VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY- HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FULCUTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES TRẦN QUỐC BÌNH PRACTICAL CONSTRAINTS IN EFL VIETNAMESE CLASSROOMS AFFECTING SPEAKING ASSESSMENT: A CASE STUDY IN NAM DINH UPPER-SECONDARY SCHOOLS Những hạn chế lớp học Việt Nam ảnh hưởng đến việc đánh giá kĩ nói mơn Tiếng Anh: Một nghiên cứu tình trường trung học phổ thông tỉnh Nam Định THE M.A THESIS Field: Teaching Methodology Code: 60.14.10 Hanoi - 2010 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY- HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FULCUTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES TRẦN QUỐC BÌNH PRACTICAL CONSTRAINTS IN EFL VIETNAMESE CLASSROOMS AFFECTING SPEAKING ASSESSMENT: A CASE STUDY IN NAM DINH UPPER-SECONDARY SCHOOLS Những hạn chế lớp học Việt Nam ảnh hưởng đến việc đánh giá kĩ nói mơn Tiếng Anh: Một nghiên cứu tình trường trung học phổ thông tỉnh Nam Định THE M.A THESIS Field: Teaching Methodology Code: 60.14.10 Instructor: To Thi Thu Huong, Dr Hanoi - 2010 TABLE OF CONTENTS AUTHORSHIP DECLARATION i ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ii ABSTRACT iii LIST OF TABLES iv LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS v TABLE OF CONTENTS vi PART I CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale of the research 1.2 Research questions and research aims 1.3 Scope of the study Error! Bookmark not defined 1.4 Methodology 1.5 Significance of the study 1.6 Design of the study PART II CHAPTER II: LIERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Constraints in oral teaching skill at Vietnamese lower secondary school and tertiary education 2.2 Constraints in speaking teaching in Vietnamese upper-secondary schools 2.2.1 Educational system .9 2.1.1.1 Large classes 2.1.1.2 Lack of appropriate resources 11 2.1.1.3 Textbook 12 2.1.2 Teachers’ problems 13 2.1.2.1 Traditional way’s affection 13 2.1.2.2 Lack of English competence 14 2.1.3 Students’ problems 15 2.1.3.1 Low English competence 15 2.1.3.2 Demotivation of speaking 17 2.3 Requirements of speaking assessment at Vietnamese upper-secondary school 18 2.3.1 An overview of speaking assessment criteria at upper-secondary school 18 2.3.2 Continuous speaking assessment 19 2.3.3 Types of speaking assessment 21 2.3.4 Criteria in speaking test 22 2.3.4.1 Validity 22 2.3.4.2 Reliability 23 2.3.4.3 Authenticity 24 2.3.4.4 Marking 25 2.3.4.5 Backwash effect 26 2.3 Role of teachers in assessing oral skill 26 CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY 3.1 Case study 29 3.2 Steps in the selection of participants 32 3.2.1 Questionnaire Participants 32 3.2.2 Interview informants 34 3.3 Data collection 35 3.4 Data analysis 36 CHAPTER IV: FINDINGS 4.1 Overall findings 37 4.2 The practical constraints affecting teachers to conduct speaking assessment 38 4.2.1 Difficulties caused by the educational system 39 4.2.1.1 Large classes 39 4.2.1.2 Excessive work in addition to classroom teaching 41 4.2.1.3 Textbooks 42 4.2.1.4 Exams’ negative backwash 43 4.2.1.5 Few opportunities for retraining 44 4.2.2 Difficulties caused by the students 45 4.2.2.1 Students’ low English proficiency 45 4.2.2.2 Students’ low demotivation 45 4.2.3 Difficulties caused by teachers 46 CHAPTER IV: FINDINGS 46 4.1 Overall findings 46 Table - Practical constraints affecting teachers‟ English speaking assessment 49 4.2.1 Difficulties caused by the educational system 49 4.2.1.1 Large classes 49 4.2.1.2 Excessive work in addition to classroom teaching 51 “The last tasks in speaking lessons in the textbook are difficult for students‟ speaking ability I seldom quit speaking lessons but I can only use the first two or three speaking tasks I ask them to read aloud and learn by heart and speak in front of the class However, I cannot use the tasks of discussion They are too difficult for my students” (Teacher 1) 52 Being asked about the lack of speaking tests in the textbook, the teachers shared their opinions: 53 4.2.1.4 Exams‟ negative backwash 53 4.2.1.5 Few opportunities for retraining 54 4.2.2 Difficulties caused by the students 55 4.2.2.1 Students‟ low English proficiency 55 4.2.2.2 Students‟ low motivation 55 All the teachers in the sample reported that students were demotivated to learn speaking English: 56 4.2.3 Difficulties caused by teachers 56 4.2.3.1 Teachers‟ low English proficiency 56 The younger participants also shared some ideas about the problem: 57 4.2.3.2 Difficulty in eliciting students‟ responses 58 4.2.3.3 Difficulties in ensuring reliability of assessment 58 4.3 The extent that these constraints influence the ways teachers perform assessment of English speaking with particular reference to the use of assessment tasks 59 4.3.1 Topic 60 All the teachers who used this type of assessment doubted about its authenticity: 61 4.3.1 Interview 62 Teacher 10 who used this task-type gave positive opinion about students‟ attitude: 62 However, the task make teachers difficult to lower the noise in the classroom and to give students marks 62 4.3.2 Personal information 62 Teachers also conducted this type for all the levels at the beginning of the school: 63 4.3.4 Role-play 63 On the other hand, teacher expressed a different opinion: 64 4.3.5 Dialogue practice 64 “If this assessment task is applied in all the lessons, it is really boring” (Teacher 5) 65 4.3.6 Picture description 65 4.3.7 Information gap activity 66 Only one of the participants used this type of speaking assessment 66 The teacher who was the only one using this task shared his opinions 66 Teacher thought that this task was new to him 67 4.3.8 Discussion 67 The only teacher using this task expressed her problem of scoring 67 This participant only applied this task in high-quality classes 67 5.1 Nam Dinh upper-secondary English teachers‟ speaking assessment 71 5.1.1 The ways of speaking assessment in Nam Dinh upper-secondary school English teachers 71 5.1.2 The types of non-authentic speaking assessment tasks 71 5.1.3.1 Constraints caused by students 73 Lack of English input 73 Students‟ demotivation 74 Teachers‟ lack of teaching methodology in speaking test 74 Teachers‟ low consciousness of „backwash effect‟ 75 No inter-rater test reliability 75 Teachers‟ low proficiency 76 5.1.3.3 Constraints caused by the education system 76 Large classes 76 Excessive work in addition to classroom teaching 76 Textbook 77 Exams‟ negative backwash 77 Ineffective training classes 78 Teachers‟ personal beliefs 78 REFERENCES 86 Heaton, J B (1990) Classroom Testing Pearson Longman 87 Pennington, C M (1999) Language Learning Arnold 89