An evaluation on the validity of end term english tests used for year 11 students at a vietnamese public high school in the north east area of vietnam

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACUTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES *************** NGUYỄN THỊ TRANG AN EVALUATION ON THE VALIDITY OF END-TERM ENGLISH TESTS USED FOR YEAR 11 STUDENTS AT A VIETNAMESE PUBLIC HIGH SCHOOL IN THE NORTH EAST AREA OF VIETNAM (Đánh giá tính giá trị kiểm tra hết học kỳ môn tiếng Anh học sinh lớp 11 trường công lập phía Đơng Bắc Việt Nam) Field: English Teaching Methodology (Applied program) Code: 8140231.01 HANOI- 2019 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACUTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES *************** NGUYỄN THỊ TRANG AN EVALUATION ON THE VALIDITY OF END-TERM ENGLISH TESTS USED FOR YEAR 11 STUDENTS AT A VIETNAMESE PUBLIC HIGH SCHOOL IN THE NORTH EAST AREA OF VIETNAM (Đánh giá tính giá trị kiểm tra hết học kỳ môn tiếng Anh học sinh lớp 11 trường cơng lập phía Đông Bắc Việt Nam) Field: English Teaching Methodology (Applied program) Code: 8140231.01 Supervisor: Dr Nguyễn Thị Ngọc Quỳnh Nguyen Thi Ngoc Quynh HANOI- 2019 DECLARATION The thesis entitled “An evaluation on the validity of end-term English tests used for year 11 students at a Vietnamese public high school in the North East area of Vietnam” has been submitted for the Master of English teaching methodology I, the undersigned, hereby declare that I am the sole author of this thesis I have fully acknowledged and referenced the ideas and work of others, whether published or unpublished, in my thesis My thesis does not contain work extracted from a thesis, dissertation or research paper previously presented for another degree or diploma at this or any other universities Signed Date / / i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS On the completion of this paper, I would like to express my gratitude to all my teachers, my supervisor, the administrators, staffs, teachers, and students at a Vietnamese public high school in the North-East area of Vietnam, friends and family First and foremost, I would like to express my deepest gratefulness to my supervisor She gives me all the best consultancy, valuable comments and motivation as well Secondly, I highly express my gratitude to the teachers at Faculty of Post-graduate Studies of University of Languages and International Studies for their previous lessons in school year 2016-2018 They directly provided me with the understandings, the knowledge and skills relating to my fieldEnglish language teaching Moreover, I sincerely appreciate the cooperation of the administrators, staffs, teachers and students at a Vietnamese public high school in the NorthEast area of Vietnam Especially, I am so thankful to Ms A for providing me the data of two school years Finally, I would like to thank my loved family, who have supported me throughout entire process, both by keeping me harmonious and helping me putting pieces together I will be grateful forever for your love ii ABSTRACT English is one of the main subjects in Vietnam education nowadays All fields are using English from business, commercial, transport, technology to tourism, education, and logistics With the deep concerns about the importance of English, the researcher carried out study titled: “An evaluation on the validity of end-term English tests used for year 11 students at a Vietnamese public high school in the North East area of Vietnam” The main purpose of this research was to find out the validity on the end-term English tests used for year 11 students The participants were 2,481 test papers taken in two school years of a public high school The method was quantitative approach All scores were analyzed to compare the progress of learning in two school years to find out the validity on the tests The results showed that it appears no valid in the tests although the teachers and students always evaluate the progress of teaching and learning through only scores of endterm English tests for English subject Basing on the findings, a number of suggestions for better end-term English tests were indicated and it helps both teachers and students have best look about measurement and evaluation their teaching and learning Therefore, the paper would be a good reference for researchers, teachers and students to have a closer look on the issue as well as to improve the end-term English tests Key words: validity, evaluation end-term tests, high school students iii TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii ABSTRACT iii TABLE OF CONTENTS iv LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS vi LIST OF TABLES vi CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale for choosing this topic 1.2 Scope of the study 1.3 Aims of the study 1.4 Methods of the study 1.5 Research questions 1.6 Design of the thesis CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Basic concepts of testing 2.2 The relationship between teaching, learning and assessment 2.2.1 Testing and teaching 2.2.2 Testing and Learning 2.2.3 Language Testing 2.3 Major characteristics of a good language test 10 2.4 Achievement test and its types 16 CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 17 3.1 English learning and teaching at a Vietnamese public high school in the North East area of Vietnam 17 3.1.1 Students and their backgrounds 17 iv 3.1.2 The English staffs 17 3.3.3 Syllabus and its objectives 18 3.1.4 The textbook: “Tiếng Anh 11” 21 3.2 English testing at a Vietnamese public high school in the North East area of Vietnam 21 3.2.1 Testing situation 21 3.2.2 The current final year-11 achievement tests 22 3.3 Research method 24 3.3.1 Data collection instruments 25 3.3.2 Participants 25 3.4 Data analysis 25 CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 32 4.1 Content validity 32 4.2 Construct validity 33 4.3 Face validity 34 4.4 Final evaluations 35 4.5 Conclusion for Section 3.5 35 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION 36 5.1 Summary of findings 36 5.2 Limitations 39 5.3 Suggestions for further research 39 REFERENCES 41 APPPENDICES I Appendix I: Final 1st Semester achievement test in year 2015-2016 I Appendix II: Final 1st Semester achievement test in year 2016-2017 IV Appendix III: Final 2nd Semester achievement test in year 2015-2016 VII Appendix IV: Final 2nd Semester achievement test in year 2016-2017 X v LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS CLT 1st 2nd Communicative Language Teaching The first The second LIST OF TABLES Table 2.1 Table 3.1 Table 3.2 Table 3.3 Table 3.4 Table 3.5 Table 3.6 Table 3.7 Table 3.8 Table 3.9 Table 3.10 Table 3.11 A checklist for test evaluation Detail subjects for each grade Number of English periods in two semesters Syllabus goal and objectives Topics of English 11 Specification of the first end-term test for year 11 Specification of the second end-term test for year 11 Average score of four achievement tests Frequency distribution of 1st final achievement test in 2015-2016 Frequency distribution of 2nd final achievement test in 2015-2016 Frequency distribution of 1st final achievement test in 2016-2017 Frequency distribution of 2nd final achievement test in 2016-2017 LIST OF FIGURES Figure 2.1 Test usefulness Figure 3.1 Histogram of Score distribution Figure 3.2 Figure 3.3 Figure 3.4 Histogram of Score distribution Histogram of Score distribution Histogram of Score distribution vi year year year year CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale for choosing this topic English is currently being used in at least sixty countries as the main language and nearly one hundred countries as the second language all over the world In affiliation and globalization period, all fields are using English from business, commercial, transport, technology to tourism, education, logistic English is a useful tool for people in the world to understand together Leading to the needs for learning and teaching English language in any part of the world is growing With national education in many countries, English has become a compulsory subject Their target is help learners access the best things and have good jobs in the world To meet these needs, the government and the education department need to find the best ways to help teachers and learners using proficiently English language Fully recognizing the importance of English language, the government and the Ministry of education and training in Vietnam have required all students from grade to grade 12 to learn English as a compulsory subject Therefore, English has been taught at any primary, secondary and high schools in Vietnam aiming at equipping the students with a best tool to work in any field in their life Strongly knowing the importance of English language, a Vietnamese public high school in the North East area of Vietnam has taught English subject in all classes from grade 10 to grade 12 With oriented classes, there are at least four periods per week and others have three periods per week Besides that, each year always has two semesters with overall for 111 English periods However, after finishing a semester and a year, a test has not evaluated what students acquire English, how well they use English with taught lessons and at which level of English they are standing In a public high school in the North East area of Vietnam, with English subject, teachers and students have followed the textbook named “Tiếng Anh 11” which has five main parts including these orders: reading, speaking, listening, writing and language focus Nevertheless, in the end-term tests, only grammar knowledge is displayed on the test papers So, the tests meet the validity? Can students use English well to communicate outside? Seeing these points, I decide to undertake this study entitled “An evaluation on the validity of end-term English tests used for year 11 students at a Vietnamese public high school in the North East area of Vietnam” with the intention to find out how validity the tests are More importantly, I strongly hope that the results of the study can then be applied to improve the current and to create a new really validity item bank It is also intended to encourage both teachers and learners in their teaching and learning 1.2 Scope of the study The scope of this thesis is limited to a research on examining the existing achievement test in terms of its validity for year-11 students at a Vietnamese public high school in the North East area of Vietnam The study gives analyzed statistic data of the currently used tests and proposes practical suggestions to improve the tests Due to the limitations of time and research conditions, it is impossible for the author to cover all used achievement tests for all high school students at a Vietnamese public high school Instead, only four tests are studied 1.3 Aims of the study The major aim of the study is to evaluate the currently used achievement tests for year 11 students at a Vietnamese public high school in the North East area of Vietnam with a special focus on the test validity The specific aims of the research are: REFERENCES Anastasi (1984) A Psychological testing: Basic concepts and common misconceptions In Annual Meeting of the American Psychological Association American Psychological Association Toronto, ON, Canada Anastasi (2003) Quantifying Construct Validity: Two Simple Measures Journal of Personality and Social Psychology,, 608-618 Anastasi, A & (1997) Psychological Testing (7th ed.) Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall Association, A P (1985) Standards for educational and psychological testing Washington, DC Bachman, L (1990) In Fundamental Considerations in Language Testing London: Oxford university press Bachman, L F (1990) Fundamental considerations in language testing Oxford university press Bachman,L.F and Palmer, A.S (1996) Language Testing in Practice London: Oxford University Press Brown, H D (2000) Principles of language learning and teaching Carmines, E.G & Zeller, R.A (1991:23) Reliability and validity assessment Newbury Park: Sage Publications 10.Davies (1978) Reliability is the first essential for any test In Kelly, Reliability is the first essential for any test (p 8) 11.Davies (1996) Language Testing Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 12.Davies, A e (1968) DIctionary of Language Testing Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 13.Harrison, A ( (1983) A language testing handbook Macmillan 41 14.Harrison, A (1983) A language testing handbook Macmillan: Macmillan press 15.Heaton (1998) Surgical margins and prognostic factors in patients with thick (> mm) primary melanoma In K M Heaton, Annals of surgical oncology (pp 5(4), 322-328.) 16.Heaton, J (1998) Writing English Language Tests London: Longman Group Uk, Ltd 17.Heaton, J B (1975) Writing English language tests: A practical guide for teachers of English as a second or foreign language Longman Publishing Group 18.Henning, G (1987) A guide to language testing: developmentevaluation- research Rowley, Massachuset: Newbury Hoise 19.Hughes (1989) Testing for Language Teachers Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 20.Irvine, P., Atai, P., & Oller Jr, J W (1974) (1974) Cloze, dictation, and the Test of English as a Foreign Language Language Learning, 24(2), 245-252 21.Kelly (1978) Quantifying Construct Validity: Two Simple Measures Japanese Psychological Research, 47-53 22.McNamara, T (2000) Language Testing Oxford: Oxford University Press 23.Richard (2009) Pedagogical Implications of Language learning assessment In M N.-M ed., Pedagogical Reflections On Learning Languages In Instructed Settings (p Chaper fourteen) Cambridge Scholars Publishing 24.Richards, J.C & Nunan,D (1990) Second language teacher education Cambridge University Press 42 25.V n, H V (2 16) Ch ng tr nh v s ch gi o khoa m n tiếng Anh trung h c ph th ng, h chu n (1) VNU Journal of Science: Foreign Studies, 27(2) 43 APPPENDICES Appendix I: Final 1st Semester achievement test in year 2015-2016 ENGLISH TEST FOR THE FIRST SEMESTER YEAR: 2015-2016 Subject: English 11 Time allowance: 45 minutes I Choose one word that has the underlined part pronounced differently to the others (2.0 pts) A effective B eradicate C enthusiastic D effort A idol B side C brighten D activity A anniversary B attitude C affect D clap C decided D wanted A handicapped B visited II Complete each sentence with the correct form of the word given in the parentheses (2.0 pt) They went hiking in a………… region (mountain) They play was…………… bad (embarrass) III Complete each sentence with the correct form of the verbs given in parentheses (2.0 pts) (Watch)…………this film several times before I started to fall asleep in the middle of it The mail is expected (deliver)…………….at noon My friend (not see)………… me for many years By the time I (get)……………to (go)………… home I the party, most people When I was waiting in the lounge, I saw a girl (come)……… with a file in her hand IV Read the passage and the exercise below (2.0 pts) All children in the United States have to receive an education, but the law does not say that they have to be educated at school A number of parents prefer not to send their children to school Children who are educated at home are known as “home schoolers” There are about , home- schoolers in the United States today Some parents prefer teaching their children at home because they not believe that public schools teach the correct religious values; others believe they can provide a better educational experiences for their children by teaching them at home Interestingly, results show that home schooled children quite often better than average on national tests in reading and maths *Write answers to the following questions What are children who educated at home in the United States called? How many children in the United States learn at home? Why some parents prefer to teach their own children? What subjects are home- schoolers better than school children? V Complete the second sentence so that it has a similar meaning to the first sentence (2.0 pts) “I can‟t go to your birthday party tomorrow” Said Mary  Mary apologized for…………………………………… I knew that he was poor I offered to pay his school fees  Knowing……………………………………………… The man was running out of the bank Some people saw him then  Some people saw the man…………………………… I really expect to hear from you soon II  I really look…………………………………………… THE END - III Appendix II: Final 1st Semester achievement test in year 2016-2017 ENGLISH TEST FOR THE FIRST SEMESTER YEAR: 2016-2017 Subject: English 11 Time allowance: 45 minutes V Choose one word that has the underlined part pronounced differently to the others (1.0 pt) A hard A disabled B start C party B forced D talk C believed D realized VI Choose one word whose main stress is placed differently from others, (1.0 pt) A replace B teacher C student D children A supply B prefer C provide D passion VII Choose the best answer A, B, C or D for each of the following sentences (2.0 pts) I would like to know one of your………… experiences A person B personally C personal D personing He………….all day last Saturday A works B has worked C is working D was working I heard someone………… about the American president election in the next room A talking B to talk C talked D talks Don‟t pretend…………what you aren‟t A being B to be C be IV D are VIII Complete each sentence with the correct form of the verbs given in parentheses (2.0 pts) She is eager (answer)…………….my first question They imagined (meet)……………a fairy once Anne hopes (invite)…………to join the private club by the leader (Live)…………in this town for years, he took us to many interesting places in the town 10 While I (water)………….my plants, it began to rain 11 It is no good (write)………….to him, he never answers letters 12 He doesn‟t mind (call)……….at night by the patient 13 The girls burst into tears after they (read)…………the results three times IX Read the passage and the exercise below (2.0 pts) Informal conversation is an important part of any business relationship Before you start a discussion, however, make sure you understand which topics are suitable and which are considered taboo in a particular culture Latin Americans enjoy sharing information about their local history, art and customs You may expect questions about your family, and be sure to show pictures of your children You may feel free to ask similar questions of your Latin American friends The French think of conversation as an art form, and they enjoy the value of lively discussions as well as disagreements For them, arguments can be interesting and they can cover pretty much or any topic -as long as they occur in are respectful and intelligent manner． *Write answers to the following questions What is an important part of any business relationship? What Latin Americans like? What the French enjoy? V What you need to understand before you start a discussion? X Complete the second sentence so that it has a similar meaning to the first sentence (2.0 pts) “You broke my window, Ann”, said Tom  Tom accused……………………………… He has always wanted to be an actor  He has always dreamed………………… I hate people asking me about my income  I hate…………………………………… The girls played volleyball in the school-yard I watched them from the beginning to the end  I watched the girls……………………… THE END - VI Appendix III: Final 2nd Semester achievement test in year 2015-2016 ENGLISH TEST FOR THE SECOND SEMESTER YEAR: 2015-2016 Subject: English 11 Time allowance: 45 minutes Date: 07/05/2016 I Give the correct tense/ form of the verb in brackets (2.5pts) a The ancient Romans (1 not / use) steam engines in their battles b By the time we (2 come) home yesterday evening, they (3 have) dinner c Don‟t forget (4 turn) off the heating before (5.leave) _ the house d “You have put on some weight, (6.not have) _you? e At the moment, they (7.visit) _ Hue citadel f Will you give Mary my message when she (8.return) to her office? g More people (9.infect) with HIV now than they (10.be) _ years ago II Fill in each blank with a suitable word from the box (each word can be used only once).(2.5pts) Whenever Acquaintances transmission accompaniment Pesticides mutual elected selfish courtesy medals I have a lot of _ at work but I don‟t have any real friends VII Despite differences in background and outlook, their partnership is based on _ respect, trust, and understanding Our relationship cannot last longer because he seems to be very He only thinks about himself The girl sang to the of a piano my neighbor is cooking, there is a smell of burning Mary O‟Bien, the Democrat _ to the council only last week, has resigned It‟s common to thank someone when they help Fax _ has now become a cheap and convenient way to transmit texts over distances _ aren‟t effective anymore because insects have become resistant to them 10.In the 14th Asian Games, the athletes competed in 38 different sports and won 27 gold III Read the passage below and answer the questions (2.5pts) The great racing driver, Sir Malcolm Campbell, was the first man to drive at over 300 miles per hour He set up a new world record in September 1935 at Bonneville Salt Flats, Utah Bluebird, the car he was driving, had been specially built for him It was over 30 feet in length and had a 2,500 horsepower engine Although Campbell reached a speed of over 304 miles per hour, he had great difficulty in controlling the car because a type burst during the first run After his attempt, Campbell was disappointed to learn that his average speed had been 299 miles per hour However, a few days later, he was told that a mistake had been made His average speed had been 301 miles per hour Since that time, racing drivers have reached speeds of over 400 miles an hour Following his father's footsteps many years later, Sir VIII Malcolm's son, Donald, also set up a world record Like his father, he was driving a car called Bluebird What was Sir Malcolm Campbell‟s job? When did Sir Malcolm Campbell set up a new world record in car racing? How long was Bluebird? Why did he have great difficulty in controlling the car? Did his son set up a world record? IV Finish each of the following sentences in such a way that it means exactly the same as the sentence printed before it (2.5pts) There is a sign which says „Entry forbidden‟ (using reduced relative clause)  There is a sign They gave me this camera on my 18th birthday (Using “It was…that…”)  It was this Let‟s go through the main points that he made in his lecture (Omit the relative pronoun)  Let’s Columbus sailed to America in 1492 (using “It was…that/when…”) It was in _ John Smith is a farmer I bought his land ( Combine the two sentences using relative clause) John Smith, _ - The end IX Appendix IV: Final 2nd Semester achievement test in year 2016-2017 ENGLISH TEST FOR THE SECOND SEMESTER YEAR: 2016-2017 Subject: English 11 Time allowance: 45 minutes I Choose one word whose underlined part is pronounced differently from that of the others (1.0 pt) A trust B mutual C number D uncertain A imagine B religion C geography D glance A although B straight C laugh D weight A sport B compete C effort D introduce A decreased B used C reached D developed II Give the correct tense/ form of the verbs in brackets (2.5 pts) It is very unpleasant (wake ) up and (hear) the rain (beat) on the windows New Zealand was the first country (give) women the vote Anyone (need) further information can see me in my office Fossil fuels will be (exhausted) within a relatively short time All the furniture (destroy) in the fire two days ago I have been trying to sell my car for ages, but no one (want) to buy it The number of books in the library (rise) to over five million We live in a house (build) in 1906 III Supply the correct form of the word in brackets (1.5 pt) The 14th Asian Games attracted 9,919 _ from 44 countries (participate) X He never lost the _ of his students (admire) We need something to keep the children in their summer holiday (occupy) The negotiation was attended by _ of several states (represent) We found the program and informative (educate) IV Read the following passage and answer the questions (2.5 pts) Informal conversation is an important part of any business relationship Before you start a discussion, however, make sure you understand which topics are suitable and which are considered taboo in a particular culture Latin Americans enjoy sharing information about their local history, art, and customs They expect questions about their family and are sure to show pictures of their children You may feel free to ask similar questions of your Latin American friends The French think of conversation as an art form, and they enjoy the value of lively discussions as well as disagreements For them, arguments can be interesting — and they can cover pretty much or any topic — as long as they occur in a respectful and intelligent manner In the United States, business people like to discuss a wide range of topics, including opinions about work, family, hobbies, and politics In Japan, China, and Korea, however, people are much more private They not share much about their thoughts, feelings, or emotions because they feel that doing so might take away from the harmonious business relationship they‟re trying to build Middle Easterners are also private about their personal lives and family matters It is considered rude, for example, to ask a businessman from Saudi Arabia about his wife or children According to the passage, what is an important part of any business relationship? XI What Latin Americans enjoy sharing? Do the French love discussions? Why are people from Asia more private in their conversation with others? Should we ask a businessman from Saudi Arabia about his family? V Rewrite each of the following sentences as directed (2.5 pts) That boy scored the goal for his team (Change the sentence into cleft sentence with the subject focus)  I am very busy I can‟t go to the cinema with you tonight  If I Solar energy is free Solar is inexhaustible (use both…and)  Solar People think that the company is planning a new advertising campaign  The company _ I talked to a woman Her car had broken down on the way to the party (Join the sentence, using a relative pronoun)  I XII ... ? ?An evaluation on the validity of end- term English tests used for year 11 students at a Vietnamese public high school in the North East area of Vietnam? ?? has been submitted for the Master of English. .. students at a Vietnamese public high school in the North East area of Vietnam 35 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION The study aims at evaluating the validity of the final achievement tests for year 11 students at. .. public school in the North East area of Vietnam meet the face validity? 3.3.2 Data collection instruments To analyze the data input for evaluating the validity of the final achievement tests, the author