A study on the validity of the end-term achievement tests on English grade 12, High Schools in Northern Vietnam = Nghiên cứu tính hiệu lực của các bài kiểm tra

COLLEGE OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES DEPARTMENT OF POST GRADUATE STUDIES --- HOÀNG VĂN SÁU A STUDY ON THE VALIDITY OF END-TERM ACHIEVEMENT TESTS ON ENGLISH GRADE 12, HIGH SCHOOLS IN NORTHERN

COLLEGE OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES DEPARTMENT OF POST GRADUATE STUDIES

-

HOÀNG VĂN SÁU

A STUDY ON THE VALIDITY OF END-TERM ACHIEVEMENT TESTS

ON ENGLISH GRADE 12, HIGH SCHOOLS IN NORTHERN VIETNAM

NGHIÊN CỨU TÍNH HIỆU LỰC CỦA CÁC BÀI KIỂM TRA CUỐI KỲ MÔN TIẾNG ANH LỚP 12 TẠI MỘT SỐ TRƯỜNG THPT Ở MIỀN BẮC

VIỆT NAM

M.A THESIS

FIELD: METHODOLOGY CODE: 60 14 10

HA NOI - 2009

COLLEGE OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES DEPARTMENT OF POST GRADUATE STUDIES

-

HOÀNG VĂN SÁU

A STUDY ON THE VALIDITY OF END-TERM ACHIEVEMENT TESTS

ON ENGLISH GRADE 12, HIGH SCHOOLS IN NORTHERN VIETNAM

NGHIÊN CỨU TÍNH HIỆU LỰC CỦA CÁC BÀI KIỂM TRA CUỐI KỲ MÔN TIẾNG ANH LỚP 12 TẠI MỘT SỐ TRƯỜNG THPT Ở MIỀN BẮC

VIỆT NAM

M.A THESIS

FIELD: METHODOLOGY CODE: 60 14 10

SUPERVISOR: DR HA CAM TAM

HA NOI - 2009

2.1 The relationships of language testing with teaching and learning 5

2.7 Objectives and Syllabus contents of English grade 12 15

2.7.1 Objectives of English grade 12 15

2.8 Recommended test specification of final achievement tests,English

2.9 Components’ contents of end-term achievement tests, English grade 12 22

2.9.1 Components’ contents of the 1st term achievement tests 22 2.9.2 Components’ contents of the 2nd term achievement tests 23

3.3.1 Content validity of test samples’ components 26

3.3.2.1 Construct validity of phonetic test items 29

3.3.2.2 Construct validity of grammar test items 30

3.3.2.3 Construct validity of vocabulary test items 32

LIST OF TABLES

Table 2: The recommended specification of the end-term achievement tests 21 Table 3: Components’ contents of 1st term achievement tests 22 Table 4: Components’ contents of 2nd term achievement tests 23

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

1.1 Rationale of the study

In several decades recently, English language testing and evaluation has received a great interest from both educators, researchers worldwide In Vietnam, for its important roles in educational field, English testing and evaluation has been focused in universities and educational institutions through researches, Master of Arts theses, doctoral theses in methodology, most of which aim to evaluate reliability and validity, the essential and most important characteristics of a test

The raising interest towards English testing can be only explained by its importance

to English teaching and English learning For English teaching, testing evaluation helps teachers check again the effect of the teaching procedure, from which they could consider the contents and techniques used in teaching On the other hand, through testing, students can adjust the learning process themselves in order to get better study results

There are a number of previous researches at College of Foreign Languages – Vietnam national University that carried out on testing in terms of validity of tests For instance, Vu, Ba Linh (2006); Nguyen, Thi Mai Phuong (2008); Tran, Thi Hieu Thuy (2008); Le Thuy Linh (2004); Nguyen, Thi Bich Hong (2008), etc All of these tests are at college and university research area However, we recognized that there is not any study about validity of tests at high schools The interested research topics are often about using language skills, techniques in English teaching and learning For example, Lam, Thi Thu Thuy (2008); Đậu, Duy Lịch (2007); Nguyễn Thị Nguyệt (2007), etc This raises a question whether or not high school tests have reliability and validity And if so, how could they be evaluated?

One important thing when we mention to the testing and evaluation is the subjective factor of the test-makers Popularly, the tests are written without considering carefully among the contents and objectives of the course and the content and construct of the tests This leads to the fact that many tasks students have to do in the tests do not exist in the course contents or the test items are unfamiliar or far too difficult to students Clearly, those tests are said to be lack of reliability as well as validity, the most important and essential measurement qualities of a test This can be shown significantly through end-term achievement tests which examine students‟ achievements after a term or a course

For the scope of this research, the end-term achievement tests on English grade 12 at high schools in Northern provinces of Vietnam have been collected and analyzed Due to the time limitation and research conditions, the end-of term achievement tests that have been done and scored by students cannot be collected That the reason why the reliability

of those tests was not chosen to investigate in this study Only the validity in terms of content validity and construct validity were taken into consideration

From the above reason, the author is encouraged to conduct this study entitled “A Study on the Validity of End-term Achievement Tests on English Grade 12, High Schools in Northern Vietnam” with the desire of finding out how valid these tests are

Furthermore, the writer hopes that the findings of the study can be applied to improve the current testing in high schools It is also intended to encourage both teachers and learners

in the teaching and learning process and to be the valuable source of reference for test designers

1.2 Scope of the study

Due to the limitation of time and research conditions, the author doesn‟t have the ambition to cover all the aspects of a good achievement test like reliability, validity, discrimination, backwash effects etc This study will mainly focus on the construct validity and content validity of the end-term achievement tests on English grade 12 at high schools of some provinces in Northern Vietnam in school years of 2008 - 2009 The study will give the findings about construct validity and content validity of those achievement tests and give suggestion to improve those tests as well as suggestions for further studies

1.3 Aims of the study

The major aims of the study is to evaluate the validity of the end-term achievement tests on English grade 12 at high schools of some provinces in Northern Vietnam in school years of 2008-2009 with a special focus on those tests‟ construct validity and content validity The specific aims of the study are:

 To study and evaluate the construct validity and content validity of those end-term achievement tests; and

 To give out the strengths and weaknesses of the tests

2- Do those tests possess construct validity?

1.5 Methods of the study

This study is a combination of both quantitative and qualitative approaches First, a quantitative method was employed on the data collection from 10 end-term achievement tests on English grade 12 of high schools in some northern provinces of Vietnam The number of each language component of a test that possessed the content validity and construct validity has been counted and changed into percent

Then from the quantitative statistics, qualitative method was employed to interpret the data into the meanings of test samples and their components in terms of content validity and construct validity

1.6 Organization of the study

The thesis is organized into four major chapters:

Chapter 1 is the introduction that presents such initial information as the rationale, aims, methods, research questions and the organization of the study

Chapter 2 reviews all related literature that provides the theoretical basis for language testing and language evaluation First, the relationships of language testing with teaching and learning and objective testing are presented Then, the achievement tests; test specification; multiple choice questions and testing language components are discussed carefully Next, the most important theoretical part, validity in terms of content validity and construct validity are deeply taken into consideration Last parts are spent for objectives an syllabus design of English grade 12; Recommended test specification of end-term achievement tests on English grade 12 and components‟ contents of end-term achievement tests

Chapter 3 is the main part of the study which shows the research design containing research questions, data description, informants and analytical framework Next, data

analysis of construct validity and content validity is discussed Finally, the findings about content validity and construct validity of the test samples are laid out

Chapter 4 offers the conclusions that make clear the research questions Some implications are suggested to improve end - term achievement tests in terms of their construct validity and content validity The limitations and directions to further research are also mentioned in this final chapter

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter provides an overview of the theoretical background of the research Firstly, it discusses about the relationships of language testing with teaching and learning process Then, the achievement tests; test specification and testing language components are discussed carefully Next, the most important theoretical part, validity in terms of content validity and construct validity are deeply taken into consideration Last parts are spent for objectives and syllabus design of English grade 12; recommended test specification of end-term achievement tests on English grade 12 and components‟ contents

of end-term achievement tests

2.1 The relationships of language testing with teaching and learning

Teaching, learning and testing are interrelated closely to each other, that the existence and changes of this factor may have considerable effects on other factors Among these three factors, perhaps language testing itself has the strongest and clearest effects on

teaching and learning process Heaton (1988:5) had the same idea that “Both testing and

teaching are so closely interrelated that it is virtually impossible to work either field without being constantly concerned with the other” Heaton (1988:5) also pointed out the

importance of testing to the learning process as “Tests may be constructed primarily as

devices to reinforce learning and motivate the students or as a mean of assessing the students’ performance in the language”

Davies (1996:5) also described the importance of language testing as “Properly

made English tests can help create positive attitudes toward instruction by giving students

a sense of accomplishment and a feeling that the teacher’s evaluation of them matches what he has taught them Good English tests also help students learn the language by acquiring them to study hard, emphasizing course objectives, and showing them where they need to improve”

In term of the teaching field, testing help teachers evaluate how learners have achieved the target language knowledge and language skill Bachman (1990:55) shared this point of view when he stated that the fundamental use of testing in an educational program

is to provide information for making decisions, that is, to evaluate However it is not a simple thing for teachers to receive exact, reliable and valid testing from different test-

takers, who have different interests, attitudes, and different background knowledge of the target language Many teachers feel disappointed with the test-takers‟ results when they don‟t satisfy the teachers‟ desires One of the acceptable solutions is that some easy test items may be given to encourage weaker students and other more and more difficult items for better students

For learners, testing helps them find out their weak points and strong points, from which they may develop the most suitable learning strategies themselves; testing may motivate students to maintain their achievements or to gain better ranks in the class Nevertheless, testing can bring positive effects to students in case its difficult level is too high or too low, that makes students lose their interest or get bored with the learning process Hughes (1989:1) dealt with the effect of testing on teaching and learning as backwash that may be beneficial or harmful with more focus on the harmful side of test According to him, in case the test content does not meet the objectives of the course, the harmful backwash then appears and it proves the thinking that teaching and testing do not have been related to each other He also presented a lively example, that is, a writing skill

is tested only by multiple choice items in which learners only concentrate on practicing such items rather than practicing the skill of writing itself

In summary, testing plays a very important role to teaching and learning and vice versa For teachers, a good test can help them evaluate their teaching procedure as well as their students‟ achievement more effectively and, help to eliminate the harmful backwash that the test may have

2.2 Objective testing

There are many types of language tests Hughes (1989:9) classified them according

to their testing purposes, namely, proficiency tests, achievement tests, diagnostic tests and placement tests Besides, on the basis of manner in which tests are scored, they are divided into objective and subjective testing

Of all testing types, objective tests are chosen to discuss about The reason of which

is, in the recent years, most of English written tests at high schools in Northern Vietnam have been designed basing on this testing approach And the end-term English achievement tests, grade 12, school year 2008-2009 are not the exception

According to Davies et al., (1999:132), objective test is a test in which all the items are objectively scored In an objective test, correct responses are clearly specified, and markers are not required to make judgments

Heaton (1998:26) stated that objective tests are frequently criticized on the grounds that they are simpler to answer than subjective tests However, items in an objective test can be made just as easy or difficult as the test designer wishes Heaton (1998:26) noticed that some scholars criticized objective tests of the multiple-choice for their guessing encouragement Nevertheless, Heaton pointed out that four or five alternatives for each item are sufficient to reduce the possibility of guessing He added that test-takers hardly make wild guesses; most base their guesses on partial knowledge

Personally speaking, objective testing is one of effective ways of evaluating the study results in English It not only tests the communicative skills but checks the language knowledge In an objective test there is the larger number of grammar, vocabulary and phonology that can generally be included than those in a subjective test What is more, objective tests can be scored mechanically since they often have only one correct answer

It is the fact that objective tests can be marked by computer that is one important reason for testing large numbers of test-takers

For test-makers, however, mastering the types of objective tests and designing them

is rather difficult requirement In order to design a good objective test, the test-takers have

to grasp testing techniques and prepare a plentiful testing bank

In objective testing, multiple-choice questions are among the most popular types of technique to be used It then follows by other types of techniques, such as matching items, supply items, true/false questions, etc

In short, a good classroom test should contain equally both subjective items and objective items to enhance its validity and reliability as well as to ensure its language knowledge and its language skills

2.3 Achievement tests

There are four main types of tests, namely, achievement tests, proficiency tests, aptitude tests, and diagnostic tests In this study, due to the scope of the research is to evaluate the end-term achievement tests, English grade 12, only the first test type in term

of achievement test will be discussed

2.3.1 Definitions

Achievement tests, which are very popularly used in secondary schools and high schools, are very important tool to help evaluating students nowadays There are a number

of ways in which achievement tests are defined, among the most remarkable of which are:

According to Davies et al, (1999:2): “An achievement test is an instrument designed

to measure what person has learned within or up to a given time It is based on a clear and public indication of the instruction that has been given The content of the achievement tests is a sample of what has been in the syllabus during the time under scrutiny and as such they have been called parasitic on the syllabus”

Hughes (1989:10) claimed that “Achievement tests are directly related to language

courses with the purpose of establishing how successful individual students, group of students, or the courses themselves have been in achieving objective”

It then follows by McNamara (2000:06) that “Achievement tests accumulate

evidence during, or at the end of a course of study in order to see whether and where progress has been made in terms of the goals of learning Achievement tests should support the teaching to which they relate.”

Heaton (1998:172) agreed with the above attitudes and he claimed that these tests are based on what the students are presumed to have learnt - not necessarily on what they have actually learnt nor on what have actually been taught

To sum up, a good achievement test should cover the specific learning and teaching contents that have been previously used

2.3.2 Final achievement tests

Hughes (1989:10) claims that final achievement tests are those administered at the end of a course of study They may be issued by ministries of education, official examining boards, or by members of teaching institutions Clearly the content of these tests must be related to the courses which they are concerned, but the nature of this relationship is a matter of disagreement among some language testers

It is approved by some testing experts that the content of a final achievement test should be based directly on a detailed course syllabus or on the books and other materials used This has been referred to as the syllabus-content approach And since the test only contains what it is thought that the students have actually encountered, and thus can be considered as a fair test However, the disadvantage of this type is that if the syllabus is

badly designed, or the books and other materials are badly chosen, then the results of tests can be very misleading It leads to the fact that successful performance on the test may not truly reflect the achievement of course objectives

The second approach is to design the test content directly on the objectives of the course, which has a number of advantages Firstly it forces course designers to elicit course objectives Secondly, student can show how far they have achieved those objectives Tests based on course objectives work against the perpetuation of poor teaching practice, a kind

of course-content-based test, almost as if part of a conspiracy fail to do The test content based on course objectives is believed to be more preferable and is said to provide more accurate information about individual and group achievement, and seem to promote a more beneficial backwash effect on teaching Hughes (1995:11) approved of the later approach

by arguing that it will provide more accurate information about individual and group achievement, and it is likely to promote a more beneficial backwash effect on teaching

Furthermore, Alderson, Clapham and Wall (1995:10) add that test specifications are not only needed by just an individual but a range of people They are needed by (i) Test constructors to produce the test; (ii) Those responsible for editing and moderating the test; (iii) Those responsible for or interested in establishing test‟s validity; and (iv) Admission officers to make a decision on the basis of test scores

It is then followed by the view of McNamara (2000:31) that test specifications are a recipe or blueprint for test construction and they will include information on such matters

as the length and the structure of each part of the test, the type of materials with which candidates will have to engage, the source of such materials if authentic, the extent to which authentic materials may be altered, the response format, the test rubric, and how responses are to be scored

Personally, the users of test specifications may have different needs, so writers of specifications should remember that what is suitable for some audience may be quite unsuitable for the others

2.5 Testing language components

Heaton (1998:9) and many other linguists isolated the language components as three sections on grammar and usage; vocabulary (concerned with word meanings, word formation and collocations); and phonology (concern with phonemes, stress and intonation)

2.5.1 Tests of grammar and usage

According to Heaton (1998:9), “these tests measure students‟ ability to recognize appropriate grammatical forms and to manipulate structures.”

While discussing about the role of grammar testing, Hughes (2003:172) explained that there was the time when control of grammatical structures was seen as the very core of language ability and it would have unthinkable not to test it However, times have changed with a shift towards the view that since the language skills that are usually of interest, then

it is these skills which should be tested directly, not the abilities that seem to underlie them Hughes (2003:173) emphasized that “…it has to be accepted that grammatical ability, or rather the lack of it, sets limits to what can be achieved in the way of skills performance The successful writing of academic assignments, for example, must depend

to some extent on command of more than the most elementary grammatical structures.”

In a grammar test, there commonly have the following items: multiple-choice items, error-recognition items, rearrangement items, completion items, transformation items, items involving the changing of words, broken sentence items, pairing and matching items, combination items, and addition items

2.5.2 Test of vocabulary

It is obvious that vocabulary is the most essential and important part of any language and with any other language components and language skills as phonetics and phonology, grammar, reading, speaking, writing and listening Heaton (1998:9) stated that “A test of vocabulary measures students‟ knowledge of the meaning of certain words as well as the patterns and collocations in which they occur Such a test may test their active vocabulary (the words they should be able to use in speaking and in writing) or their passive

vocabulary (the words they should be able to recognize and understand when they are listening to someone or when they are reading”

Vocabulary tests often use some items, namely, multiple-choice, associated words, gap-fill, matching items, word formation, items involving synonyms, rearrangement items, and completion items

2.5.3 Test of phonology

Heaton (1998:9) claimed that test items design to test phonology might attempt to assess the following sub-skills: ability to recognize and pronounce the significant sound contrasts of a language, ability to recognize and use the stress patterns of a language, and ability to hear and produce the melody or patterns of the tunes of a language (i.e the rise and fall of the voice)

There are often several items in a phonology test, namely, multiple-choice, syllable stress, word stress, sentence stress, ordering task and note-taking

2.6 Validity of a test

There are a number of qualities of a good test, namely, reliability, validity, practicality, interactiveness, impact, or authenticity, etc The author noticed that the most important consideration in designing and evaluating a language test is its usefulness, which

is strongly denoted by its validity In this part, definitions and two subtypes of validity in terms of construct validity and content validity will be investigated

2.6.1 Definitions and types of validity

According to Davies et al., (1999:221): “Validity is the quality which most affects

the value of a test, prior to, though dependent on, reliability A measure is valid if it does what it is intended to do, which is typically to act as an indicator of an abstract concept (for example height, weight, time, etc.) which it claims to measure The validity of a language test therefore is established by the extent to which is succeeds in providing an accurate concrete representation of an abstract concept (for example proficiency, achievement, aptitude).”

Two famous scholars, Heaton and Hughes shared the same idea about validity

Heaton (1988:159) provide a very concise notion of validity as “the validity of a test is the

extent to which it measures what it is supposed to measure” while Hughes (1989:22) stated

that “a test is said to be valid if measures accurately what it is intended to measure”

A test is said to be valid if it measures what it is intended to measure In other words, the test may be valid for some purposes but not for others For instance, if the test is designed to test ability of comprehensive reading, then it is valid if it contains reading test items like multiple choice, matching, C-tests, etc But if the test is structured with questions of grammar, it then cannot be considered valid

Validity is classified into such subtypes as: construct validity, content validity, face validity, criterion-related validity Among them, the two subtypes of validity in terms of construct validity and content validity will be discussed in the next two parts

2.6.2 Content validity of a test

According to Harrison (1983:11): “Content validity is concerned with what goes into

the test The content of a test should be decided by considering the purpose of the assessment, and then drawing up a list known as a content specification”

Henning (1987:94) claimed that content validity is concerned with “whether or not

the content of the test is sufficiently representative and comprehensive for the test to be a valid measure of what is supposed to measure” For him, there is not always an exhaustive

test but it must be selected in content

It then follows by Shohamy‟s idea (1985:74) that “A test is described to have

content validity if it can show the test-takers’ already-learnt knowledge People normally compare the test content to the table of specification Content validity is said to be the most important validity for classroom tests”

Content validity is the first form of evidence that relates to the content of the test The test would have content validity only if it included a proper sample of relevant structures which will depend upon the purpose of the test For example, an achievement test for intermediate learners should not contain just the same set of structures as one for advanced learners To ensure about the content validity of a test, a specification of the skills or structure is needed, that it is meant to cover Such specification should be made at

a very early stage in test construction (Hughes, 2003:26)

Hughes (2003:26) suggested that not everything in the specification will always be expected to appear in the test because too many things for all of them to be in a single test

However, he claimed that this specification will give the basis for testers when making a principled selection of elements for inclusion in the test

This is a non-statistical type of validity that involves “the systematic examination of

the test content to determine whether it covers a representative sample of the behaviour domain to be measured” (Anastasi & Urbina, 1997 p 114) A test has content validity built

into it by careful selection of which items to include (Anastasi & Urbina, 1997) Items are chosen so that they comply with the test specification which is drawn up through a thorough examination of the subject domain

Sharing attitudes with the above researchers, Heaton (1998:160) stated that “This

kind of validity depend on a careful analysis of the language being tested and of the particular course objectives The test should be so constructed as to contain a representative sample of the course, the relationship between the test items and the course objectives always being apparent” He also pointed out that when constructing a test, the

tester should first draw up a table of test specifications, describing in very clear and precise terms the particular language skills and areas to be included in the test Heaton (1998:160) took an example in which the test or sub-test being constructed is a test of grammar, then each of the grammatical areas should then be given a percentage weighting, for instance, the future simple 10 percent, uncountable nouns 15 percent, relative pronouns 10 percent, etc

In other words, this approach measures the degree to which the test items represent the domain or universe of the trait or property being measured In order to establish the content validity of a measuring instrument, the researcher must identify the overall content

to be represented Items must then be randomly chosen from this content that will accurately represent the information in all areas By using this method the researcher should obtain a group of items which is representative of the content of the trait or property

to be measured

To conclude, content validity in a certain extent, is more specific than construct validity, and identifying the universe of content is not an easy task It is, therefore, usually suggested that a panel of experts in the field to be studied be used to identify a content area For example, in the case of researching the knowledge of teachers about a new curriculum, a group of curriculum and teacher education experts might be asked to identify the content of the test to be developed

2.6.3 Construct validity of a test

Davies et al (1999:33) defined construct validity of a test as follows: “the construct

validity of a language test is an indication of how representative it is of an underlying theory of language learning Construct validation involves an investigation of the qualities that a test measures, thus providing a basis for the rationale of a test”

These above authors also suggested that there are two aspects of construct validation: theoretical and empirical, both of which are concerned with the production of evidence of arguments to support the inferences that are made about candidates on the basis of their test performance Construct validity is traditionally examined by determining the relationship between the empirical (patterns of scores on the test) and the theoretical (proposed explanatory concepts), so, for example factor analysis may be undertaken to identify the number of factors (or constructs) in the test data and their relationship with one another

It seems that construct validity is the most difficult concept and is considered to be a superordinate form which is contributed by internal and external validity Henning

(1987:98) argued that “While construct validity is empirical in nature because it involves

the gathering of data and the testing of hypotheses, unlike concurrent and predictive validity, it does not have any one particular validity coefficient associated with it” He

added that the purpose of validating construct is to make sure that the underlying theoretical constructs being measured are themselves valid According to him, construct validation usually begins with a psychological construct that is part of a formal theory, which enables certain predictions about how the construct variable will behave or be influenced under specified conditions, under which the construct is then tested

In his concept, Hughes (1995:26) stated that “A test, part of a test, or a testing

technique is said to have construct validity if it can be demonstrated that it measures just the ability which is supposed to measure” He believed that the word “construct” is

denoted to any underlying ability (or trait) which is hypothesized in a theory of language ability Hughes also gave an example that the ability to read involves a number of sub-abilities, such as the ability to guess the meaning of unknown words from the context in which they are met

As suggested by Alderson, Clapham & Wall (2000, pp.183-185) one way of assessing the construct validity of a test is to correlate its various test components with each other On the other hand, they agreed that in a well-designed test, the correlations between each subtest and the whole test can be expected to be higher, since the overall score is taken to be a more general measure of language ability than each individual component score

To sum up, construct validity of a test can be evaluated by examining the testing techniques which are used in this test to consider whether those techniques can be able to measure the testees‟ ability of understanding and using language components, such as phonetics, structures and vocabulary, etc

2.7 Objectives and Syllabus contents of English grade 12

2.7.1 Objectives of English grade 12

English textbook grade 12, that is “Tiếng Anh 12” is a follow-up of the English textbook grade 10 and grade 11 which are theme-based and topic-based composed English textbook grade 12 has been officially applied in high schools from the school year 2008-

2009 The thematic and topical system is the basis for the shaping and developing the language competence The language components like phonetics, vocabulary and grammar, etc are introduced to shape and develop the students‟ language competence For teachers, this design model helps them actively carry out communicative activities according to themes in order to form and develop the communicative skills and suitable language knowledge which meets the students‟ needs, their tastes, and their different proficiency levels

According to BỘ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO (2006:25), The English textbook grade 12 aims at providing students the language knowledge, especially the basic, modern and systematic English language, which is the background for shaping appropriate communicative skills to students‟ ages At the end of this grade, students are able to use learnt English knowledge to practice the four skills:

- Listening: students are able to (i) listen comprehensively main contents as

well as detailed contents of about 180 to 200-word monologues/ dialogues

in the learnt domain contents of the textbook; (ii) understand the text at the normal reading/ speaking speed

- Speaking: students are able to (i) ask, answer, and speak to topic-related

contents in the textbook; (ii) carry out basic communicative functions, such

as showing personal attitudes, talking about demands and hobbies, explaining reasons, etc

- Reading: students are able to (i) read comprehensively main contents as

well as detailed contents of about 180 to 200-word texts/passages in the learnt domain contents of the textbook; (ii)distinguish the main ideas and supplement ones; and (iii) use main ideas to summarize the texts/passages

- Writing: students are able to write 130 to 150-word text basing on samples

and/or suggestions that is about topic-related contents to serve the simple personal communicative demands and social relations

2.7.2 Syllabus contents of English grade 12

There are six main themes, sixteenth units and six revision units in English textbook grade 12 Each unit is equivalent to a specific topic Each theme, which involves some topics, requires a certain communicative competences At the end of each unit, a part of language focus will summarize the pronunciation and the grammar points of that unit According to BỘ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO (2006:62) and Hoang, Van Van et al., (2008:10), the syllabus design of the English textbook grade 12 is specified as follows: