MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING VIETNAM NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF EDUCATIONAL SCIENCES TRAN THI KIM DUNG DEVELOPING SOME ASSESSMENT TOOLS FOR GRADE-9 STUDENTS’ READING COMPENTENCY IN LI
Trang 1MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING
VIETNAM NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF EDUCATIONAL SCIENCES
TRAN THI KIM DUNG
DEVELOPING SOME ASSESSMENT TOOLS FOR GRADE-9 STUDENTS’ READING COMPENTENCY IN LITERATURE
Major: Theory and Methodology of Teaching Code: 9 14 01 11
SUMMARY OF DOCTORAL THESIS
HA NOI, 2019
Trang 2This research is completed at:
The Vietnam National Institute of Educational Sciences
Supervisors:
1 ASSOC PROF DR Nguyen Thi Hong Van
2 ASSOC PROF DR Nguyen Thi Hanh
Reviewer 1:
Reviewer 2:
Reviewer 3:
This thesis shall be defended at the Thesis Examination Committee at Institute level, The Vietnam National Institute of Educational Sciences, 101 Tran Hung Dao street, Ha Noi at ……… ……… dated ……… year ………
This thesis is available at:
- National Library of Vietnam
- Library of the Vietnam National Institute of Educational Sciences
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INTRODUCTION
1 Reason for choosing the topic
1.1 In the early decades of the 21st century, there was an urgent demand for the implementation of the fundamental and comprehensive renovation in the education and training, and human resources development in our country In the Resolution of the 8th plenum of the 11th Central Committee, it was stated that: “Radically renovate the forms and methods of examinations, tests and assessment of educational, training outcomes to guarantee the integrity, objectivity The examination, testing and assessment of educational, training outcomes need to be implemented step by step in accordance with the advanced criteria trusted and recognized by the society and international community Combine the assessment result in learning process with the end-of-term, end-of-year assessments; teachers’ assessment with students’ self-assessment; schools’ assessment with family and society’s assessment.”On the implementation of this task, the Ministry of Education and Training has required the entire sector to carry out the renovation in testing and assessment towards competency approach, considering this as the breakthrough in the process of teaching and learning renovation
1.2 Students’ performance assessment is an essential component in the teaching and learning process Systematic assessment following the learning objectives will promptly provide necessary information for students to re-adjust their learning activities and feedback for teachers to adjust, refine their teaching activities, thereby improving the teaching and learning quality in the general schools When the curriculum, text books have been determined toward competency development, the assessment of students’ performance should be in compliance with this approach However, in the current general schools, the assessment of students’ performance in the subjects in general and Literature
in particular still has limitations and shortcomings Teachers who have approached the trend of assessment renovation towards competency development still find it confusing to implement, especially when it comes to how to establish appropriate tools ensuring technical requirements
1.3 Reading comprehension is a component competency of the group of professional competencies that need forming and developing in the Literature However, the assessment of reading competency still has limitations, including the issue of developing the assessment tools The question is what kind of renovation does Literature in Vietnamese schools need to achieve the goal of competency assessment? Besides the common assessment tools that teachers have been using for a long time, how can we develop tools to assess students’ reading competency accurately and objectively? For such educational phrases of significant meaning as fundamental educational phrase (ends at grade 9), how should the assessment of Literature performance be implemented for the best improvement of teaching quality?
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For the above-mentioned reasons, the following research topic was chosen:
“Developing some assessment tools for grade-9 students’ reading competency in
Literature”
2 Literature review
The assessment of students’ competency in general and reading competency in particular has been an attractive topic for numerous researchers In the scope of the thesis, the author focused on the four main aspects in terms of: 1) Assessment tool development; 2) Regular assessment at schools; 3) Summative assessment at schools; 4) Assessment tool development and Literature reading competency assessment
2.1 Research on assessment tool development
By studying some major documentations such as Classroom Assessment:
Principles and Practice for Effective Standards-Based Instruction (James.H McMillan); Qualities of Effective Teachers (James H.Stronge); Measurement and Assessment of
Learning Activities at School (Lam Quang Thiep); Assessment of learners’ development,
opportunities, challenges and solutions (Nguyen Thi Lan Phuong et al.); Establishing a common knowledge framework for educational assessment (Duong Thu Mai), etc we
found that the authors had affirmed the essential role of assessment in the improvement of teaching and learning quality, put emphasis on the significance of tools for different forms
of assessment, initially proposed the ways to develop and use assessment tools (including regular written tests; observation slips, question paper; questionnaires)
The authors emphasized that it was important to model the differences between assessment tools and test design process to illustrate the relationship between assessment purposes (continuous assessment to reinforce the learning process, review students’ strengths and weaknesses or summative assessment to provide feedback for learners, teachers, management levels, etc.), and assessment method, tools, and objectives
2.2 Research on continuous assessment at school
With regard to this matter, we studied such documents asClassroom assessment:
concepts and applications (Airasian, P W); Assessment Literacy (Boyles, P); Principles and Practice for Effective Standards-Based Instruction, (James H McMillan); Classroom Assessment Technique (Thomas A.Anges, K Prtricia Cross); Initial Renovation in Assessing Grade-6 Students’ Academic Performance (Tran Kieu); Testing and Assessing Syllabus in Teaching (Sai Cong Hong, Le Thai Hung, Le Thi Hoang Ha, Le Duc Ngoc)); General Education Curriculum (Ministry of Education and Training, 2018); Renovation in teaching method and testing and assessing academic performance of subjects in general schools (Ministry of Education and Training, 2016, 2017, 2018 Teacher Training
Materials), etc
In general, the documents have significantly resolved some radical issues in terms
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of continuous assessment such as concept, purpose, role/meaning, methods, primary means/tools; focused on the importance of continuous assessment: assessment for learning activities with the purpose of finding and interpreting information for learners, teachers to determine their position on the learning path, thereby adjusting teaching and learning activities to strive for the best Although these issues have mostly been addressed in terms
of general theory initially with some examples associated with the subject, we consider these as important foundation to continue researching and applying to fulfill the task of the thesis
2.3 Research on summative assessment at school
Summative assessment is also a matter of great interest, some of the main works
that the author had access to are Classroom Assessment Techniques (Thomas A.Anges, K Prtricia Cross), Assessment and Teaching of 21st Century Skills: Methods and Approach (Patrick Griffin, Esther Care), Guidance for Teachers to Achieve High Results in
Assessing Students in the Classroom (Niko, Hasu), Measurement and Assessment of Learning Activities at School (Lam Quang Thiep), Research and propose a common knowledge framework for educational assessment and focus on each relevant subject
(Duong Thu Mai),…
These documents have analyzed and clarified some of the important concepts of summative assessment, purpose of summative assessment, tools used in summative assessment In addition, the authors also expressed some opinions showing the new approach (compared to Vietnam) in the test/examination paper design in order to develop students’ competency: focusing on the problem-solving task with pragmatic scenarios, minimizing the task of knowledge identification, creating opportunities for students to express their personal competency Through these research, we have also clearly identified some basic characteristics of the two forms of assessment (continuous assessment and summative assessment)
2.4 Research on the development of assessment tools for students’ reading competency
in Literature/and similar subject in foreign countries
To study the above matter, we focused on some main works, which are Literature
Teaching at General Schools (Hoang Hoa Binh - Editor); Renovation in Academic Performance Assessment Meeting Competency Development Requirements (Do Ngoc
Thong); Assessment Renovation in Literature Framework Following Competency
Development Orientation (Bui Manh Hung); Proposal on Structure and Standard of Reading Competency (Nguyen Thi Hong Van); Reading Competency Standard (Nguyen
Thi Hanh); Assessment of Students’ Literature Competency, (Pham Thi Thu Huong); A
Brief on Curriculum, Teaching Method, Assessment Method of Literature in Some Countries (Nguyen Thi Hong Nam, Vo Huy Binh),…
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A similarity in these works is that the authors clarified and affirmed the important
role of the academic performance assessment in general and students’ reading competency assessment in Literature in particular Some works conducted in-depth research on tools used in the assessment, development technique and how to use these tools in accordance with the characteristics in many learning aspects These works enabled us to gain an insight of the objective of teaching reading; the method and technique for teaching reading; testing and assessment of students’ reading competency Some works put emphasis on the identification of the components of reading competency, establishment of behavioral indicators, proposal for reading competency assessment standard
The “Literature General Education Programme” promulgated on 26 December
2018 by the Ministry of Education and Training also clearly identified that the necessary requirements of reading are the outcomes of competency standard These requirements are specifically analyzed for each text genre (literary text, argumentative text, informative text) The analysis of educational results also stated specific guidelines playing the role of compass helping teachers realized the nature of students’ academic performance assessment following the competency development orientation However, the mentioned issues in this thesis are only the guidelines, specific applied studies are required for practical implementation and application
Some foreign documentations namely Technique to Raise Questions in Reading
Competency Assessment (Juliette Mendelovits, Ron Martin Dave Tout); Teaching the Best Practice Way: Methods that Matter : (Harvey Daniels và Marilyn Bizar); Teaching reading and writing (Johnson, A.P), etc focused on discussing the important role of
reading competency assessment, initially introduced assessment tools for reading competency, levels of reading competency needs assessing
In general, both domestic and foreign researchers have studied and introduced some guidelines for using the assessment tools for students’ reading competency from different perspectives However, some issues in terms of how to design and use some assessment tools such as questionnaires, observation slips, academic records to improve the teaching and learning quality have not been studied comprehensively and systematically That is the gap that the thesis will proceed on reseaching
3 Research purpose
To develop some assessment tools for grade-9 students’ reading competency in Literature to contribute to the renovation of academic performance assessment in Literature following learners’ competency development orientation
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4 Research tasks
- To determine the theoretical, practical basis of the development of some assessment tools for grade-9 students’ reading competency in Literature in two forms, which are continuous assessment and periodical assessment
- To determine principles, process to develop assessment tools, standards for
grade-9 students’ reading competency, thereby designing some assessment tools for grade-grade-9 students’ reading competency on such basis
- To conduct pedagogical experiment, to initially affirm the feasibility, efficiency
of the proposed tools in the thesis
5 Research scope
- Objective scope: Assessment tools for grade-9 students’ reading competency
- Practical research scope: Some secondary schools in some provinces/cities: Ha Noi, Thai Nguyen, Quang Ninh
- Experimental scope: Pilot some representative tools for two assessment forms (continuous assessment and periodical assessment)
6 Research method
The thesis adopted the theoretical research methods (analysis, summary, comparison, etc.) and practical ones (observation, investigation, survey, pedagogical experiment)
7 Scientific hypothesis
If it is possible to develop and use some tools that ensure the scientific
characteristic to assess grade-9 students’ reading competency in Literature contributions
will be made to achieve the objective of developing students’ reading competency
8 New contributions of the thesis
- Theoretically: Contributing to systematize some theoretical issues relating to the assessment in accordance with competency development; proposing standard for assessing
grade-9 students’ reading competency based on requirement of the programme
- Practically: Determining necessary assessment tools in two forms of continuous assessment and periodical assessment; proposing some assessment tools for grade-9 students’ reading competency, making contributions to implement the new Literature General Education Programme
9 Structure of the thesis
In addition to the Introduction and Conclusion, the thesis is divided into three chapters:
Chapter 1: Scientific basis of the development of some assessment tools for grade-9
students’ reading competency in Literature
Trang 8CHAPTER 1: SCIENTIFIC BASIS OF THE DEVELOPMENT
OF SOME ASSESSMENT TOOLS FOR GRADE-9 STUDENTS’ READING COMPETENCY IN LITERATURE
1.1 Rationale
1.1.1 Assessing educational outcomes following competency development orientation
1.1.1.1 Assessing educational outcomes
Educational assessment means the process of gathering information, analyzing and interpreting the reality of students’ learning, identifying the cause to propose measures to improve the teaching and learning so that students can make progress and achieve the set out learning objectives In accordance with the “General Education Programme”, educational outcomes are measured with qualitative and quantitative forms through continuous, periodical assessment at educational facilities, assessment on a large scale at national, local level and international assessment The results of optional subjects are used
to assess students’ general academic performance in each academic year and in the entire learning process
1.1.1.2 Forms of educational outcomes assessment
There are two forms of assessment, based on continuity and period which are continuous assessment and periodical assessment The continuous assessment (also called process assessment) is the assessment that takes place in the teaching process, provides feedback for teachers and students to improve teaching and learning activities The periodical assessment (also called summative assessment) is the assessment that takes place after a period of teaching conducted with tests in the class for all students to get results as a basis for student classification or by means of end-of-year examinations or examinations by educational agencies outside the schools to affirm students’ academic performance
1.1.1.3 Assessment tools
Assessment tools are means used in the process of assessment in order to achieve the assessment goals The basic feature of the assessment tools is the basis to gather information about students’ academic performance, provided to teachers and students in
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the process of assessment and self-assessment The selection of assessment tools depends
on the purpose and method of assessment
1.1.1.4 Methods of educational outcomes assessment
Article writing method: This method of assessment is used in both continuous and
periodical forms, but the periodical assessment may prevail Some tools that are often used
in the article writting method are tasks/requests to write reflection, journal, article, thesis,
etc
Multiple-choice method: This method includes objective and writing multiple-choice
tests, that can be used in both continuous and periodical forms The mainly used tools in
the multiple-choice method are simple multiple-choice questions, complex multiple-choice
questions, filling in, matching;
Oral exam: In this method, teachers ask questions and students answer the questions
to draw conclusions and gain new knowledge that students need to understand or to summarize, reinforce, test, extend knowledge that students have learned Some tools that
are used in the oral exam are questions, oral comments, learning appraisals (experience exchange, interview and sharing)
Observation method: The observation included tracking or reviewing students’
activities (observation of progress, skills) or commenting a product made by students
(observation of product) The tools used in the observation method consist of: Observation
slips; Academic transcripts; Teaching diaries (short record, daily record), etc
Practical method: It is the method where teachers organize students to carry out
practical activities, write reports on the practical results; focus on the process of carrying out activities and final products; help students differentiate what they have known from
what they have done Tools that are often used in the practical method are short questions
and exercises associated with specific situations, learning tasks that need resolving, experiments, academic records
1.1.1.5 Concept of competency
There are different concepts of competency; however, there are still similarities From our perception, competency is a combination of personal attributes showing a smooth consolidation of knowledge, skills and biological - psychological conditions of an individual (demand, emotion, will, personal positiveness, etc.) to effectively conduct an activity in accordance with requirement and goals that are practically established; competency is formed and developed based on existing qualities and through the process
of learning, training of each person
1.1.1.6 Competency assessment
The trend of assessment with the following characteristics: 1) Paying more attention to each person’s improvement and capacity expressed during the learning
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process and applying what they have learned to the practice; 2) Focusing on summative assessment contents, associated with the resolution of practical situations; 3) Determining assessment levels on a wide spectrum to achieve accurate and specific classfication of learners’ competency
1.1.1.7 Some scales in competency assessment
The thesis studied on: (1) B.S Bloom’s cognitive scale, (2) Dreyfus’s skill
assessment; (3) Boleslaw Niemierko’s thinking levels, (4) Biggs and Collis’s behavioral scale - the SOLO taxonomy, (5) Singer’s competency classification, (6) Scale of specific
areas by PISA (reading, mathematics, science)
1.1.2 Reading competency and assessment of students’ reading competency In Literature
1.1.2.1 Concept of reading competency
On the basis of selective inheritance of concepts by previous scientists, it is our perception that: Reading comprehension is a part of reading competency, showing the ability to apply knowledge of text (author, context, structure, etc.) and the ability to read the text with a positive attitude, willingness and reader’s effort to study/explore the text, to discover information, critical meaning from the text to solve a learning task or a life-related problem The reading competency include the following main components: Gathering and extracting information; Analyzing, interpreting information; Reflecting the information analysis and applying the read information in real life
1.1.2.2 Objectives of improving reading competency
Reading comprehension plays an essential role because it relates to the perfection of human personality, creating a cultural foundation for human When mastering the reading skills, forming and developing the reading competency, people will expose themselves to opportunities with essential, diversified education and source of experience that are beneficial for them and contribute to community development
1.1.2.3 Reading competency assessment
The assessment of reading competency should meet the requirements of the
Curriculum including understanding content of the text; understanding form/art of the
text; understanding extension, connection, relevant documents out of the text These
requirements are concretized into three tasks: gathering information; analyzing,
interpreting, connecting information; responding, connecting and scaling up We divided
each task into 3 levels of competency, then analyzed in the frame of reference the requirements established in the curriculum
1.1.2.4 Requirements of competency assessment of literary, argumentative, informative text reading
In the 2018 Literature Programme, types of text for reading include: literary text,
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argumentative text, informative text When identifying the requirements to meet in terms
of text reading, in addition to the common requirements, there are specific requirements associated with the characteristics of each genre of text Therefore, when identifying the requirements of reading competency assessment in Literature, it is important to pay
attention to general requirements and specific requirements for each genre of text
1.1.3 Some assessment tools that are mainly used for students’ reading competency in Literature
1.1.3.1 Some assessment tools used in continuous assessment
Questions, exercises: The boundaries between questions and exercises are relatively
determined by the manner in which they are raised and resolved An exercise may consist
of one or more questions Questions, exercises are the most popular tools to assess students’ progress; attract their attention easily and effectively, get them engaged in the lesson Questions/exercises may enhance students’ reasoning and comprehension ability
by helping them thoroughly and verbally express their ideas There are different ways of classifying questions/exercises In the thesis, the question, exercises system to assess students’ reading competency will be categorized into 3 types, according to 3 tasks carried out by students when reading the text
Feedback: Feedback is a critical tool that teachers often use to encourage students
The feedback shall be effective when consisting of 6 following characteristics: Associating the implementation with assessment standard, Showing students’ progress; Demonstrating how to correct mistakes; Being regular and prompt; Describing in detail; Focusing on major mistakes Positive feedback does not only help students strengthen their knowledge, skills, realize their correct/incorrect points when carrying out the tasks, therefore discovering the way to change/adjust to improve academic performance but also
provides students with motivation to try harder
Observation slips: The tools consist of specific requirements that need to be noted
down during the observation to track, review students’ implementation of the activities
(process observation) or comment on a product made by students (product observation)
The observation slips have flexible structure, depending on the assessment purpose In their simplest form, the observation slips may be merely short notes of teachers when observing students In their more scientific form, it can be structured in specific format, typically with three parts: The introduction with the subject, location, time and date of observation, the observer; the Content with specific requirements of noting or recording when observing; the Supplements are often predictions or notes to clarify some rogue
information when observing
Questionnaire: A set of questions that is conducted simultaneously with many
people Respondents (usually students) answer their opinions by checking the
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corresponding boxes or writing answers according to a certain rule Through students’
answers, teachers can be informed about their academic performance, strengths and
weaknesses The classification of questionnaire depends on the subject (students, parents)
Questionnaire is mostly used in continuous assessment Sometimes in large-scale assessment program (national assessment, international assessment), questionnaire is also
used as a supporting tool to further clarify issues that expert reviewers are interested in
Academic records: A deliberate and organized collection of students’ works
accumulated in a period of time, showing their effort, progress and what they have achieved Teachers use these records to assess the entire learning process and progress
with completed works, and final products Some types of academic records: progressive record, target students, students with achievements, etc
1.1.3.2 Tools used in periodical assessment
Periodical assessment is conducted through tests or written examinations Examinations and tests may be in the form of writing (one or many questions); it is possible to combine objective multiple-choice form (including objective multiple-choice questions) with writing form Due to the nature of reading content flow, in periodical assessment we chose and focused on analyzing two tools which are tests and research exercises/learning projects The reasons for this choice was that we wanted to continue, develop the implementation of the existing program and the new program
to renovate the testing and assessment in the direction of competency development The survey result showed that a majority of administrators, teachers had proper awareness of the above issues
1.2.1.2 Administrators and teachers’ awareness of renovation in assessing students’ reading competency in secondary-school Literature
This content was studied on the following specific perspectives: Accurate identification of assessment purpose, assessment implementation process, tools used in the assessment and design of assessment tools The result showed that a majority of teachers were not aware of the different assessment tools that could be used to assess students’
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reading competency such as: Questionnaires, Observation slips, Academic records, Scales, etc Some teachers heard about it but had never used or seen their colleagues using them This is a shortcoming that is worth paying attention to in order to overcome the limitations
in the existing assessment
1.2.2 The practice of tools that are used to assess students’ reading competency in Literature
1.2.2.1 Tools used to assess students’ reading competency
The survey showed that the most popular assessment tool was questions and exercises, in addition to the advantages of this tool, there were more reasons such as limited sources of materials for assessing students’ academic performance in subjects, difficulties encountered by teachers in terms of timing, working pressure; sometimes, these materials were limited at the general guidelines without specific ones for teachers to apply in the subject, because of foreign language qualifications, information technology, levels of proactive enthusiasm, teachers’ lack of attention to progressive assessment
1.2.2.2 Preliminary evaluation of the tool quality
Currently, most teachers are using questions and exercises in the form of examination/tests as assessment tool for reading competency Therefore, to survey this content, we only focused on reviewing the examinations/tests designed by teachers From the 40 reading tests that were collected, we conducted statistical analysis, analyzed to review the types of knowledge mentioned, the result showed that the assessment tools were not really good in terms of technical standards, the effectiveness of the assessment was still narrow, information gathered by the tools was not very helpful for the improvement of teaching and learning quality
SUBCONCLUTION OF CHAPTER 1
We focused on analyzing the issues relating to the assessment of reading competency This is a very important premise, the basis to design assessment tools for students’ reading competency We conducted practical survey and found that a majority of teachers were properly aware of the renovation in assessment in the direction of competency development, however, the application of the approached theories in the practice still encountered obstacles so the achieved results were still limited The main reasons were difficulties in getting access to high quality materials in terms of assessment renovation, pressure in daily work of teachers, manipulation of important examinations, etc The use of different tools to diversify the assessment forms was still neglected This is the essential theoretical and practical basis guiding the development of some assessment tools for grade-9 students’ reading competency in the chapter 2