Summary of doctoral thesis of science education: Authentic assessment of english majored undergraduates’ english proficiency

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING
VIETNAM NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF EDUCATIONAL SCIENCES
------------------

ĐOÀN QUANG TRUNG

AUTHENTIC ASSESSMENT
OF ENGLISH-MAJORED UNDERGRADUATES’
ENGLISH PROFICIENCY

Major: Education
Code: 9 14 01 02

SUMMARY

Hanoi, 2019


THIS THESIS IS COMPLETED AT
VIETNAM NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF EDUCATIONAL SCIENCES

Supervisors:
1. Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nguyễn Thị Lan Phương
…………………………………...
2. Dr. Lê Đông Phương
…………………………………...

Reviewer 1: ....................................................................

Reviewer 2: ....................................................................

Reviewer 3: ....................................................................

The thesis will be defensed by the author before the Thesis Assessment
Board of Vietnam National Institute of Educational Sciences, at 101 Tran Hung
Dao Street, Hanoi, Vietnam.
At ............, date ..... month .... year............

Copies of this thesis are available at:
- National Library of Vietnam
- Library of Vietnam National Institute of Educational Sciences


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INTRODUCTION
1. Rationale
Assessment plays a significant role in the instruction of languages in general
and English in particular. Assessment can be used to measure learners'
achievements (assessment of learning) and to provide feedback on the teaching and
learning so that teachers and students can make adjustments to improve their
teaching and learning (assessment for learning). In other cases, no longer considered
a separate part of the instructional process, assessment is integrated into this process
and becomes its integral part, and accordingly in this way assessment activities are
actually learning activities (assessment as learning).
In spite of its importance, assessment activities are not always carried out
effectively so that they can be informative enough for those concerned and
supportive of learning. With regard to educational assessments in Vietnam, research
has found various problems. Following are some of them:
- Assessment activities fall short of expectations of those concerned in terms
of validity, reliablity, comprehensiveness.

- In many cases, assessment activities place more focus on the measurement
of students’ knowledge and lower-order thinking skills rather than their higherorder thinking skills such as critical thinking and problem-solving skills, and thus
the assessment activities are not able to create positive washback on the process of
teaching and learning [10, 14, 17].
It can be seen that assessment activities do not effectively support the
teaching and learning process. In other words, there remains a gap between
instructional and assessment activities. More specifically, communicative and
effective learning activities do not directly increase students’ scores in tests/exams
and high scores in tests/exams do not necessarily mean that the students have a high
level of English proficiency. Therefore, there is a need for a balanced assessment
which emphasizes the direct relationship between instructional and assessment
activities of the English language [71]. In this regard, a good and effective language


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learning activity (interactive and communicative) can at the same time be used as an
assessment activity and vice versa [90].
Authentic assessment requires students to communicate using English in
real-life communicative situations. In addition, authentic assessment enables us to
"assess what we value so that we value what we assess" [90]. In some cases,
English learners are required to take tests that are designed to measure their
knowledge of the English language. These tests often focus on the measurement of
students' knowledge and understanding of separate elements of English such as
grammar, vocabulary or pronunciation by choosing or checking an option among
several (often 3 or 4) alternatives. They do not directly measure students' actual use
of the language or their communicative language ability. In this regard, there
remains a gap between students' communicative language competence (what we
value) and their knowledge of separate elements of the language (what we assess).
Authentic assessment is believed to help deal with this problem in that it can play a

role in narrowing the gap between what we value and what we assess.
Despite its strengths, in Vietnam little research has been done on authentic
assessment in general and on its employment in the teaching, learning and
assessment of English in particular. All this makes room for the author of this study
to conduct an investigation into the employment of authentic assessment in
measuring English-majored undergraduates' communicative English competence or
their "English proficiency” in this thesis.
2. Aim of the thesis
This study aims to provide a procedure and specific measures that can be
used in the authentic assessment of English-majored undergraduates’ English
proficiency in order to increase the validity, reliability and comprehensiveness of
assessment activities.
3. Research area and object of the study
- Research area: the assessment of English-majored undergraduates’ English
proficiency.


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- Object of the study: authentic assessment activities in the process of
teaching, learning and assessment of English-majored undergraduates’ English
proficiency.
4. Hypothesis
If the proposed precedure (including three stages: designing, implementing
and evaluating) and measures (each includes sample tasks, authentic assessment
criteria and rubrics) were used in the assessment of English-majored
undergraduates’ English proficiency with focus placed on the four communicative
skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing, then they would help increase the
quality (validity, reliability and comprehensiveness) of the assessment activities of
English-majored undergraduates’ English proficiency at universities in Vietnam.

5. Objectives of the study
- to build up the body of literature on: (1) authentic assessment in the
teaching, learning and assessment of EFL students; (2) communicative language
competence; (3) authentic assessment of English-majored undergraduates’ English
proficiency;
- to investigate the current practice of the assessment of English-majored
undergraduates’ English proficiency at various universities in Vietnam;
- to propose a precedure and measures (including sample tasks, authentic
assessment criteria and rubrics) that can be used to measure English-majored
undergraduates’ English proficiency in the instructional process at universities in
Vietnam;
- to experiment with the procedure and measures proposed to test their
feasibility and effectiveness.
6. Scope of the study
- The study was conducted with regard to the authentic assessment of
English-majored undergraduates’ English proficiency within the framework of
assessment activities conducted in the instruction of the language skills of listening,


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reading, speaking and writing in the curriculum of English studies for Englishmajored undergraduate students at universities in Vietnam.
- A survey was conducted at 6 different universities which provide Englishmajor courses for full-time undergraduate students.
- The experiment was carried out between 8/2017 and 10/2017 at the
Department of English Studies – Hanoi University.
7. Approaches and methods
Approaches: (1) systematic approach; (2) context-based approach; (3)
activity-based approach; (4) process approach.
Methods
Secondary research methods: (1) reviewing the literature on the topic; (2)

comparing and contrasting; (3) analyzing, synthesizing and evaluating.
Primary research methods: the tools used to collect primary information
include: (1) survey questionnaires; (2) interviews; (3) seminars; (4) observations;
(5) experiment.
Other methods: consulting; quantitative and qualitative methods.
8. Points to defense
-

Authentic

assessment

enables

students

to

use

components

of

communicative language competence to communicate and interact with others in
reallife contexts, so it is necessary that authentic assessment be used in the process
of teaching, learning and assessment of English-majored undergraduates’ English
proficiency at universities in Vietnam;
- The employment of authentic assessment is underresearched in Vietnam;
- Authentic assessment is not commonly used at universities in Vietnam;

- If the proposed procedure and measures are used in the assessment of
English-majored undergraduates’ English proficiency with focus placed on the four
communicative skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing, then they would


5

help increase the quality (validity, reliability and comprehensiveness) of the
assessment activities of English-majored undergraduates’ English proficiency at
universities in Vietnam.
9. Contributions of the thesis
In theory, the thesis:
- helps build upon the body of literature on authentic assessment of
communicative language competence of EFL learners.
- helps clarify the theoretical basis and develop a theoretical framework for
the integration of authentic assessment into the assessment of English-majored
undergraduates’ English proficiency at universities in Vietnam.
- clarifies purposes, definitions, roles and features of authentic assessment.
- describes and analyzes the procedure, methods, criteria and rubrics used in
the incorporation of authentic assessment in the process of teaching, learning and
assessment of English-majored undergraduates’ English proficiency.
In practice, the thesis:
- identifies and describes the common practices of the testing and assessment
of English-majored undergraduates’ English proficiency at universities in Vietnam,
and provides an analysis and evaluation of the practices, with focus placed on the
assessment activities conducted in the teaching and learning process.
- proposes a procedure (including three stages: designing, implementing and
evaluating) and 4 measures (used to assess the four language skills of listening,
reading, speaking and writing) for teachers to employ authentic assessment in their
teaching and assessment of English-majored undergraduates’ English proficiency.

- helps confirm that the proposed procedure and measures worked effectively
by getting feedback from specialists, teachers and students in the areas of language
teaching, learning and assessment and by experimental activities.
10. Organization of the thesis


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In addition to the parts of Introduction, Conclusions and Recommendations,
References and Appendices, the present thesis consists of 4 chapters:
Chapter 1: Literature review
Chapter 2: Current practices of integrating authentic assessment into the
assessment of English-majored undergraduates’ English proficiency
Chapter 3: Procedure and measures for integrating authentic assessment into
the assessment of English-majored undergraduates’ English proficiency at
universities in Vietnam
Chapter 4: Experiment
CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW
1.1. A brief overview
1.1.1. Research on assessment in language instruction
A lot of research has been done on instructional assessment with focus
placed on the discussion of definitions, goals and objectives, roles and functions,
characteristics, forms and methods of assessment.
Based on the findings of various studies [11, 14, 23, 43, 97], assessment can
be defined as a process of gathering information about learners, discuss, analyze
and explain the information in a systematic way in order to understand what
learners know and can do from the knowledge and experiences they gather,
compare with the goals and objectives of the curriculum and provide stakeholders
(learners, teachers, managers, employers, etc.) with the information so that they
can make decisions (e.g. for recruitment) or make adjustments or changes to

increase the quality of teaching and learning.
With reference to the findings of various studies [11, 43, 54, 60, 61, 92],
assessment can be used to serve:
- administrative goals: for placement, selection, certification, decisionmaking by stakeholders (e.g. school managers, recruiters, employers);


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- instructional goals: to gain an understanding of the teaching and learning
process, learners’ achievements, learners’ competence, etc. so that teachers and
learners can make adjustments or changes to improve the instructional process.
Studies also discuss different forms of assessment categorized based on
different criteria. For example, based on the criterion of time of assessing,
assessment can be diagnostic (before the learning process), formative (during the
learning process) or summative (after the learning process) [11, 23].
Methods used in the assessment of learning vary, but to a certain extent they
can be summarized as follows: assessment of knowledge (e.g.: objective testing),
performance-based assessment (e.g.: presentation, project-based assessment,
portfolio) and observation [11].
1.1.2. Research on communicative language competence and the
assessment of communicative language competence
There has been an enormous amount of research done on communicative
language competence with focus placed on the clarification of its definition and
structure.
Early pieces of research propose a narrow definition of language competence
which only covers the knowledge of a language that a person has. Together with
that narrow definition of language competence, the term “language performance” is
also introduced. Language performance is used to refer to learners’ ability to
produce the language with the application of their knowledge of the language [49].
More recently, the definition was expanded by several linguists and

reseachers to a broader notion of “communicative language competence” which
means the ability to communicate in various contexts using the language, not only
using elements of the language such as grammatical knowledge but also gestures,
intonation, strategies and other non-verbal means of communication” [45, 46, 50,
68].
Two major approaches to the assessment of learner communicative language
competence are: (1) testing; and (2) performance-based assessment tasks [44, 82].


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1.2. Research on authentic assessment in language instruction
1.2.1. Definition and characteristics of authentic assessment
Researchers have come up with various definitions of authentic assessment.
Based on their findings, authentic assessment can be summarized and defined as an
approach to assessment in which learners are asked to do authentic tasks that
demonstrate meaningful application of essential knowledge and skills in real-world
contexts [57, 58, 65, 70, 72, 79, 82].
From the findings of various studies [10, 11, 44, 61, 70, 71, 82, 86], main
characteristics of authentic assessment can be summarized as follows:
- Resembling real-world tasks and activities;
- Based on problem-solving activities;
- Formative, supportive of learning;
- Emphasis placed on interaction and collaboration;
- Performance-based activities;
- Requirements and scoring criteria made clear to students before learning
begins;
- Measuring both learning products and process;
- Can be used together with or to replace standardized tests.
Authenticity

Authenticity is an important characteristic that distinguishes authentic
assessment from other forms of assessment. Based on the studies of Bachman and
Palmer, Cumming and Maxwell, Ozkan and Palm [42, 51, 85, 86], an assessment is
regarded as authentic if:
- students are engaged in cognitive processes that are important in successful
behaviors in life beyond school;


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- language input used in the assessment is authentic, i.e. materials which are
produced for real life, not changed or simplified for instructional purposes;
- the context in which the assessment takes place should be real-life
situations or similar to real-life situations.
1.2.2. Goals and objectives of authentic assessment
Authentic assessment is designed to serve three main objectives:
- to measure learners’ competence;
- to provide a statement of learners’ competence or language ability (e.g.
certification) so that stake-holders can make appropriate decisions;
- to promote learning (e.g. provide feedback on the teaching and learning
process/activities so that teachers and students can make adjustments suitable for
their own teaching and learning practices) [71].
1.2.3. Principles in using authentic assessment
During the process of using authentic assessment, it is important for teachers
to take account of the following factors: (1) validity; (2) reliability; and (3)
authenticity [82].
1.2.3.1. Validity
Validity is to do with whether teachers can assess what they want to assess.
More specifically, an assessment task is considered valid if it can measure exactly
what it is designed to measure [67].

1.2.3.2. Reliability
Reliability refers to how consistently a method measures a learner’s language
proficiency. If the same result can be consistently achieved by using the same
methods under the same circumstances, the result is considered reliable [44, 67].
1.2.3.3. Authenticity
Apart from validity and reliability, in order for an authentic assessment
task/activity to be distinctive from other assessement activities, it is necessary for


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the assessment to have authenticity. More specifically, in carrying out the task,
students need to be engaged in cognitive processes that are important in successful
behaviors in life beyond school, the language input used in the assessment need to
be authentic (i.e. materials which are produced for real life, not changed or
simplified for instructional purposes), the context in which the assessment takes
place should be real-life situations or similar to real-life situations.
1.2.4. Some models of using authentic assessment in language teaching,
learning and assessment
According to various studies [40, 71, 72], within the framework of this
thesis, it is suggested that teachers embed authentic assessment in the learning
process using the following pentagon model:
Interactive/collaborative
activities

Assignments

Authentic
assessment

Lectures

Tests

With focus placed on assessment, authentic assessment can be employed
using the Quad model introduced by Anthony et al.[71]:
1. Observation of process

2. Observation of product

Students immersed in

- Audio tapes

- speaking

- Selected pages from notebooks or

- listening

journals

- reading

- Reading logs

- writing

- Writing folders
- Group-work logs

- Projects


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- Learning logs
- Homework
3. Classroom measures

4. Decontextualized measures

- Text-related activities

- Criterion-reference tests

- Teacher-made tests

- District exams

- Comprehension questions

- Provincial or state exams

1.2.5. Procedure, approaches and types of authentic assessment
With reference to the findings of various studies [44, 71, 82], it can be
summarized that the procedure suggested for the employment of authentic
assessment includes three main stages: (1) designing; (2) implementing; and (3)
evaluating.
It is also learned from various pieces of research that there are two major
approaches to authentic assessment: (1) observation of assessment products

(portfolios, reports, learning journals, research pieces, etc.); and (2) observation of
performance (e.g.: interviews, conversations, roleplays, presentations, simulations,
etc.) [71, 82].
1.3. Research on communicative language competence
1.3.1. Definitions of communicative language competence
Different researchers come up with different definitions of communicative
language competence. The author of this thesis uses the definition introduced by the
Canadian Language Benchmarks: English as a Second Language for Adults,
adapted from Bachman (1990), Bachman and Palmer (1996, 2010) and CelceMurcia, Dornyei and Thurrel (1993, 1995): communicative language ability refers
to “the ability to communicate: to interact, to express, to interpret and to negiotiate
meaning, and to create discourse in a variety of social contexts and situations”
[45].
1.3.2. Structure of communicative language competence
With regard to the structure of communicative language competence, in this
thesis the author uses the model provided by Celce-Murcia, Dornyei and Thurrell


12

(1993) in which communicative language competence consists of 5 components: (1)
grammatical

competence;

(2)

sociolinguistic

competence;

(3)

discourse

competence; (4) strategic competence; and (5) action competence [47].
The five components are structured as in the following picture:

Sociolinguistic
competence

Discourse
competence

Grammatical
competence

Action
competence
Strategic
competence

Picture 1.4.: The structure of communicative language competence
All the five mentioned-above components are closely interrelated and
integrated into communicative language competence, so in order to communicate
effectively, the language user needs to employ all the five components at the same
time [47].
In this thesis, the author agrees with the findings and conclusions of various
researchers that a person’s communicative language competence cannot be
measured directly and is exposed through their performance and communicative
activities in the form of listening, speaking, reading and writing in various

communicative contexts [45, 46, 47, 50, 82].
1.3.3. Communicative language competence framework
1.3.3.1. Communicative language competence framework
In this thesis, the Vietnamese Framework of Reference for Languages
(abbreviated NLNNVN) with 6 levels of language proficiency is used [8]. The


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expected outcomes for English-majored undergraduates is level 5 (corresponding to
level C1 of the CEFR).
Table 1.1.: Communicative language competence framework

Advanced

Intermediate
Elementary

NLNNVN Framework
Level 6
Level 5
Level 4
Level 3
Level 2
Level 1

CEFR Framework
C2 (Proficiency/mastery)
C1 (Effective Operational
Proficiency)

B2 (Vantage)
B1 (Threshold)
A2 (Waystage)
A1(Breakthrough)

1.3.3.2. Descriptors of communicative language competence framework
In the development of language frameworks, authors often place great
emphasis on the construction of can-do descriptors that describe and illustrate what
learners can do at each level of proficiency [8, 50].
1.3.4. Learning outcomes and proficiency level set for English-majored
undergraduates
Learning outcomes describe what students are able to demonstrate in terms
of knowledge, skills, and values upon completion of a course, a span of several
courses, or a training program. The information of learning outcomes of a course at
universities is often made public and informed to those concerned [45, 50].
In Vietnam, the expected outcome level of proficiency set for Englishmajored undergraduates is level 5 of the NLNNVN, corresponding to level C1 of
the CEFR [8, 50].
1.4. Research on the employment of authentic assessment in the
assessment of English-majored undergraduates’ English proficiency
1.4.1. Important issues in the employment of authentic assessment in the
assessment of English-majored undergraduates’ English proficiency
Aims:
Authentic assessment is designed to:


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- be used as an alternative or supplementary method to help measure
learners’ competence more comprehensively and to increase validity and reliability
of assessment activities;

- provide a statement of learners’ competence or language ability (e.g.
certification) so that stake-holders can make relevant decisions;
- promote learning (e.g. provide opportunities for collaborative learning and
feedback on the teaching and learning process/activities so that teachers and
students can make adjustments appropriate for their own teaching and learning
practices) [71].
Approaches:
The author of this thesis agrees with the findings of various studies that
authentic assessment of English-majored undergraduates’ English proficiency is
based on the performance of students through the activities of listening, reading,
speaking and writing in real-life communicative contexts.
With that philosophy, authentic assessment should be performance-based and
within the framework of this thesis, though being authentic in some situations,
testing is distinctive from the authentic assessment discussed in this thesis. Thus,
the common forms of authentic assessment covered in this study include interviews,
conversations, observations, information gap, assignments, learning projects,
roleplays, simulations, presentations, portfolios, etc. [44, 82].
1.4.2. Components of communicative language competence that need to be
assessed
As described in the previous sections, communicative language competence
is structured into five components: (1) grammatical competence; (2) sociolinguistic
competence; (3) discourse competence; (4) strategic competence; and (5) action
competence [47]. These are the components that need to be trained, developed and
assessed during the learning process of English-majored undergraduates [42].
Again, it is neccessary to emphasize that the five components are exposed
through communicative acts conducted by students. Anchored in this reasoning, it


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can be concluded that authentic assessment in actuality is the assessment of
English-majored undergraduates’ English performance through communicative
acts in real-life contexts [44, 45, 50, 82].
1.4.3. Authentic assessment of English proficiency
In order to carry out authentic assessment effectively and systematically,
with reference to the findings of O’Malley and Pierce, it is proposed that teachers
do the following activities: (1) identifying purposes; (2) planning for assessment;
(3) setting standards; (4) developing scoring criteria and rubrics; (5) selecting
assessment activities; (6) implementing assessment and collecting information; and
(7) analyzing information and using assessment results [82].
1.5. Factors that influence the employment of authentic assessment in
the assessment of English-majored undergraduates’ English proficiency
Based on the findings of various studies, it can be concluded that there are
several major factors that influence the employment of authentic assessment in the
assessment of English-majored undergraduates’ English proficiency. They include
the curriculum and syllabus of the English course, outcome level of proficiency set
for students, characteristics of students; the demand of the society and labour
market.
1.6. Conclusions
Studies on assessment in general and authentic assessment in particular deal
with various issues such as definitions, purposes, roles, methods, tools and
procedures.
With regard to the introduction and employment of authentic assessment, a
great amount of research focuses on the analysis of the weaknesses of testing and
the need for alternative or supplementary methods.
It can be summarized that the body of literature on assessment and authentic
assessment has become more and more comprehensive and multi-dimensional.
However, little research has been done on the employment of authentic assessment

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in the measurement of English-majored undergraduates’ English proficiency. This
makes room for such a piece of research to be conducted with a hope to provide
valid,

reliable

and

comprehensive

measures

to

assess

English-majored

undergraduates’ English proficiency at universities in Vietnam.
CHAPTER 2: CURRENT PRACTICES OF INTEGRATING
AUTHENTIC ASSESSMENT INTO THE ASSESSMENT OF ENGLISHMAJORED UNDERGRADUATES’ ENGLISH PROFICIENCY
2.1. Aims of the survey
The survey aims to investigate the current practices of the assessment of
English-majored undergraduates’ English proficiency in general and the
employment of authentic assessment in the teaching, learning and assessment of
their English proficiency in particular. The findings of the investigation can be used
as the foundation for the introduction of measures with a hope to increase the
quality of the assessment activities (with regard to validity, reliability and

comprehensiveness).
More specifically, the survey focuses on the investigation of the 4 main
issues: (1) teachers’ and students’ knowledge of the two concepts of communicative
language competence and authentic assessment; (2) the current practices of the
assessment of English proficiency in general; (3) the current practices of authentic
assessment in teaching, learning and measuring English-majored undergraduates’
English proficiency in particular; and (4) teachers and students’ opinion of the best
method to assess English-majored undergraduates’ English proficiency.
2.2. Methods, population samples and data analysis
2.2.1. Methods
The main methods of collecting data include: (1) Survey questionnaires; (2)
interviews.
2.2.2. Population
Two main groups of population:


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- 518 English-majored undergraduate students are from 6 universities in
Vietnam.
- 91 teachers of English are from same 6 universities.
Ways of analyzing data
The app IBM SPSS 20 was used to analyze the data to answer the research
questions. Also, based on the data collected and analyzed, the researcher also
assessed, gave comments and made conclusions on the current practices.
2.3. Findings
- Most of the teachers and students asked understood the two concepts of
communicative language competence and authentic assessment.
- English language curriculum consists of different components of
assessment, which makes room for the implementation of various forms of

assessment, including authentic assessment.
- Teachers and students did employ authentic assessment in their teaching
and learning.
- The most common form of assessing students’ English proficiency is
testing. Meanwhile most teachers and students surveyed believed that tests should
be used together with other forms such as authentic assessment.
- Teachers’ skills of designing authentic assessment tasks, building scoring
criteria and rubrics fall short of expectations. They rarely design and use important
assessment tools such as self-assessment and peer-assessment rubrics or checklists.
- Teachers’ skills of implementing authentic assessment fall short of
expectations. They rarely use important assessment forms such as projects,
portfolios, self-assessment or peer assessment.
- Teachers employ authentic assessment in their teaching and assessment, but
only do this in a relatively informal way that does not provide systematic
information about student learning or instructional goals.


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- The results of authentic assessment activities do not reliably reflect both the
students’ learning process and their learning achievements.
- Teachers’ use of the results of authentic assessment are not up to the
expectations of their students.
- In general, teachers’ feedback on students’ performance is not timely
provided.
In order to help deal with the issues mentioned above, it is proposed in this
thesis that a comprehensive precedure (including three stages: designing,
implementing and evaluating) and 4 easy-to-use measures (each includes sample
tasks, assessment criteria and rubrics) be used in the assessment of English-majored
undergraduates’ English proficiency with focus placed on the four communicative

skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing.
CHAPTER 3: PROCEDURE AND MEASURES FOR INTEGRATING
AUTHENTIC ASSESSMENT INTO THE ASSESSMENT OF ENGLISHMAJORED UNDERGRADUATES’ ENGLISH PROFICIENCY AT
UNIVERSITIES IN VIETNAM
3.1. Principles
The procedure and measures were proposed based on the following factors:
(1) goals and objectives of the curriculum and syllabus; (2) accountability; (3)
feasibility; and (4) authenticity.
3.2. Procedure and measures
It is proposed that the following procedure and measures be used.
3.2.1. Procedure for the employment of authentic assessment
The proposed procedure consists of three main stages:

Stage
Designing

T and Ss
to
1: work
design
authentic
assessment

• Setting goals and objectives
• Making a plan for assessment tasks
• Setting standards, building criteria, rubrics, etc.


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tasks

• Making a plan for student involvement
• Selecting assessment activities
• Identifying methods of collecting information

T organizes
assessment
Stage
2:
activities and
Implementing
Ss do the
activities

T’s activity

Ss’ activities

• Informing
and
introducing
the
assessment tasks to Ss

• Receiving information
about the assessment
tasks

• Organizing

the
assessment activities
for Ss to take part in

• Working
and
discussing with T to
clarify the tasks if
necessary

• Observing
monitoring
performance

and
Ss’

• Giving feedback or
comments
when
necessary

T and Ss
analyze,
Stage
3: evaluate and
Evaluating
use
the
information

gathered

• Working individually,
in pairs or groups to do
the tasks
• Doing self or peer
assessment

T’s activity

Ss’ activities

• Collecting assessment
evidence and materials
(rubrics,
learning
products, etc.)

• Getting feedback and
comments from T or
peers

• Analyzing
and
evaluating
Ss’
assessment evidence
(their
performance,
their learning process

and products)
• Scoring,
giving
feedback or comments
on Ss’ performance
and their learning
process and learning
products
• Recognizing and using
the results of the
assessment
• Getting feedback from
Ss on the assessment

• Analyzing
the
feedback
given,
reflecting
and
evaluating their own
performance
or
learning products
• Making adjustments or
changes for future
tasks


20

activities,
making
adjustments or changes
if necessary
3.2.2. Measure 1: Authentic assessment of listening
This measure includes 4 main tasks:
Task 1: Developing the authentic listening task
Following are some of the activities proposed:
- Selecting/developing a listening task using authentic materials;
- Selecting/developing a listening task at the proficiency level stated in the
curriculum;
- Selecting/developing a listening task that focuses on measuring students’
understanding of the content of the message;
- Selecting/developing a listening task that focuses on measuring students’
understanding and perception of the speaker’s feelings, attitudes, etc.
Task 2: Selecting methods, developing criteria and rubrics
Following are some of the activities proposed:
- Selecting methods that are appropriate and easy to use in the learning
context;
- Selecting/developing criteria/rubrics that are specific and easy to use or for
reference;
- Selecting/developing answer sheet/guided notes for the listening task;
- Selecting/developing scoring/comment sheet for teacher assessment;
- Selecting/developing forms for self reflection or peer feedback.
Task 3: Implementing authentic assessment
Following are some of the activities proposed:
- Teacher informs students of the assessment tasks at the beginning of the
module;
- Anchored in the assessment plan, teacher organizes a learning activity and

uses it as an assessment activity (assessment as learning);
- Students listen to audio files, watch video, take notes, discuss and answer
questions;


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- Teacher and students use different forms of assessment, feedback and self
reflection to provide information about the assessment tasks.
Task 4: Evaluating
Following are some of the activities proposed:
- Teacher collects assessment materials for the listening task (answer sheet,
notes, comment/feedback/reflection forms, etc.)
- Teacher analyzes and evaluates the materials to make conclusions on
students’ performance;
- Teacher uses the information gathered to give feedback or comments on
students’ performance, encourages information exchange and discussion between
teacher and students and among students;
- Teacher and students use the information gathered to make adjustments or
changes to improve the learning of listening.
3.2.3. Measure 2: Authentic assessment of speaking
Similar to Measure 1, this measure also includes 4 main tasks (developing
the authentic speaking task; selecting methods, developing criteria and rubrics;
implementing authentic assessment; and evaluating), but is adapted for speaking
skill.
3.2.4. Measure 2: Authentic assessment of reading
Similar to Measures 1 and 2, this measure also includes 4 main tasks
(developing the authentic reading task; selecting methods, developing criteria and
rubrics; implementing authentic assessment; and evaluating), but is adapted for
reading skill.

3.2.5. Measure 4: Authentic assessment of writing
Similar to Measures 1, 2 and 3, this measure also includes 4 main tasks
(developing the authentic writing task; selecting methods, developing criteria and
rubrics; implementing authentic assessment; and evaluating), but is adapted for
writing skill.
CHAPTER 4: EXPERIMENT
4.1. Aims
The experiment is conducted to:


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- check the feasibility and effectiveness of Measure 2 (authentic assessment
of speaking) and Measure 4 (authentic assessment of writing);
- check the feasibility and effectiveness of the criteria and rubrics used to
measure students’ skills of speaking and writing;
- check the feasibility of the procedure proposed.
4.2. Designing
Following are some of the activities proposed:
- Teacher and students work to design a learning project that includes
authentic assessment tasks designed to measure students’ skills of speaking and
writing. Activities designed for the tasks would be conducted according to the
stages described in the procedure proposed;
- Teacher and students develop plans, criteria, rubrics, forms for assessment,
reflection and feedback that would be used later for the speaking and writing tasks.
4.3. Implementing
- Subjects of the experiment: a group of 25 fourth-year English-majored
undergraduate students from a department of a university.
- Time: 15/8/2017 – 13/10/2017 (semester 1, academic year 2017 – 2018).
- Procedure: 6 activities

(1) developing 2 authentic assessment tasks for the two skills of speaking
and writing;
(2) developing a plan for the assessments;
(3) developing assessment materials (rubrics, forms for different types of
feedback and reflection, etc.);
(4) implementing assessment activities;
(5) getting feedback on the assessment from students;
(6) analyzing data, evaluating and making conclusions about the authentic
assessments.


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4.4. Findings
Following are some of the findings from the experiment:
- The two measures used to assess speaking and writing in the experiment
proved effective;
- The assessment criteria, rubrics and scoring sheet proved useful, valid and
reliable;
- The guided notes, the forms of feedback and reflection, etc. proved useful
and effective;
- Based on the information gathered, it is concluded that the assessment tasks
and activities were authentic, collaborative and interactive;
- Based on the information gathered from the students after the experimental
process, it is concluded that the authentic assessment tasks and activities positively
influenced the students’ motivation and attitudes toward learning;
- That all the activities were implemented according the plan preliminarily
proved that the proposed procedure was useful.
CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Conclusions

- The thesis builds upon the body of literature on the employment of
authentic assessment in the assessment of English-majored undergraduates’ English
proficiency.
- The most common form of assessing English-majored undergraduates’
English proficiency is testing.
- Teachers’ skills of designing authentic assessment tasks, building scoring
criteria and rubrics fall short of expectations.
- Teachers’ skills of implementing authentic assessment activities fall short
of expectations.