment, a testing policy focuses on assessment for learning also affect positive learner‟s motivation This kind of testing policy helps learner to learn better, thus teachers not tend to narrow the curriculum Finally, teachers need to be informed in detail of testing regulations in terms of teaching time, what to test, test practice In turn, more importantly, what teachers have been done will allow administrators to make effective decisions and policies on testing To sum up, adult non-formal education has become a significant part in the national education system, and the need for lifelong learning also plays an important role in educational policy Therefore, it is necessary to have effective policies on teaching and testing for this kind of special subject It certainly leads to learners‟ 94 attainment in learning, in terms of language knowledge, understanding, skills and even attitudes 5.4 Contributions of the Study This investigation into achievement tests designed by teachers at Quang Tri Continuing Education Centre is a small contribution to testing issues The findings will help to raise the teachers‟ perceptions towards language testing criteria in designing achievement tests Therefore, it is hoped that the findings will encourage the teachers to design achievement tests by themselves for adult learners with attention to language testing criteria Also, it is hoped that the findings will raise the awareness and sensitivity of educational administrators in changing testing policies that are suitable with curriculum Furthermore, these innovations will be reflected in policies, decision-makings as well as in practice 5.5 Limitations Limitations were found in the number of participants of the interview and questionnaire: only eight teachers Furthermore, the study was done in limited time duration, so it cannot reveal the complicated perceptions of teachers and the application of language testing criteria in designing achievement tests The study provides some implications for teachers working part-time at Quang Tri Continuing Education Centre, so these suggestions may not apply for all teachers at other centres 5.6 Suggestions for Further Research Despite the limitations of the study, the findings of this research is still a contribution to the field of language testing for adult learners Teachers‟ perceptions towards language testing criteria and the administration of these criteria when designing achievement tests are very important in teaching and learning English However, these issues are complicated so there should be further study into the same topic In addition, a similar study should be carried out with students and teachers at other Continuing Education Centre to explore convincing results 5.7 Summary 95 In short, chapter summaries the important points of the study and presents the teaching implications for both teachers and educational administrators In addition, some contributions of the study, limitations of the study and suggestions for further research are also mentioned 96 REFERENCES Alderson, J C., & Wall, D (1993) Does washback exist? Applied Linguistics, 14(2), 115-129 Allison, D (1999) Language Testing Evaluation: An introduction course Singapore University Press Bachman, L F (1990) Fundamental consideration in language testing Oxford: Oxford University Press Bachman, L F (2005) Building and Supporting a Case for Test Use Language Assessment Quarterly, 2(1) – 34 Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Inc Bachman, L F., & Palmer, A S (1996) Language testing in practice Oxford: Oxford University Press Bell, J (1993) Doing Your Research Project: A Guide for First-time Researchers in Education and Social Science Buckingham; Philadelphia: Open University Press Brown, H D (2003) Language assessment: Principles and classroom practices White Plains, NY: Longman Brown, H D (2004) Language Assessment: Principles and Classroom Practices Pearson Education, Inc Brown, J D (2005) Testing in language program New York: McGraw-Hill 10 Buck, G 1988: Testing listening comprehension in Japanese university R 11 Chau Lam (2007) Country profile prepared for the Education for All Global Monitoring Report 2008 Education for All by 2015: will we make it? Vietnam Non- formal Education UNESCO 12 Cizek, J G (2004) Achievement Tests In Spielberger, D C (Ed.) Encyclopedia of Applied Psychology, (p.41-46) San Diego, CA: Academic 13 Cohen, A.D (1994) Assessing language ability in the classroom (2nd ed.) New York: Heinle and Heinle 14 Creswell, J W (1994) Research Design: Qualitative & Quantitative Approaches Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage 97 15 Creswell, J W (2005) Educational research: Planning, conducting, and evaluating quantitative and qualitative research (2 ed.) Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Merrill Prentice-Hall 16 Davies P & Pearse, E (2000) Success in English Teaching Oxford University Press 17 Dornyei, Z 1998 Motivation in second and foreign language learning Language Teaching, 31(3), p 117-135 18 Dorr-Bremme, D (1983) Assessing Students: Teachers‟ Routine Practices and Reasoning Evaluation Comment, 6(4), l-12 19 Ellis R (1985) Understanding Second Language Acquisition Oxford University Press 20 Ericksen, S C (1978) "The Lecture” Memo to the Facult, no 60 Ann Arbor: Center for Research on Teaching and Learning, University of Michigan, 21 Gronlund, N E (1968) Achievement Test Construction Englewood Cliffs, N J.: Prentice-Hall 22 Hamp-Lyons, L (2000) Social, professional and individual responsibility in language testing, System, 28, 579-91 23 Harrison, A (1983) A language testing handbook Macmillan Publishers 24 Hawkey & Hawkey, R (2006) A modular approach to testing English language skills: the development of the Certificates in English Language Skills (EELS) examinations Cambridge University Press 25 Heaton, J B (ed.) (1988) Writing English Language Tests Longman Inc New York 26 Hughes, A (1989) Testing for Language Teachers Cambridge: CPU 27 Hughes, A (2003) Testing for Language Teachers Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 28 Knowles, M (1984a) The adult learner: A neglected species Houston: Gulf Publication Company 98 29 Krathwohl, D R (1993) Methods of educational and social science research: An integrated approach New York: Longman 30 Madsen, H (1983) Techniques in Testing New York: Oxford University Press 31 McMillan, H J & Schumacher, S (Ed.) (1993) Research in Education A conceptual Introduction Harper Collins College Publishers 32 McNamara T (2000) Language Testing Oxford: OUP 33 Messick, S (1996) Validity and washback in language testing Language Testing 13(3): 241-256 34 Mislevy, R J And Knowles, K T (Eds) (2002) Performance Assessments for Adult Education: Exploring the Measurement Issues: Report of a Workshop Committee for the Workshop on Alternatives for Assessing Adult Education and Literacy Programs National Research Council 35 Nespor, J (1987) The role of beliefs in the practice of teaching Journal of Curriculum Studies, 19 (4), 317-328 36 Nguyen Thi Xuan Huong (2002) Factors affecting speaking abilities of inservice EFL students at Hue College of Sciences BA Thesis 37 Nunan, D (1992) Research Methods in Language Learning Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 38 Paul, P V (2009) Language and Deafness Jones and Bartlett Publishers 39 Pearson, L (1988) Test as levers of change (or “putting first things first”) In Chamberlain, D & Baumgartner, R (Eds.), ESP in the classroom: Practice and evaluation ELT Documents # 128, (pp 98-107), Modern English Pulication in association with the British Council, London 40 Pedulla, J.J., Abrams, L.M., Madaus, G.F., Russell, M.K., Ramos, M.A., Miao, J (2003) Perceived Effects of State-Mandated Testing Programs on Teaching and Learning: Findings from a National Survey of Teachers National Board on Educational Testing and Public Policy Chestnut Hill, MA 99 41 Sacks, P (2000) Predictable losers in testing schemes School Administrator, 57(11), 6-9 42 Schulz, R A (2001) Cultural differences in student and teacher perceptions concerning the role of grammar instruction and corrective feedback: USAColombia The Modern Language Journal, 85 (2), 244-258 43 Seliger, H & Shohamy, E (1989) Second Language Research Methods Oxford University Press 44 Shohamy, E., Donitsa-Schmidt, S and Ferman, I 1996: Test impact revisited: washback effect over time Language Testing 13(3):298_317.R 45 Simkins, T (1977) Non-Formal Education and Development Some critical issues, Manchester: Department of Adult and Higher Education, University of Manchester 77 + iv pages 46 Snow, C & M Hoefnagel-Hohle (1978) Age Differences in Second Language Acquisition In Hatch (Ed.) 1978a 47 Sungsri, S (2009) Lifelong Learning in Thailand: Policy and Implementation Asian-Europe Meeting ASEM Education and Research Hub for Lifelong Learning from 16-19 June, 2009 48 Thorndike, R L & Hagen, H (1961) Measurement and Evaluation in Psychology and Education New York: John Wiley & Sons 49 Wall, D., & Alderson, J.C (1993) Examining washback: The Sri Lankan impact study Language Testing 10(1), 41-69 50 Weigle, S C (2002) Assessing writing Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 51 Wiggins, G (1998) Educative assessment: Designing assessments to inform and improve student performance San Francisco: Jossey-Bass 52 Williams, M., & Burden, R L (1997) Psychology for language teachers: a social constructivist approach Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 53 Wlodkowski, J R (1999) Motivation and diversity: A framework for teaching New Directions for Teaching & Learning, 78, 7-17 100 54 Yi-Li, H (2009) Evaluation of an English Pronounciation Test Designed for the EFL teacher Student in a Chinese Colledge US-China Foreign Language, Vol 7, N 7, p 17-24 Resources: Government of Vietnam (1992) Constitution of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam 1992 Retrieved February 11, 2007 from http://coombs.anu.edu.au/~vern/van_kien/constit.html Government of Vietnam (1998) The Education Law of Vietnam Retrieved February 10, 2007 from http://www.edu.net.vn/VanBan_Luat/LuatGD_1998/law_in_english.htm Government of Vietnam (2003) National Education For All Action Plan 2003-2015, Hanoi, Vietnam Retrieved February 2, 2007 from http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTVIETNAM/Resources/NationalEducation.pdf Nguyen, P N., Griffin, P & Izard, J (ND) Toward beneficial washback effects of a test Retrieved from www.edfac.unimelb.edu.au/arc/PDFs/1151.pdf Serving Adult Learners in Higher Education: Principles effectiveness (an executive summary) Retrieved online from http://www.cael.org/pdf/publication_pdf/summary%20of%20alfi%20principles %20of%20effectiveness.pdf Shomoossi, N., & Tavakoli, M (2010) Authenticity and Authentication in Language Testing: an Operational Perspective 2(2): 1-26 Retrieved Jan 2010 from http://mjal.org/journal-current-articles.htm UNESCO (1997) International standard classification of education ISCED 1997 Paris: UNESCO http://usfweb2.usf.edu/assessment/Resources/Guide.pdf (A guide for writing ) Yi-Chang Pan (2009) A review of washback and its pedagogical implications VNU journal of science, foreign language 25(2009): 257-263 February 4, 2009 from http://www.js.vnu.edu.vn/nn_4_09/b.8.pdf 101 Retrieved Wetzel, D R (2009) Positive Adult Learning Environments Effective Instruction of Adults in Continuing Education Programs Retrieved Jan 27, 2009 from http://adulteducation.suite101.com/article.cfm/positive_adult_learning_environ ments#ixzz0r6OOO3Ej 102