An evaluative study on the current final achievement tests for non-English majors at Quang Ninh Teacher Training College

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HA NOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES VŨ THANH HÒA AN EVALUATIVE STUDY ON THE CURRENT FINAL ACHIEVEMENT TESTS FOR NON-ENGLISH MAJORS AT QUANG NINH TEACHER TRAINING COLLEGE ĐÁNH GIÁ BÀI KIỂM TRA CUỐI KỲ CHO SINH VIÊN KHÔNG CHUYÊN NGỮ TRƯỜNG CAO ĐẲNG SƯ PHẠM QUẢNG NINH M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60 140 111 HANOI – 2016 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HA NOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES VŨ THANH HÒA AN EVALUATIVE STUDY ON THE CURRENT FINAL ACHIEVEMENT TESTS FOR NON-ENGLISH MAJORS AT QUANG NINH TEACHER TRAINING COLLEGE ĐÁNH GIÁ BÀI KIỂM TRA CUỐI KỲ CHO SINH VIÊN KHÔNG CHUYÊN NGỮ TRƯỜNG CAO ĐẲNG SƯ PHẠM QUẢNG NINH M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60 140 111 Supervisor: Đỗ Thị Thanh Hà, Ph.D HANOI – 2016 CANDIDATE’S STATEMENT -*** - I, Vu Thanh Hoa, hereby certify that this minor thesis entitled AN EVALUATIVE STUDY ON THE CURRENT FINAL ACHIEVEMENT TESTS FOR NON – ENGLISH MAJORS AT QUANG NINH TEACHER TRAINING COLLEGE is completely the result of my own work for the Degree of Master at University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University, Hanoi and that this thesis has not been submitted for any degree at any other university or institution ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my gratitude to all those who have given me the possibility and motivation to complete this thesis First and foremost, I am deeply indebted to my supervisor, Dr Do Thi Thanh Ha, for her wholehearted guidance, invaluable suggestions, thoughtful comments and useful materials during the time of writing this thesis Second, I would also like to acknowledge my debt of gratitude to the staff members of the Faculty of Post-Graduate Studies and the lecturers at University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University-Hanoi for their valuable lectures, which laid the foundation for this thesis and for their knowledge as well as their sympathy Third, a special thank would also go to the teachers and the non-English majors at Quang Ninh Teacher Training College, who took part in the research Without their participation and cooperation I would not be able to complete this research paper Fourth, I should be grateful to the librarians at ULIS for their constant help thanks to which I was able to access to all materials needed to accomplish the thesis Finally but importantly, I would like to express my appreciation to my family and my friends who have been continuously giving me a lot of support and encouragement for the fulfillment of this challenging work Hanoi, 2016 ABSTRACT The study was intended to give an evaluation on the current final achievement tests for non English majors at QNTTC from perspectives of the teachers and nonEnglish majors at QNTTC In addition, this study also investigated how the current final achievement tests for non-English majors at QNTTC aligned to the CEFR The study was carried out by means of two sets of survey questionnaires, and analysis of the current final achievement tests at QNTTC and the CEFR, using some softwares From perspectives of the students, some test items of these tests such as phonetics, vocabulary and grammatical structures were too difficult for them to The teachers found that the current final achievement tests at QNTTC were not very reasonable because they lacked two skills: speaking and listening and the writing section did not test some useful skills such as writing letters, writing cards, creating stories The analysis of the alignment between the current final achievement tests at QNTTC and the CEFR showed that most of the vocabulary and test items in these tests were in the ranges from levels A2 to B1 and some of them were at level A2 and did not reach the target level, B1 Moreover, the current final achievement tests at QNTTC differed from other international tests (PET) in terms of length and constructs The study will hopefully contribute to the test making at QNTTC by showing an example of evaluation on the current final achievement tests for non-English majors at QNTTC and the alignment between these tests and the CEFR CHAPTER INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale of the study Nowadays English has become increasingly important as a means of global communication In the process of global integration, Vietnam has realized the importance of English language learning and teaching; Thus, English has been widely used in many fields and it has become a compulsory subject at many schools and universities Quang Ninh Teacher Training College (QNTTC) was established in 1959 and now it is considered the oldest institution in providing undergraduate teacher education in Quang Ninh In 1991, the organization was restructured from four provincial teacher training institutions (TTI): Quang Ninh Early childhood TTI, Quang Ninh Primary TTI, Quang Ninh Education Management TTI and Quang Ninh Low Secondary TTI Having awareness of the importance of English, the college authorities have paid due attention to the matter of improving the quality of teaching and learning English In the teaching and learning in general and in the teaching and learning foreign language process in particular, testing and assessment play a significant role The importance of language testing is recognised by virtually all professionals in the language education Teachers should not be confined to imparting teaching and learning with testing Testing is of special importance in educational system that is highly competitive as testing is not only an indirect stimulus to learning, but plays a crucial role in determining the success or failure of an individual’s career with direct implications for his future career In the World Yearbook of education 1969, Lauwerys and Seaton state: “Thus, testing is an important tool in educational research and for programme evaluation, and may even throw light on both the nature of language proficiency and language learning.” Nga (1997:1) shares the same idea: “Tests are assumed to be powerful determiners of what happens in classrooms and it is commonly claimed that they affect teaching and learning activities both directly and indirectly” It cannot be denied that testing is an important part in teaching and learning process, but has it been paid enough attention yet? Having taught English for students at a high school and then at QNTTC for years, the author of this study has designed tests for both English majors and non-English majors She has also administered and marked these tests Her teaching experience shows that there still remain some problems that need to be solved such as the test content, the gap between what is tested and what is taught, the reuse of tests from years to years, from classes to classes As a result, tests may lack validity and reliability Hughes (1990:1) also gives another comment on recent language testing: “It cannot be denied that a great deal of language testing is of very poor quality Too often language tests have a harmful effect on teaching and learning and too often they fail to measure accurately whatever it is they are intended to measure” Moreover, teachers frequently lack formal training in educational measurement techniques and they tend to be alienated from the testing process A well designed test is necessary for all language learners even though they have different levels On the ground of the problems already mentioned, it is thought that achievement tests for the non-English majors at QNTTC should be designed to assure the accuracy and fairness for all students so that they can produce good backwash in the teachers’ teaching and give students satisfaction and encouragement in study Those reasons above encourage me to conduct the study “An evaluative study on the current final achievement tests for non-English majors at Quang Ninh Teacher Training College” 1.2 Aims of the study The study aims at evaluating the current final achievement tests at QNTTC To achieve this aim, the following objectives are established: REFERENCES Allen, J.P.B and Corden,Pit, S (1974) Techniques in applied Linguistics Oxford University Press Aik, K.C (1983) Continuous Prose Writing Test for Business studies students (In) Guidelines: Periodical for Classroom Language teachers Classroom tests Crabbe, D.(Ed) Vol.5.Pp.72-75 Anastasi, A (1982) Psychological testing London: Macmillan Bachman, L.F (1990) Fundamental Considerations in Language Testing Oxford University Press Bachman, L.F and Palmer, A.S., (1996) Language testing in Practice: Designing and Developing Useful Language Tests Oxford University Press Baker, D (1989) Language Testing: A Critical Survey and Practical Guide London: Edward Arnold Broughton, G., Brumfit, C., Flavell, R., Hill, P., & Pincas, A (1990) Teaching English Foreign Language London: Routledge Education Books Brown, F.G (1971) Measurement and Evaluation, Ilasca,III.:F.E., Peacock Brown, H.D (1994a) Teaching by Principles – An Interactive Approach to Language Pedagogy Englewood Cliffs NJ: Prentice-Hall 10 Brown, H.D (1994b) Principles of Language Learning and Teaching Englewood Cliffs NJ: Prentice-Hall 11 Brown, J.D (1995) The Elements of Language Curriculum: A systematic Approach to Program Development Boston, Massachusetts: Heinle & Heinle Publishers 12 Carmen, P.B (1995) (In) Coming to Grips with Progress Testing In forum magazine, 33(3), 09-55 13 Carroll, B.J (1968) The psychology of language testing (In) A Davies (Ed) Language Testing symposium A Psycholinguistic Perspective London: Oxford University Press 14 Carroll, B.J and Hall, P.J (1985) Make Your Own Language Tests: A Practical Guide to Writing Language Performance Tests Pergamon, Oxford 15 Council of Europe (2001): Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: learning, teaching and assessment Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 16 Davidson, F & Fulcher, G (2007) 'The Common European Framework of Reference and the design of language tests: A matter of effect', Language Teaching, 40, 231-241 17 Hai, H.N (1999) Reading Comprehension Tests for Intermediate Students at Hanoi University of Foreign Studies Unpublished MA dissertation Hanoi: Hanoi University of Foreign Studies 18 Harrison, A (1983a) A Language Testing Handbook Macmillan Publishers 19 Harrison, A (1983b) Communicative Testing Jam Tomorrow? 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