Using peer assessment to improve learing a case study of a listening speaking course for english majored students at the ef ussh

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY – HO CHI MINH CITY UNIVERSITY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES & HUMANITIES FACULTY OF ENGLISH LINGUISTICS & LITERATURE USING PEER ASSESSMENT TO IMPROVE LEARNING: A CASE STUDY OF A LISTENINGSPEAKING COURSE FOR ENGLISH MAJORED STUDENTS AT THE EF – USSH A thesis submitted to the Faculty of English Linguistics & Literature in partial fulfillment of the Master’s degree in TESOL By DO THI NGOC DIEM Supervised by NGUYỄN THỊ HỒNG THẮM, Ph.D HO CHI MINH CITY, JULY 2020 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First and foremost, I would like to express my sincerest gratitude to my supervisor, Dr Nguyen Thi Hong Tham for her valuable guidance and insightful feedback on my thesis I was a lucky student to attend her courses in the Master program and receive her acceptance of mentorship Her in-depth knowledge and enthusiasm in the subjects inspired and motivated me to research Not only that, it could be a mistake without mentioning how much I treasure her patience, assistance and encouragements when I felt tired of writing the thesis There is nothing I write here can wholly reflect the debt of gratitude I owe to her Second, I would like to thank all the instructors of the Master course in TESOL 2016 at the Faculty of English Linguistics and Literature – University of Social Sciences and Humanities They delivered informative and interesting lectures and gave me practical advice on doing research I also appreciate the assistance of academic staff of the faculty for me to complete the thesis My special thanks go to the teacher and the students in the researched class who were so kind and supportive Without their kindness and willingness, this thesis would not be completed My appreciation also goes to my friends who gave me unconditional support, encouragement, and assistance to the best of their ability I am deeply indebted to Ngoc An for his diligence in giving detailed comments on my weaknesses in language use and thesis format and Vu Bao for his valuable advice and comments that helped me notice the problems of my thesis I am also thankful to Huu Thong, Huong Giang, and Chi Dung who gave me constructive feedback on the thesis For Minh Chau, and Ngan Vi, I am blessed to have them as my friends and teammates, giving me care and encouragements whenever I felt stressed with the thesis Finally, I am grateful for family, especially my mother who always gives me spiritual support for this academic pursuit Thanks to this, I felt positive and tried my best to achieve the Master’ degree ii STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY I hereby certify my authorship of the thesis entitled “USING PEER ASSESSMENT TO IMPROVE LEARNING: A CASE STUDY OF A LISTENING-SPEAKING COURSE FOR ENGLISH MAJORED STUDENTS AT THE EF – USSH” I hereby declare that this thesis has not been submitted, either in full or in part to any institutions for any purposes Ho Chi Minh City, May 6th, 2020 DO THI NGOC DIEM iii RETENTION AND USE OF MY THESIS I hereby state that I, Do Thi Ngoc Diem, being the candidate of the degree of Master in TESOL, accept the requirements of the University of Social Sciences and Humanities regarding the retention and use of my thesis deposited in the library In terms of these conditions, I agree that the original of my thesis should be made accessible to individuals for the purpose of research and study in accordance with the conditions established by the University’s library for the care, loan or reproduction of the thesis Ho Chi Minh City, May 6th, 2020 DO THI NGOC DIEM iv TALBE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .ii STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY iii RETENTION AND USE OF MY THESIS iv TALBE OF CONTENTS v LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS viii LIST OF TABLES ix LIST OF FIGURES x ABSTRACT xi CHAPTER INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background to the study 1.2 Aims of the study 1.3 Research questions 1.4 Significance of the study 1.5 Scope of the study 1.6 Outline of the thesis CHAPTER LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Perspectives 2.2 Language skill integration 2.2.1 English listening skills 2.2.2 English speaking skills 10 2.2.3 How English listening and speaking are integrated 13 2.3 Peer assessment 13 2.2.1 Two main types of assessment 13 2.2.2 Definition of peer assessment 16 2.2.3 Characteristics of peer assessment 17 v 2.2.4 Advantages of peer assessment 20 2.2.5 Challenges of peer assessment 23 2.2.6 The Relationship among peer assessment, self-assessment and teacher assessment 24 2.4 The implementation of peer assessment in English listening-speaking courses 25 2.3.1 How to implement peer assessment 25 2.3.2 Recent studies on students’ perspectives on peer assessment in English listening-speaking courses 27 2.5 Studies on peer assessment in the Vietnamese higher education 29 2.6 Conceptual framework 32 CHAPTER METHODOLOGY 34 3.1 Research questions 34 3.2 Research design 34 3.3 Research site 36 3.4 Methods of data collection 36 3.5 Data collection procedure 41 3.6 Data analysis procedure 43 CHAPTER FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 47 4.1 Findings of the study 47 4.1.1 The current practice of peer assessment in the selected listening-speaking course 47 4.1.2 Students’ perspectives on peer assessment in the selected listening-speaking course 53 4.1.3 The teacher’s perspectives on peer assessment in the selected listeningspeaking course 69 4.1.4 Summary of the findings 72 4.2 Discussion of findings 73 vi 4.2.1 The current practice of peer assessment in the selected listening-speaking course 73 4.2.2 Students’ perspectives on peer assessment in the selected listening-speaking course 75 4.2.3 The teacher’s perspectives on peer assessment in the selected listeningspeaking course 82 CHAPTER CONCLUSION 84 5.1 Summary of the study 84 5.2 Pedagogical implications 86 5.3 Contribution and limitations 87 5.4 Recommendation for further research 87 REFERENCES 89 APPENDIX 1: ORAL PRESENTATION RUBRIC 98 APPENDIX 2: ROLE-PLAY RUBRIC 99 APPENDIX 3: DEBATE RUBRIC 100 APPENDIX 4: TALK SHOW RUBRIC (MC/HOST) 101 APPENDIX 5: SAMPLE OF STUDENTS’ PEER FEEDBACK 103 APPENDIX 6: OBSERVATIONAL FIELDNOTE 105 APPENDIX 7: QUALITATIVE QUESTIONNAIRE 107 APPENDIX 8: INTERVIEW QUESTIONS FOR STUDENTS 109 APPENDIX 9: INTERVIEW QUESTIONS FOR THE TEACHER 110 APPENDIX 10 111 APPENDIX 11: ANALYTIC SPEAKING CRITERIA (WEIR, 1993) 117 APPENDIX 12: SCORING RUBRIC FOR ORAL PRESENTATIONS: EXAMPLE #1 (UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON) 118 vii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS EF Faculty of English Linguistics and Literature USSH University of Social Science and Humanities EFL English as a Foreign Language viii LIST OF TABLES Table 2.1 Aspects of formative assessment (William &Thompson, 2006, as cited in Black & Wiliam, 2009) 15 Table 3.1 Research Methodology 34 Table 3.2 Methods of data collection 37 Table 3.3 Codes of data 46 Table 4.1 Summary of classroom activities in the selected listening-speaking course 48 Table 4.2 Problems of peer assessment in the listening-speaking course 64 ix LIST OF FIGURES Figure 2.2 Conceptual framework of the study 32 Figure 3.1 The process of data collection 42 Figure 3.2 The process of analyzing and interpreting qualitative data (Creswell, 2012) 43 Figure 3.3 Thematic network of the study 45 x APPENDIX 6: OBSERVATIONAL FIELDNOTE Setting: Thu Duc Campus – USSH, VNU HCMC (Room C206) Observer: Do Thi Ngoc Diem Role of observer: Non- participant observer Class: Listening-Speaking Number of students 36 Level: Upper-intermediate Course book: Inside Listening & Speaking Time: 1.30-4.00 pm  Goals: - What activities? - Students’ behaviors and reactions 105 Time Activities Teacher’s Students’ instruction reaction/responses/ attitude 106 Reflective notes APPENDIX 7: QUALITATIVE QUESTIONNAIRE Name: Class: During the listening-speaking course, you have assessed your classmates by giving feedback on peer assessment sheet in different activities, i.e role-play, debate and talk show Since I am doing a thesis on students’ attitude on peer assessment in listeningspeaking course, I would like to ask you some questions about your opinion on peer assessment Please look at questions below and respond in the way that truly reflect yourself Thank you for your answer Describe your experience of giving peer feedback for your classmates _ _ _ What are your comments on the peer assessment procedure? (instructions, form, scales, ect.) _ _ _ Are there any difficulties when you the peer assessment tasks? If so, what are they? _ _ _ Has the peer assessment influenced your learning? If so, how? _ _ _ 107 What could be improved with regards to peer assessment tasks? _ _ _ In general, would you like to use peer assessment in your class? _ _ _ 108 APPENDIX 8: INTERVIEW QUESTIONS FOR STUDENTS Do you give feedback for your friends in the classroom? How often? In what activities you give feedback for your friends (discussions, oral presentation, etc.) How you feel when giving feedback/scores for your friends? How you feel when receiving feedback/scores from your friends? Do the peer feedback/scores help to improve your learning (listening, speaking, and social and thinking skills)? In what way? Have you encountered any difficulties when doing peer assessment? Do you have any suggestions/adjustments on the peer assessment tasks? Do you like to keep doing peer assessment tasks in the classroom? 109 APPENDIX 9: INTERVIEW QUESTIONS FOR THE TEACHER Do you often use peer assessment in the listening-speaking course? What activities you use peer assessment for? How you give instructions in peer assessment? How students give peer feedback? (oral comments or using scoring guides) Does peer assessment have any impacts on students’ learning (listening, speaking and other skills)? In what way? How students react to peer assessment? What challenges you encounter when implementing peer assessment? Do you have any suggestions/adjustments on the peer assessment? Do you get any benefits from this activity? 110 APPENDIX 10 LIST OF PEER ASSESSMENT ACTIVITIES IN THE LISTENING-SPEAKING COURSE 111 112 113 114 115 116 APPENDIX 11: ANALYTIC SPEAKING CRITERIA (WEIR, 1993) 117 APPENDIX 12: SCORING RUBRIC FOR ORAL PRESENTATIONS: EXAMPLE #1 (UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON) Total Category Scoring Criteria The type of presentation is appropriate for the topic Organization (15 points) Points Score and audience Information is presented in a logical sequence Presentation appropriately cites requisite number of references Introduction is attention-getting, lays out the problem well, and establishes a framework for the rest of the presentation Content (45 points) Technical terms are well-defined in language appropriate for the target audience Presentation contains accurate information 10 Material included is relevant to the overall 10 message/purpose 118 Appropriate amount of material is prepared, and 10 points made reflect well their relative importance There is an obvious conclusion summarizing the presentation Speaker maintains good eye contact with the audience and is appropriately animated (e.g., gestures, moving around, etc.) Presentation (40 points) Speaker uses a clear, audible voice Delivery is poised, controlled, and smooth Good language skills and pronunciation are used Visual aids are well prepared, informative, effective, and not distracting Length of presentation is within the assigned time limits Information was well communicated Score Total Points 119 10 100 ... summative assessment, a tool to check if students achieve the learning targets as the form of grades Second, assessment for learning-formative assessment is to give students feedback to adjust their... “lists of features of language performance”, the use of the others offers assessors “specific criteria related to various qualities of language proficiency that are aligned with a scale or range of. .. employed Students have opportunities to practice the same tasks, thereby, they can enhance the level of pronunciation and grammatical accuracy In addition to these strategies, Goh (2016) claimed that