ssessment criteria for an effective EFL presentation of English majors at Hanam Teachers Training College problems and solutions

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY-HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POSTGRADUATE STUDIES






PHẠM THỊ BÍCH HẠNH


ASSESSMENT CRITERIA FOR AN EFFECTIVE EFL PRESENTATION OF
ENGLISH MAJORS AT HANAM TEACHERS TRAINING COLLEGE
PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS

(CÁC YẾU TỐ ĐÁNH GIÁ CHO BÀI THUYẾT TRÌNH HIỆ U QUẢ CỦA SINH
VIÊN CHUYÊN TIẾNG ANH TRƯỜNG CAO ĐẲNG SƯ PHẠM HÀ NAM
VẤN ĐỀ VÀ GIẢI PHÁP)

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS
Field: English Teaching Methodology
Code: 60.14.10

Hanoi - 2011

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY-HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST GRADUATE STUDIES






PHẠM THỊ BÍCH HẠNH


ASSESSMENT CRITERIA FOR AN EFFECTIVE EFL PRESENTATION OF
ENGLISH MAJORS AT HANAM TEACHERS TRAINING COLLEGE
PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS

(CÁC YẾU TỐ ĐÁNH GIÁ CHO BÀI THUYẾT TRÌNH HIỆ U QUẢ CỦA SINH
VIÊN CHUYÊN TIẾNG ANH TRƯỜNG CAO ĐẲNG SƯ PHẠM HÀ NAM
VẤN ĐỀ VÀ GIẢI PHÁP)

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS
Field: English Teaching Methodology
Code: 60.14.10
Supervisor: Vũ Mai Trang , M.Ed

Hanoi - 2011

4
TABLE OF CONTENTS

Declaration ………………………………………………
Acknowledgements ………………………………………………………
Abstract………………………………………………………………….
Table of contents……………………………………………
List of abbreviations ……………………………………………………
List of figures and tables
Page

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ii
iii
iv
vi
vii
PART A: INTRODUCTION……………………
1. Rationale of the study………………………………………………
2. Purpose of the study…………………………………………………
3. Research questions …………………………………………………
4. Methodology …………………….…………………………………….
5. Significance of the study ……………………………………………
PART B: DEVELOPMENT
CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW

1. Oral presentation ……………………………………………………
1.1. Definitions of oral presentation……………………………………
1.2. Types of oral Presentation ……………………… …………………
1.3. Oral Presentations in classroom settings …………………………
2. Introduction to needs analysis………………………………………
2.1. Definition of needs analysis…………………………………………
2.2. Types of needs analysis………………………………………………
3. Assessment ……………………………………………………………
3.1 An overview of classroom assessment ……………………………….
3.2. Presentation assessment …………………………………………….
3.3. Washback of classroom assessment on students ……………………
4. Document study on assessment criteria for oral presentation
CHAPTER II: THE STUDY ………………………….
1. Sampling ………………………………………………………………
1.1 Students ……………………………………………………………….
1.2 Teachers ………………………………………………………………
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1.3. Output standards for English language students (teaching and
non-teaching)…………………………………………………………………
1.4. Applying EFL oral presentations in HTTC context ………………………
2. Data collection …………… …………………………………
2.1. Instruments …………………………………………………………
2.2. Procedures …………………………………………………………
2.3. Data analysis ………………………………………………………
CHAPTER III: RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS ……….
1. Types of oral presentation assessments used to evaluate EFL oral
presentations of English majors at HTTC …………………………………
2.
Criteria used to evaluate EFL oral presentations of English
majors at HTTC ………………………………………………………

3.
Current situation of making EFL oral presentation of English
Major at HTTC from teachers’ evaluations
………………………….

3.1. The strengths
……………………………………………………
3.2. The weaknesses
………………………………………………

4. A suggested Evaluation Sheet for oral presentation ……………….

5. Implications and suggestions …………………………………………….
5.1. For the students ………………………………………………………….
5.2 For the teachers…………………………………………………………
PART C: CONCLUSION ……………………
1. Conclusion of the study ……………………………………… ……….
2. Limitations and Suggestions for future research………………………
REFERENCES 33

APPENDIX I


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I






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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
EFL: English as a foreign language
HTTC: Hanam Teachers Training College

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LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES
Page
Figure 1 ……………………………………………………………… 9

Figure 2 ……………………………………………………………… 12
Table 1 ………………………………………………………………… 14
Table 2 ………………………………………………………………… 23
Table 3…………………………………………………………………. 28




















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PART A. INTRODUCTION
This part presents rationale of the study, purpose of the study, research questions, method,
and significance of the study.
1. Rationale of the study
Presentation activities have recently been cast light on in EFL (English as Foreign

Language) classrooms as an innovative means of developing students’ skills in public
speaking and hence promoting their motivation in English. Presentations are a great way to
have students practise all language systems areas (vocabulary, grammar, discourse and
phonology) and skills (speaking, reading, writing and listening). They also build confidence,
and presenting is a skill that most people will need in the world of work. The students who are
good presenters are better communicators, since they are able to structure and express their
ideas clearly.
However, the assessment of oral presentation is not an easy task for all teachers. In fact,
assessing oral presentations can present a challenge to teachers. Presentation assessment
criteria consist of many factors: language, content, delivery, and visual aids, etc. It is not easy
for teachers to clearly delineate these factors to their learners before undertaking any
assessment activities in class. In a classroom setting, teachers establish the criteria for
assessment themselves. They also have the responsibility of judging students’ presentation
performances. However, according to Otoshi and Heffernan (2008) if only one teacher
accesses student’s presentation, it can raise reliability issues. As such, there is a good
possibility that an instructor’s assessment is not objective or consistent enough to meet the
needs of his or her learners. Moreover, many researchers agree that if learners are explicitly
aware of the criteria used to assess them, they will be better able to apply the method of
evaluation to their own learning styles, and thereby to their own benefit as learners. Further,
students are able to comprehend and critically assess marking criteria that they understand
clearly, and have more difficulty comprehending marking criteria that are imposed on them
by teachers. The development of the criteria is just as important as the assessment itself.
Therefore, it is important to publish clear and understandable assessment criteria for
presentations to make sure that students are fully aware of them before they make. In this
way, they know about what they are expected to do, so they can focus better on the skills in a
manner that they know is appropriate. It is not helpful and sometimes stressful for students if
they have to guess the basis for their assessment because they do not know how their teacher

9
is going to mark them. As a result, it is important for EFL teachers to reconsider the purposes

of each oral presentation, the students, and the required learners’ presentation skills to build
their own evaluative criteria for oral presentation.
Oral presentation is an effective communicative activity that has widely adopted by EFL
teachers at Hanam Teachers Training College (HTTC) to promote oral proficiency of their
English majors. However, when oral presentations are assigned in class, the teacher will get
either complete silence or grumbles from students who find the idea of oral presentations
frustrating and intimidating. Students are overwhelmed with the research and communication
skills that are necessary for a successful presentation. Some serious students who invest time
and effort into an oral presentation do not always get the intended outcomes. Other students
try to get through the ideal as quickly as possible, but do not improve their speaking skills
under such stressful situations. Thus, oral presentations can be a time-consuming project with
no guarantee of a satisfactory performance.
Being an English teacher at HTTC for nearly five years, I have also used oral presentation
as a form to promote the speaking ability of my English majors. However, I find it not easy to
access their performance because, like many other EFL teachers at my college, we often take
a ready-made oral presentation rubric or checklist to mark the presentation. Yet using the
rating criteria based on native speakers’ standards to measure learners’ oral proficiency was
not suitable for the actual use of English in the context where English is taught as a second
language. Because it would not be appropriate simply to provide a standard list of assessment
criteria that would guide the marking of any presentation because what is valued in a
presentation might differ.
The above-mentioned problems are the researcher’s primary concern and the motivation
for doing the thesis on the topic: “Assessment criteria for an effective EFL presentation of
English majors at Hanam Teachers Training College. Problems and solutions.”

2. Purpose of the study
This research is designed with a purpose to build up a set of assessment criteria for
teachers to evaluate oral presentations of English majors at HTTC. In order to implement such
purpose, firstly, the researcher investigated which criteria used by teachers at HTTC in
evaluating EFL oral presentations. Secondly, she tried to find out the problems and the

strengths of English majors at HTTC in making oral presentations. Then she studied

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documents on different assessment criteria used by experts, educators, researchers, and other
teachers to assess presentations. Finally, basing on these, the researcher suggested a set of
criteria for assessing presentations of HTTC English majors, which are suitable with the needs
of both the teachers and the students of HTTC.
3. Research questions
Based on the purposes of the study, this study sought to answer the following three major
questions:
3.1. What are the assessment types and criteria being used by teachers at HTTC to
evaluate EFL presentations of English majors?
3.2 What are the current strengths and problems of English majors at HTTC in making
EFL oral presentations?
3.3. What assessment criteria should be used to evaluate EFL presentations of English
majors at HTTC?
4. Methodology
The study has been conducted in the form of a case study, using observations, semi –
structured interviews and document study as instruments of data collection.
5. Significance of the study
Although studies of applying oral presentations in EFL context are numerous in many
Western and Asian countries, such studies of criteria in oral presentations in Asia and in
Vietnam are still scarce. The study is undertaken to find out criteria used by teachers and the
current strengths and weaknesses of English majors, as well as the criteria learnt from
document study to set up suitable criteria for marking EFL presentations in Vietnamese
context, particularly at HTTC. Therefore, firstly, this study is practical and useful for both
teachers and students at HTTC. In addition, it contributes to enrich the research on this area in
the context of university English classrooms in our country. The findings and implications of
this study will be of much help and can be used for reference of researchers, educators,
teachers and students.

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PART B. DEVELOPMENT
CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW
This chapter consists of three parts: oral presentation, introduction to needs analysis,
assessment and document study on assessment criteria for oral presentation.
1. Oral presentation
1.1. Definitions of oral presentation
Oral presentation skills are important in nearly every career. Scientists and engineers
present at conferences, to students, to their peers, etc. Administrators and managers may give
talks to committees about their work, or to groups of people in training. As for students,
presentation skills can lead to new opportunities in employment and in education.
A presentation is defined in the 7
th
edition of Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary
(2005:1190) as “an act of showing something or of giving something to somebody” or “a
meeting at which something, especially a new product or idea, or piece of work is shown to a
group of people”.
Presentation means: “ a short talk by one person to a group of people introducing and
describing a particular subject”. (Retrieved from />articles/english-speaking-practice-presentations.htm).
According to Jing (2009, p.iii), “Oral presentation is an important skill to convey one‟s
ideas in communication.” Kaul (2005, p.41) also asserts, “Presentations are ideas, concepts
or issues that are talked about or shared with a group of people or an audience”.
Generally, a presentation is a formal talk to one or more people that "presents" ideas or
information in a clear, structured way. Oral presentation is a means to show knowledge, give

a lecture, be tested in a classroom, and build confidence to speak to an audience. A
presentation consists of four basic elements: the presenter, the audience, the message and the
tools.
1.2. Types of Oral Presentations
There are many ways of classified types of presentation. Some people may define them
basing on the purposes. Some may define them basing on the manners of delivery. However,
the most common types of presentation given by Whatley (2001) are the followings.
Firstly, he mentions informative presentation. Informative presentation brings the
audience up to date on projects or events, telling how things are going, or provides
information about products and procedures, rules and regulations, and operations, etc.

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The second type of presentation is instructional. The purpose in an instructional
presentation is to give specific directions or orders. In an instructional presentation, the
listeners should come away with new knowledge or a new skill.
Another presentation is arousing. The purpose in an arousing presentation is to make
people think about a certain problem or situation. This presentation arouses the audience's
emotions and intellect so that they will be receptive to presenter’s point of view.
Persuasive is the next type of presentation. The purpose in a persuasive presentation is to
convince listeners to accept proposal. A convincing persuasive presentation offers a solution
to a controversy, dispute, or problem.
Finally, it is a decision-making presentation. The purpose in a decision-making
presentation is to move audience to take the presenter’s suggested action. A decision-making
presentation presents ideas, suggestions, and arguments strongly enough to persuade an
audience to carry out presenter’s requests. A decision-making presentation must tell the
audience what to do and how to do it.
In short, there are many types of presentation but each type requires a specific
organization technique to assure it is understood and remembered by the audience.
1.3. Oral Presentations in classroom settings
Presentation skills are extremely useful both in and outside classroom. After completing a

project, a presentation is a channel for students to share with others what they have learned. It
is also a chance to challenge and expand on their understanding of the topic by having others
ask questions. Presentations can also form a natural part of task-based learning. By focusing
on a particular language point or skill, the presentation is a very practical way to revise and
extend lesson, pair and group work. The audience can also be given a task, for example, a set
of questions to answer on the presentation, which is a way of getting students to listen to each
other.
The presentation assignment has two major purposes: first, it provides a framework for
students to apply the literacy skills they are learning in an environment that encourages
interaction with others. Second, it provides opportunities for students to create and share their
personal interpretations of text with an audience. In our classrooms, we refer to the formal
sharing of personal interpretations of text as a "presentation."
The followings are some activities for using presentation in classroom setting:
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Students each read a short (half page) essay or passage. When everyone has read, each

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stands up and gives a mini presentation about what they have read.
- T
eacher can pre-cut a selection of interesting magazine pictures to suit the age and
ability of the students. Students have five minutes to prepare to speak about the pictures. This
is followed by a presentation by each student.
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For homework, students look up information about a given topic. For example, a famous
person, strange animal, man-made wonders of the world. In the lesson, each student speaks
formally about his or her topic.
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As a homework assignment, students have to read a news article either in a newspaper or
on the Internet. The assignment is for speakers to tell the class about the news article.
-

Presentations can also be used as an alternative to test students orally instead of a usual
written formatted test.
In the presentation assignments, literacy learning is viewed as more than just reading and
writing; it also involves the interactions through which personal interpretations are created
and shared. Therefore, attention is given to the way classroom activities are organized and
sequenced so that there are multiple and diverse opportunities to respond to and talk about
text.
Learning by doing is always considered the best method of teaching and learning.
So, when students make presentations they also learn better by coming across and overcoming
their difficulties. There is an advantage to both the presenter and the listeners. In summary,
asking students to give presentations has the following advantages. Firstly, it gives the
presenting student a good opportunity to practice unaided speaking. When the presenter
prepares to present the topic, he will go through the topic more carefully than what he would
have done while listening to the teacher alone. Student will have to collect, inquire, organize
and construct information. As a result, it helps students become active and autonomous
learners. Secondly, it gives the other students good listening practice. In addition, it increases
the presenting student's confidence when using English. Also, it can be good practice for the
real situation for those students who may actually need to give presentations in English in
their professional lives. Moreover, it is an excellent generator of spontaneous discussion.
Students feel more at ease and comfortable with their peers than they feel with their teachers.
So they ask questions freely to their friends, which they would never ask their teacher, either
for fear or for reluctance. Sometimes they come out with very ingenious and original
comments and questions, which are very insightful. It also enhances teamwork when they
have to work together to make presentation or discussion. In addition, with the availability of

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new technology both at school and home, students incorporate video cameras, slide
projectors, PowerPoint, VCR/DVD and other visual aids into their presentations which make
the presentation become more exciting and interesting. Therefore, they will know how to use
multimedia and apply it well in their learning.

Doing presentation not only brings students themselves advantages but it also contributes
a great deal of benefits to teachers. First, the teachers will give centre-stage to their students.
They can stay in the background and watch the show enacted by their students. It is very
meaningful because it is a learner-center approach. They get their students work hard and
according to Pathak
(2003, p.136)
, “The teacher becomes more of a facilitator than a Mr.
Know All dictator.” Another benefit for teacher is that presentation reduces the teacher
talking time and increases the student talking time. Apart from these, the best advantage to the
teacher is that what they want to do and want to happen happen without their doing (and
perhaps, more effectively).
However, every coin has two sides. Marmienė (2006) outlines some disadvantages of
presentations. The first difficulty is “the choice of the material”. Nowadays, there are
many sources where information can be taken. However, not all of them are accurate and
authentic. Therefore, one of the most important skills to develop is that of effective
searching. Second, students often overuse PowerPoint or visual aids. They use too many
pictures and illustrations or show too many words on the screen. As a result, all they
have to do is just to read everything on the screen. It makes the audience annoyed and
they bored with their presentation. In the third place, making presentation is time-
consuming both at home and in class. Last but far from the least, one disadvantage of
applying presentation in classroom is that the effect of it maybe not as expected because
the presenter has nothing to say or the audience does not listen to the presenter.
All in all, applying oral presentation in EFL context has many advantages as well as
disadvantages. Since the improvement of oral presentation requires both skills and practice, it
is suggested that both teachers and students should raise the awareness of importance of
developing the skill, learn the presentation skills, increase the opportunities for practice, and
teachers should implement oral presentation effectively in ESL classrooms.
2. Introduction to needs analysis
2.1. Definition of needs analysis
West (1994, p.1) (cited in Cowling, 2007, p.427) suggests that: needs analysis can be

15
described as identifying „„what learners will be required to do with the foreign language in the
target situation, and how learners might best master the target language during the period of
training‟‟
Needs analysis is "concerned with identifying general and specific language needs that
can be addressed in developing goals, objectives and content in a language program"
(Richards & Rodgers 1986, p. 156). According to Brown (1995, p. 35) (as cited in Kusumoto,
2008, p. 3), the outcome of a needs analysis should be a list of goals and objectives for the
parties involved, which should “serve as the basis for developing tests, materials, teaching
activities, and evaluation strategies, as well as for reevaluating the precision accuracy of the
original needs assessment”.
Richards and Platt (1992, p. 242 & 243) (cited in Kandil, 2004, p. 1) states that needs
analysis is “the process of determining the needs for which a learner or group of learners
requires a language and arranging the needs according to priorities”. In doing this, they
illustrate, needs analysis gather subjective and objective information about the learner in order
to know the objectives for which the language is needed, the situation in which the language
will be used, with whom the language will be used, and the level of proficiency required.
2.2. Types of needs analysis
Nunan (1988, p.14) (cited in Yoneoka, 1997) states that for a needs analysis, "information
will need to be collected, not only on why learners want to learn the target language, but also
about such things as societal expectations and constraints and the resources available for
implementing the syllabus." He defines two types of needs analyses: a learner analysis (what
background factors are the learners bringing to the classroom?) and task analysis (for what
purposes is the learner learning the target language?). In addition, a "means analysis", or
analysis of learner styles based on subjective inquiry into how students like to learn best can
aid in finding out how to approach the material which needs to be learned.
Lowe (2009) defines needs analysis into the following categories:

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Figure 1
Target Situation Analysis is a study of the situations in which the language is used. This
provides a guide as to what language to teach. It establishes the learners' language
requirements in the occupational or academic situation they are being prepared for. On the
other hand, present situation analysis is what the students are like at the beginning of the
course. What is their learning background? Next, in lacks analysis (or deficiency analysis),
students are evaluated to see what language they lack. According to West (1994) (cited in
Moll,
1999), it combines both the target- situation analysis and present situation analysis.
Learning needs analysis (strategy analysis): consider what is to be learned and how the
learners prefer to learn it. The limitations in the actual teaching context are identified in the
constraints analysis (or means analysis). Pedagogic needs analysis is a term which groups
together i.e. Lacks analysis, Learning needs analysis, and Constraints analysis. Finally, in
wants analysis (subjective needs analysis): The teacher finds out what the learners think they
want to learn.
In short, there maybe different ways of classifying and naming the types of needs analysis.
There is an awareness of the fact that different types of needs analysis are not exclusive but
complementary and that each of them provides a piece to complete the jigsaw of needs
analysis, and all of them attempt to meet the needs of the learners in the process of learning a
second language. In this study, the researcher applied target situation analysis, present
situation analysis and lack analysis. In the target situation analysis, the researcher tried to
find out what the learners need to know in oral presentations in order to function effectively in
learning and working. In the present situation analysis, the researcher investigated the current
strengths and weaknesses of her students in making oral presentations. In the lack analysis,

Needs
Analysis
Target
Situation

Analysis
Present
situation
analysis
Lacks
analysis
(deficiency
analysis)
Learning
needs
analysis
(strategy
analysis)
Constraints
analysis
(means
analysis)
Pedagogic
needs
analysis
Wants
analysis
(subjective
needs
analysis)

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the researcher evaluated what language and skills her students lack then combined them in the
suggested criteria for assessing presentation. All in all, the three types of needs analysis
applied in this study are the basis for building up assessment criteria for EFL oral

presentations of English majors at HTTC.
3. Assessment
3.1 An overview of classroom assessment
Assessment is the on going process where what is learned and taught in the classroom is
tested and recorded over the time.
The Council of Ontario Directors of Education (2006, p.5) highlights:
“Assessment is the process of gathering information from a variety of sources
(including assignments, demonstrations, projects, performances and tests) that accurately
reflects how well a student is achieving the curriculum expectations in a course or subject.
As part of assessment, teachers provide students with descriptive feedback that guides
their efforts towards improvement.”
According to Earl, et all (2006), classroom assessment was considered a mechanism for
providing an index of learning, and it followed a predictable pattern: teachers taught, tested
the students’ knowledge of the material, made judgments about students’ achievement based
on the testing, and then moved on to the next unit of work. However, nowadays, the purposes
for classroom assessment have expanded. Assessment takes place not only during teaching to
make adjustments to the teaching process, but also at the end of a unit or term to convey
student progress. Therefore, assessment now assesses a wider range of student work, such as
practical tasks, coursework, projects, and presentations. For the most part, however,
assessment was still a matter of making statements about students’ weaknesses and strengths.
These authors also come to the conclusion that classroom assessment now has three main
purposes: Assessment for learning, Assessment as learning, and Assessment of learning.
First, assessment for learning occurs throughout the learning process. It is designed to
make each student’s understanding visible, so that teachers can decide what they can do to
help students progress. In assessment for learning, teachers use assessment as “an
investigative tool to find out as much as they can about what their students know and can do,
and what confusions, preconceptions, or gaps they might have.”(p.29). Teachers also use
assessment for learning to enhance students’ motivation and commitment to learning. They

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make visible what students believe to be true, and use that information to help students move
forward in manageable, efficient, and respectful ways.
Second, assessment as learning focuses on students and emphasizes assessment as a
process of metacognition for students because “learning is not just a matter of transferring
ideas from someone who is knowledgeable to someone who is not, but is an active process of
cognitive restructuring that occurs when individuals interact with new ideas.” (p.41).
Students are thought to be the critical connectors between assessment and learning.
Finally, assessment of learning refers to strategies designed to confirm what students
know, demonstrate whether or not they have met curriculum outcomes or the goals of their
individualized programs, or to certify proficiency and make decisions about students’ future
programs or placements.
To conclude, the assessment in the classroom settings is of high importance. It can
motivate students to learn better, teachers to teach better, and schools to be more
educationally effective.
3.2. Presentation assessment
Robert and Kaeli (2002, p.40) states that “performance assessment generally requires test
takers to demonstrate their skills and content knowledge in settings that closely resemble real-
life settings.” Moskal (2003) suggests that performance assessments can take on many
different forms, which include written and oral demonstrations and activities that can be
completed by either a group or an individual. As such, presentation is one type of presentation
assessment. Mertler (2001) suggests the types of performance assessments in the following
figure:

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Types of scoring instruments for performance assessments

Figure 2
As can be seen, checklist is one mean of performance assessment. Generally, checklists
contain a list of behaviors or specific steps, which can be marked as Complete/Incomplete,
Yes /No, etc. In some cases, a teacher will use a checklist to observe the students. In other
cases, students use checklists to ensure that they have completed all of the steps and
considered all of the possibilities. Checklists help to provide structure for students and they
are great tools to use when the completion of a task is wanted to be noted, but do not need to
assign a rating scale. On the other hand, a rubric is a means of scoring a performance
assessment where multiple criteria are being assessed and quality of performance or product is
important. There are two main types of rubrics - holistic and analytic. A holistic rubric
requires the teacher to score the overall process or product as a whole, without judging the
component parts separately. In contrast, with an analytic rubric, the teacher scores separate,
individual parts of the product or performance first, and then sums the individual scores to
obtain a total score.
3.3. Washback of classroom assessment on students
Washback together with other similar related items such as backwash, test impact are the
different terms that are commonly used in language testing. Cheng (2005) highlights that
washback is often introduced in language assessment courses for teachers as a powerful

20
concept that all assessment designers need to strongly consider, and of which most classroom
teachers are too aware. It refers to the extent to which “a test influences language teachers
and learners to do things they would not necessarily otherwise do because of the test”(Cheng,
2005, p.25). Biggs (1995) ( as cited in Cheng, 2005) uses the term “backwash” to the fact that

testing drives not only the curriculum, but teaching methods and students’ approaches to
learning. Generally, washback is the effect of assessment on teaching and learning. Alderson
and Wall (1993) (as cited in Bailey, 1999) pose effect of washback as it will:
- influence teaching.
- influence learning.
- influence what teachers teach;
- influence how teachers teach;
- influence what learners learn;
- influence how learners learn.
- influence attitudes too the content, method, etc. of teaching and learning.
……
Generally, Cheng (2009) states that washback can be analyzed according to two
major types: positive and negative, depending on whether it has a beneficial or harmful
impact on educational practices. Positive Washback of language testing includes: (1) Tests
induce teachers to cover their subjects more thoroughly, making them complete their
syllabus within the prescribed time limits, (2) Tests motivate students to work harder to
have a sense of accomplishment and thus enhance learning, (3) Good tests can be utilized
and designed as beneficial teaching-learning activities so as to encourage positive
teaching-learning processes. On the other hand, negative washback of language testing are:
(1) Tests may encourage teachers to narrow the curriculum and lose instructional time,
leading to “teaching to the test.”, (2) Tests bring anxiety both to teachers and students
and distort their performance, (3) Students may not be able to learn real-life
knowledge, but instead learn discrete points of knowledge that are tested, (4) Cramming
will lead students to have a negative positive toward tests and accordingly alter their learning
motivation.
In short, by assessment at the same time, students will be encouraged and motivated to
work harder, or on the other hand, teachers will usually teach to the test, and students
only learn what the test or the assessment will required. When the criteria for presentation are

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set by teachers in advanced and given to the students, they are very helpful because looking at
the criteria, students will know what and how they are expected to do, what they have done
well and what they need to improve. The students will know what are their current strengths
and weaknesses. Therefore, they will know what to pay more attention to and what to practice
more in order to improve their current situation and get higher result. In another word, given
criteria makes the teachers’ expectations visible to their students.
4. Document study on assessment criteria for oral presentation
One of the features of an oral presentation is that it does not leave a record. Unless the
presentation is recorded, there is no chance for discussion of a disputed mark. For this reason,
the assessment procedure must be simple so that the assessor can use it easily and fairly from
the beginning. This in turn implies that the assessment should operate on the basis of very
few assessment criteria – in effect those that the assessor can hold in mind during the
presentation.
According to Otoshi and Heffernan (2008, p.68): “Oral presentation assessment criteria
consist of multi-faceted factors: language, content, delivery, and visual aids. It is incumbent
among teachers to clearly delineate these factors to their learners before undertaking any
peer assessment activities in class.”
Moon (2005) believes that assessment criteria are the details of performance on the basis
of which a presentation is given a mark, or on which feedback is given.
Brown (2005) (cited from Ha, 2007) suggests a checklist for evaluating an oral
presentation as follow:

1
2
3
4
5
Presentation structure

Pronunciation





Vocabulary





Grammar





Treatment of questions





Use of Presentation aids

Table 1
Reinhart (2002) (
Appendix 2)
also provides “A sample final speech evaluation form”
which pay attention to:

Topic,

Introduction, Organization, Linking words,

Conclusion,

Eye

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contact and facial expressions, Gesture and other body movements,

Voice,

Pace, and
Pronunciation.
According to Kaur (2005), the followings are some useful aspects/components of speech
delivery that can be assessed in a speech evaluation sheet:
 Introduction: How effective is the introduction? Does it grab attention?
 Content: Is the content well organized? Are the ideas generated suitable to the purpose
of the speech? (e.g. expository, narrative, persuasive etc.). Has sufficient library research been
carried out?

 Voice Quality: Is the voice loud and clear? Are aspects of speech delivery well
executed? (aspects such as pitch, rate, pace and pronunciation)
 Non-verbal Communication: Are gestures used suitable? Does body language of
speaker help/hinder speech delivery?
 Eye Contact: Does speaker look at audience when speaking?
 Visual Aids: What types of visual aids are used? Are visual aids well prepared and are
they suitable?
 Conclusion: Is the conclusion effective? What types of strategies are used? Is the
conclusion interesting?
King (2002) uses a “Teacher Evaluation Form” with five categories: Preparation,
Organization, Content, Presentation and Oral skills.
Besides, if searching online, we can find many rubrics or checklists using for evaluating
oral presentation. In the “Language Skills Handbook On-line Edition” cited from the website
the authors listed out three main
criteria to be marked for oral presentation. They are: Organization and Content, Presence,
Delivery and Grammar.
Hovane (2010) has used presentation evaluation form included the following categories:
Voice, Eye contact, Gestures, Smooth delivery, Easy to understand, Interesting content,
Well designed posters, Good questions, Friendly attitude and Timing.
In short, criteria typically focus on both the content of the presentation and the delivery
broken down into categories such as Use of language, Knowledge of subject material, Ability
to answer/respond to questions, Structure of presentation, Use of audio/visual material,
Pace and timing, Delivery style.


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CHAPTER II: THE STUDY
This chapter recites the methodology conducted in the study, including sampling and data
collection.
1. Sampling

1.1 Students
This study was conducted from December 2009 to May 2010 in three classes at HTTC - a
provincial college in Hanam, a small province in the south of Hanoi.
Some 100 students, aged from 19 to 24, mostly girls from the first year to the third year,
voluntarily participated in the study. The students are studying English as their major in the
Faculty of Foreign Language Study and Informatics. Thirty of them are the freshmen, thirty
are the sophomores, and the left forty are juniors. Of the three classes, two of them are
students of English Language Study (Non – teaching diploma), one is learning to get English
teaching diploma. All students have made English oral presentations in class, which have
been requirement as midterm tests for some of the subjects like Speaking Skill, Grammar,
English for Tourism, English for Secretary, English for Business, English and American
Literature Studies in their English course.
Most of the informants came from countryside and towns. In addition, the numbers of
years they spent on studying English ranged from seven to ten years. In term of the language
proficiency of the informants, they are supposed to be at intermediate level. However, their
proficiency is not as high as those from universities are because their academic results at the
entrance examinations are much lower, and their learning style is quite passive. They also
lack the equipment and good condition to support their English learning. By the time they
have entered college, informants have already had at least seven years' experience of studying
English. However, they have been studying hard preparing for university entrance exams. So
most of them, being accustomed to memorizing new words and expressions and paying
attention to grammar points and language structures, find it hard to express themselves in oral
English, especially oral presentation.
1.2 Teachers
The six English teachers in the staff also participate in the interview and the observation.
Two of them are 13 years experience; three other teachers have been teaching English for
over four years and are now studying MA degree; the last one has taught English for nearly
two years.

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1.3. Output standards for English language students (teaching and non-teaching)
According to the output standards for English language students (teaching and non-
teaching) of HTTC published on www.cdhanam.edu.vn, the most important functions for
English majors in their future occupation and they need achieve are to be expressing their
opinion, reading texts on the Internet, conversing with native speakers, writing e-mail
messages, giving explanations and instructions, and translating oral and written English in a
variety of occupations, teaching English for students in primary and secondary schools,
English language centers, using English to work in offices, tourism or work as interpreters or
translators from intermediate to advanced level. Therefore, in term of oral communication, by
the end of the first scholastic year, students are expected to be able to carry on daily
conversations in simple English, to ask and answer questions based on some reading or
listening material, and to discuss about simple and common issues. By the end of the second
year, students are expected to be able to carry on conversations with native English speakers
not only about daily life but also about social issues. Given some reading or listening material,
they should be able to retell the content and discuss the topic for three to four minutes with
one or two minutes' preparation beforehand. By the end of the third year, the students are
expected to communicate fluently with foreigner in English.
1.4. Applying EFL oral presentations in HTTC context
Every English major student was assigned topics to present on. The topics were varied.
They could do the topics individually or in groups. The topics might be chosen by students
themselves or assigned by teachers. In some subjects, students did not have time to prepare in
advanced at home, but teachers gave them the topics in class. They prepared immediately
(sometimes they could discuss with friends, sometimes not). Then, each student (or group)
had to speak for five minutes. In other cases, students chose their own topics (or teachers
assigned), then they prepared at home and then presented in class. Time allowance was often
from ten to twenty minutes. Whatever the cases, the class would listen to the presentation and
was allowed to ask questions freely on the topic presented. Both the presenter and the class
had their own roles to play as speaker and listeners: the presenter had to be serious and
impressive and the listeners observant and evaluative.

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2. Data collection
2.1. Instruments
The present study attempted to find out criteria used by teachers and current strengths and
weaknesses of English majors as well as to set up new criteria in marking EFL oral
presentations at HTTC. As a result, a case study was utilized. The reason for choosing the
case study was that classroom was a special and restricted setting.
In order to obtain the data, classroom observation and semi – structured interview and
document study were the main devices in this study.
2.1.1 Semi-structured interview
In order to give insights into the teachers’ evaluations of students’ oral presentations, semi
– structured interviews were conducted with teachers. The choice of semi – structured rather
than structured interview was employed because semi-structured interviews are conducted
with a fairly open framework which allow for focused, conversational, two-way
communication.
2.1.2 Classroom observation
Classroom observation is a quantitative method of measuring classroom behaviors from
direct observations that specifies both the events or behaviors that are to be observed and how
they are to be recorded. Generally, the data that is collected from this procedure focuses on
the frequency with which specific behaviors or types of behavior occurred in the classroom
and measure their duration. Some of the major strengths of using classroom observation allow
educators to do the following: (1) permit researchers to study the processes of education in
naturalistic settings; (2) provide more detailed and precise evidence than other data sources;
and (3) stimulate change and verify that the change occurred. The descriptions of instructional
events that are provided by this method have also been found to lead to improved
understanding and better models for improving teaching. Basing on the benefits of classroom
observation and find that it is suitable for this research, the researcher decided to use it as a
mean to explore the current problems and strengths of English majors at HTTC in making
EFL oral presentations. During classroom observation, the researcher and other teachers
observed and noted down the strengths and weaknesses of English majors in making EFL oral

presentations (see Appendix 1). After the class, data were examined with regard to the second
research question that the study set out to address.


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2.1.3. Document study
A document study is an evaluation of a primary source – that is, a text written in the past
by other authors. Using this kind of instrument could help researcher easily find a lot of
different assessment criteria used by many other researchers, educators and teachers.
2.2. Procedures
The duration of the data collection was 6 months (a semester). First of all, the researcher
arranged a semi- structured interview with the teachers to explore the criteria they are using to
evaluate EFL oral presentations. Then, the researcher asked the teachers to inform her the
periods which students would make oral presentations in advanced so that the researcher and
the teacher could co-attend the period and observed the making - presentation periods. The
subjects being presented during observations included Grammar, English language practice,
Speaking skill, English for Tourism, English for Secretary, English for business, English and
American Literature studies. Classroom activities were students’ presentations. During
observation procedure, the researcher and the teacher teaching the subject noted the names of
the students and the strengths and weaknesses of his/her oral presentations. Then, the
researcher studied documents to find criteria used by other researchers. Finally, the three
sources of information were studied correlatively so that the teacher could have a deep
understanding about the criteria and the good and bad points of students’ oral presentations in
HTTC context as well as used criteria to give a set of assessment criteria for evaluating EFL
presentations.
2.3. Data analysis
Based on the semi-structured interview, the first question was investigated. Based on the
notes from observation form, the answer to the second question was found out. In the next
question, the researcher investigated document study to find out criteria used by experts,
educators and researchers to evaluate presentation. Finally, basing on the common criteria of

the teachers at HTTC and from document study as well as basing on the current strengths and
weaknesses of students at HTTC in making presentation, the researcher propose an evaluation
sheet for evaluating EFL presentations.