MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING
VIETNAM NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF EDUCATIONAL SCIENCES

TRAN THI KIM DUNG

DEVELOPING SOME ASSESSMENT TOOLS
FOR GRADE-9 STUDENTS’ READING
COMPENTENCY IN LITERATURE
Major:

Theory and Methodology of Teaching

Code:

9 14 01 11

SUMMARY OF DOCTORAL THESIS

HA NOI, 2019


This research is completed at:
The Vietnam National Institute of Educational Sciences

Supervisors:
1. ASSOC. PROF. DR. Nguyen Thi Hong Van
2. ASSOC. PROF. DR. Nguyen Thi Hanh

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


process of teaching and learning renovation.
1.2. Students’ performance assessment is an essential component in the teaching and
learning process. Systematic assessment following the learning objectives will promptly
provide necessary information for students to re-adjust their learning activities and
feedback for teachers to adjust, refine their teaching activities, thereby improving the
teaching and learning quality in the general schools. When the curriculum, text books have
been determined toward competency development, the assessment of students’
performance should be in compliance with this approach. However, in the current general
schools, the assessment of students’ performance in the subjects in general and Literature
in particular still has limitations and shortcomings. Teachers who have approached the
trend of assessment renovation towards competency development still find it confusing to
implement, especially when it comes to how to establish appropriate tools ensuring
technical requirements.
1.3. Reading comprehension is a component competency of the group of professional
competencies that need forming and developing in the Literature. However, the
assessment of reading competency still has limitations, including the issue of developing
the assessment tools. The question is what kind of renovation does Literature in
Vietnamese schools need to achieve the goal of competency assessment? Besides the
common assessment tools that teachers have been using for a long time, how can we
develop tools to assess students’ reading competency accurately and objectively? For such
educational phrases of significant meaning as fundamental educational phrase (ends at
grade 9), how should the assessment of Literature performance be implemented for the
best improvement of teaching quality?

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For the above-mentioned reasons, the following research topic was chosen:
“Developing some assessment tools for grade-9 students’ reading competency in
Literature”.

teaching method and testing and assessing academic performance of subjects in general
schools (Ministry of Education and Training, 2016, 2017, 2018 Teacher Training
Materials), etc.
In general, the documents have significantly resolved some radical issues in terms

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of continuous assessment such as concept, purpose, role/meaning, methods, primary
means/tools; focused on the importance of continuous assessment: assessment for learning
activities with the purpose of finding and interpreting information for learners, teachers to
determine their position on the learning path, thereby adjusting teaching and learning
activities to strive for the best. Although these issues have mostly been addressed in terms
of general theory initially with some examples associated with the subject, we consider
these as important foundation to continue researching and applying to fulfill the task of the
thesis.
2.3. Research on summative assessment at school
Summative assessment is also a matter of great interest, some of the main works
that the author had access to are Classroom Assessment Techniques (Thomas A.Anges, K
Prtricia Cross), Assessment and Teaching of 21st Century Skills: Methods and Approach
(Patrick Griffin, Esther Care), Guidance for Teachers to Achieve High Results in
Assessing Students in the Classroom (Niko, Hasu), Measurement and Assessment of
Learning Activities at School (Lam Quang Thiep), Research and propose a common
knowledge framework for educational assessment and focus on each relevant subject
(Duong Thu Mai),…
These documents have analyzed and clarified some of the important concepts of
summative assessment, purpose of summative assessment, tools used in summative
assessment. In addition, the authors also expressed some opinions showing the new
approach (compared to Vietnam) in the test/examination paper design in order to develop
students’ competency: focusing on the problem-solving task with pragmatic scenarios,

requirements of reading are the outcomes of competency standard. These requirements are
specifically analyzed for each text genre (literary text, argumentative text, informative
text). The analysis of educational results also stated specific guidelines playing the role of
compass helping teachers realized the nature of students’ academic performance
assessment following the competency development orientation. However, the mentioned
issues in this thesis are only the guidelines, specific applied studies are required for
practical implementation and application.
Some foreign documentations namely Technique to Raise Questions in Reading
Competency Assessment (Juliette Mendelovits, Ron Martin Dave Tout); Teaching the Best
Practice Way: Methods that Matter : (Harvey Daniels và Marilyn Bizar); Teaching
reading and writing (Johnson, A.P), etc. focused on discussing the important role of
reading competency assessment, initially introduced assessment tools for reading
competency, levels of reading competency needs assessing.
In general, both domestic and foreign researchers have studied and introduced some
guidelines for using the assessment tools for students’ reading competency from different
perspectives. However, some issues in terms of how to design and use some assessment
tools such as questionnaires, observation slips, academic records to improve the teaching
and learning quality have not been studied comprehensively and systematically. That is
the gap that the thesis will proceed on reseaching.
3. Research purpose
To develop some assessment tools for grade-9 students’ reading competency in
Literature to contribute to the renovation of academic performance assessment in
Literature following learners’ competency development orientation.

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4. Research tasks
- To determine the theoretical, practical basis of the development of some
assessment tools for grade-9 students’ reading competency in Literature in two forms,


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Chapter 2: Designing assessment tools for grade-9 students’ reading competency in
Literature
Chapter 3: Pedagogical experiment, reviewing the efficiency and feasibility of the
proposed assessment tools for grade-9 students’ reading competency.

CHAPTER 1: SCIENTIFIC BASIS OF THE DEVELOPMENT
OF SOME ASSESSMENT TOOLS FOR
GRADE-9 STUDENTS’ READING COMPETENCY IN LITERATURE
1.1. Rationale
1.1.1. Assessing educational outcomes following competency development orientation
1.1.1.1. Assessing educational outcomes
Educational assessment means the process of gathering information, analyzing and
interpreting the reality of students’ learning, identifying the cause to propose measures to
improve the teaching and learning so that students can make progress and achieve the set
out learning objectives. In accordance with the “General Education Programme”,
educational outcomes are measured with qualitative and quantitative forms through
continuous, periodical assessment at educational facilities, assessment on a large scale at
national, local level and international assessment. The results of optional subjects are used
to assess students’ general academic performance in each academic year and in the entire
learning process.
1.1.1.2. Forms of educational outcomes assessment
There are two forms of assessment, based on continuity and period which are
continuous assessment and periodical assessment. The continuous assessment (also called
process assessment) is the assessment that takes place in the teaching process, provides
feedback for teachers and students to improve teaching and learning activities. The
periodical assessment (also called summative assessment) is the assessment that takes

(observation of product). The tools used in the observation method consist of: Observation
slips; Academic transcripts; Teaching diaries (short record, daily record), etc.
Practical method: It is the method where teachers organize students to carry out
practical activities, write reports on the practical results; focus on the process of carrying
out activities and final products; help students differentiate what they have known from
what they have done. Tools that are often used in the practical method are short questions
and exercises associated with specific situations, learning tasks that need resolving,
experiments, academic records.
1.1.1.5. Concept of competency
There are different concepts of competency; however, there are still similarities.
From our perception, competency is a combination of personal attributes showing a
smooth consolidation of knowledge, skills and biological - psychological conditions of an
individual (demand, emotion, will, personal positiveness, etc.) to effectively conduct an
activity in accordance with requirement and goals that are practically established;
competency is formed and developed based on existing qualities and through the process
of learning, training of each person.
1.1.1.6. Competency assessment
The trend of assessment with the following characteristics: 1) Paying more
attention to each person’s improvement and capacity expressed during the learning

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process and applying what they have learned to the practice; 2) Focusing on summative
assessment contents, associated with the resolution of practical situations; 3) Determining
assessment levels on a wide spectrum to achieve accurate and specific classfication of
learners’ competency.
1.1.1.7. Some scales in competency assessment
The thesis studied on: (1) B.S. Bloom’s cognitive scale, (2) Dreyfus’s skill
assessment; (3) Boleslaw Niemierko’s thinking levels, (4) Biggs and Collis’s behavioral



argumentative text, informative text. When identifying the requirements to meet in terms
of text reading, in addition to the common requirements, there are specific requirements
associated with the characteristics of each genre of text. Therefore, when identifying the
requirements of reading competency assessment in Literature, it is important to pay
attention to general requirements and specific requirements for each genre of text.
1.1.3. Some assessment tools that are mainly used for students’ reading competency in
Literature
1.1.3.1. Some assessment tools used in continuous assessment
Questions, exercises: The boundaries between questions and exercises are relatively
determined by the manner in which they are raised and resolved. An exercise may consist
of one or more questions. Questions, exercises are the most popular tools to assess
students’ progress; attract their attention easily and effectively, get them engaged in the
lesson. Questions/exercises may enhance students’ reasoning and comprehension ability
by helping them thoroughly and verbally express their ideas. There are different ways of
classifying questions/exercises. In the thesis, the question, exercises system to assess
students’ reading competency will be categorized into 3 types, according to 3 tasks carried
out by students when reading the text.
Feedback: Feedback is a critical tool that teachers often use to encourage students.
The feedback shall be effective when consisting of 6 following characteristics:
Associating the implementation with assessment standard, Showing students’ progress;
Demonstrating how to correct mistakes; Being regular and prompt; Describing in detail;
Focusing on major mistakes. Positive feedback does not only help students strengthen
their knowledge, skills, realize their correct/incorrect points when carrying out the tasks,
therefore discovering the way to change/adjust to improve academic performance but also
provides students with motivation to try harder.
Observation slips: The tools consist of specific requirements that need to be noted
down during the observation to track, review students’ implementation of the activities
(process observation) or comment on a product made by students (product observation).

exercises/learning projects. The reasons for this choice was that we wanted to continue,
develop the implementation of the existing program and the new program.
1.2. Practical basis
1.2.1. Administrators and teachers’ awareness of assessing students’ reading
competency in Literature
1.2.1.1. Administrators and teachers’ awareness of academic performance assessment
following competency development orientation
The above content was analyzed with the following criteria: being aware of
characteristics, nature of the assessment of students’ reading competency; taking a
scientific approach to reading competency assessment; applying knowledge of assessment
to renovate the testing and assessment in the direction of competency development. The
survey result showed that a majority of administrators, teachers had proper awareness of
the above issues.
1.2.1.2. Administrators and teachers’ awareness of renovation in assessing students’
reading competency in secondary-school Literature.
This content was studied on the following specific perspectives: Accurate
identification of assessment purpose, assessment implementation process, tools used in the
assessment and design of assessment tools. The result showed that a majority of teachers
were not aware of the different assessment tools that could be used to assess students’

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reading competency such as: Questionnaires, Observation slips, Academic records, Scales,
etc. Some teachers heard about it but had never used or seen their colleagues using them.
This is a shortcoming that is worth paying attention to in order to overcome the limitations
in the existing assessment.
1.2.2. The practice of tools that are used to assess students’ reading competency in
Literature
1.2.2.1. Tools used to assess students’ reading competency



CHAPTER 2: DESIGNING AND USING SOME ASSESSMENT TOOLS FOR
GRADE-9 STUDENTS’ READING COMPETENCY
IN LITERATURE
2.1. Proposing principles and process of developing assessment tools for reading
competency
2.1.1. Principles of developing assessment tools for reading competency
- To guarantee systematic, accurate and scientific assessment of students’ reading
competency
- To describe in detail the requirements identified in the reading content of grade-9
students
- To be in line with biological and psychological characteristics of students
- To meet the practical requirements of Vietnam and integrate with the world
2.1.2. Steps to develop assessment tools for grade-9 students’ reading competency in
Literature
- Identify the assessment purpose
- Identify the assessment standards
- Establish the assessment matrix
- Develop the assessment tool
- Appraise the assessment tool
- Adjust and complete the assessment tools
These steps are mostly implemented in tests/examinations, other tools like
questionnaires, observation slips may also be conducted (if possible) or simplified,
combined appropriately. The appraisal will depend on the nature of the tools (used on a
narrow or large scale, in continuous assessment or periodical assessment) to be conducted
with different scales, requirements.
2.2. Proposing assessment standard for grade-9 students’ reading competency
2.2.1. Proposing assessment standard for reading competency (common standard for
three genres of text)

after teaching the text Chuyen nguoi con gai Nam Xuong (The Married Woman of Nam
Xuong) (by Nguyen Du). With a total of 10 questions, including both multiple-choice and
open questions. Multiple-choice questions also included different types such as: Simple
objective multiple-choice questions, complex objective multiple-choice questions,
matching questions. This system of questions and exercises carried out three tasks as
stated in the standard for assessing the competency of reading literary text with different
difficulty levels; focused on strengthening the type of question connected with reality. By
answering the questions, students would have chance to practice on how to read and
comprehend literary text (tale in this context): learn about the characteristics of the genre
and ideological views of the author; remember main events; connect, analyze the events,
details in the tale to explain the content, meaning of the story; recognize the effects of the
mythical details in the story, relate the problems posed in the story with reality to draw
lessons on self-awareness and self-action. Through students’ answering these questions,
teachers could assess the students’ reading competency, be aware of the good points and
obstacles to take measures promptly, gradually achieve the paramount goal: know how to

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read and comprehend tales. Consequently, students can actively, confidently read other
tales, which means know how to read extensively to form and develop the reading
competency.
2.3.1.2. Feedbacks
The thesis illustrated the continuous assessment tools - feedback - based on six
major characteristics: 1) Being associated with specific requirements; 2) Recording
progress; 3) Instructing how to adjust; 4) Being consistent with timing and extend; 5)
Being detailedly described; 6) Focusing on important mistakes. The answers of some
questions in the item 2.3.1.1 are considered as basis to produce feedback. After each
illustrative example, there is an explanation of tools for easy observation (purpose,
meaning, and note when using).

about matter relating to reading preferences; 2) Reflective article (in the form of personal
opinion) after reading some texts (beyond the curriculum) about the modest personality of
President Ho Chi Minh; 3) Oral presentation about the consequences of war/the risk of
nuclear war in some countries in the world today (audio recording or video clip); 4) Text
summarizing some article about children encountering difficult lives in need of
community help; 5) A group draft to help the most suffering students among the difficult
children that they know; 6) Summary of two other stories by Nguyen Du in the work
Truyen ki man luc (Collection of Strange Tales) that were also written about women; 7)
Summary of Truyen Kieu (The Tale of Kieu) in students’ own way of reading; 8) A
summary text of a critical article on The Tale of Kieu; 9) A synopsis of the movie Luc Van
Tien; 10) Summary of some articles about the present-day Luc Van Tien examples and
students’ comment. The specific products in the academic record were diversified,
however, it was necessary to rely on the practical tasks assigned to students by teachers to
determine, select products to include in the record.
2.3.2. Some assessment tools for grade-9 students’ reading competency in Literature
that are used in the periodical assessment
2.3.2.1. Tests
The illustrative test included 20 questions, focusing on assessing grade-9 students’
reading competency (literary text and informative text) with three reading tasks that
students needed to perform and behavioral levels of specific competency standard
identified in the test matrix. In order to diversify the question types, we designed 14
objective multiple-choice questions of the following types: simple multiple-choice
questions, complex multiple-choice questions and 6 open-ended questions. The openended questions aimed to assess how students applied their knowledge, skills of reading
text, associated with practical situations or simulated practice so as for students to train
and develop integrally the ability to solve problems. Two literary materials were selected,
one was available in grade 9 Literature text book (the poem Dong chi (Comrade) – by
Chinh Huu) and the other (informative text) beyond the text book but the appropriateness
for grade-9 students was still guaranteed (in terms of topic, volume, language, etc.). The
poem “Dong chi” was used to connect with the content of the Observation slip. We chose
similar criteria between these 2 tools in the expression of students’ reading competency as

Information from the assessment (both continuous and periodical) will provide
teachers with evidence of students’ academic performance and progress, this issue should
be of particular interest in the continuous assessment so as for teachers to adjust the
teaching activities promptly. From the information about the result of continuous
assessment, teachers was able to determine what students were capable of doing and
generalize their current position. It was important to train teachers about how to use teach
diary as an effective supporting tool for the task of assessing academic performance.
Teachers need to include the feedbacks, assessment, and specific evidence (students’
products) in the Academic records to support discussions during parent-teacher
conferences to show progress and allow monitoring of progress over time; provide an
accurate picture of where each student is on the learning process to help parents monitor
their child's learning.
From the assessment result, teachers need to make constructive comments,
providing information relating to action that may support the learning to not only help
parents see their child’s progress but also to consult on how to support their learning at
home. It is essential to provide precise and unofficial evidence that is collected regularly
and noted systematically to increase the reliability for parents.

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2.3.2. Using information from the assessment tools to classify students to adjust and direct
the way of teaching and learning of students in the following stage
Teachers also need to use the post-assessment information to determine their
pedagogical intervention plan with each students’ zone of proximal development; guide
students how to plan to improve their own achievements; make recommendations for
parents to help students improve their shortcomings. To effectively implement the abovementioned requirements, one of the premise to help teachers analyze the evidence
objectively and scientifically is to rely on Guttman scale which is also called cumulative
scaling or scalogram analysis. It is an ordinal scale for attribute assessment, from which
the initial observations can be copied. The detection of the Guttman scale in data depends

3.2. Content
Experimenting two tools which are Observation slips (continuous assessment) and
Tests (summative assessment) to assess grade-9 students’ reading competency to get
specific specifications, thereby drawing conclusions on the design and use of the proposed
tools in the thesis.
3.3. Experimental tools
Observation slips and Tests (to express the idea of connecting these two tools in the
assessment of students’ reading competency).
3.4. Steps to conduct the experiment
Developing an experimental plan; Conducting experiment; Processing experimental
result of the tools
3.5. Experimental area and objectives
The thesis conducted experiment at 06 secondary schools in three provinces/cities
namely Ha Noi, Quang Ninh, Thai Nguyen on grade-9 students
3.6. Experimental result
3.6.1. Teachers’ feedback on the Observation slips
The observation slips designed by us were used by teachers in the experimental
teaching and reading class of the text Dong chi. The criteria for assessing the Observation
slips include: 1) Are the assessment objectives clear? 2) Is it convenient to use the tool? 3)
Is the tool’s structure appropriate? 4) Are the assessment contents appropriate with the
objectives? 5) Are the assessment contents appropriate with students? 6) Are the
requirements set out in the tool clear? 7) Is the accuracy and science of the tool
guaranteed? 8) Are the assessment, marking criteria clear?
According to teachers’ feedback, although it was the first time using the
Observation slips, they found it relatively convenient to use. Observation slips helped
teacher assessment some students comprehensively, with specific behaviors/evidence.
73% of the surveyed teachers marked the above criteria as very good and good.
3.6.2. Result of assessment on the value and reliability of tests

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future.
3.7. Some conclusions through the experiment
Some assessment tools for reading competency that are proposed by the thesis are
feasible, which can be a positive means in teaching text reading in grade 9, contributing to
the improvement of teaching quality.
Each tool often focused on assessing some competency indicators instead of
assessing thoroughly a student’s competency. Therefore, the use of numerous tools in the
entire process of assessment is necessary. The combination of tools in a suitable way will
provide teachers with precise conclusion in assessing students’ competency.

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The experiment also showed some existing issues in the current situation of
teaching and learning at secondary schools, expressed in the elements of the teaching
process. Therefore, these elements demand for adjustment that is suitable with the practice
but still demonstrates a development trend of an advanced, modern education system in
the open direction.

SUBCONCLUTION OF CHAPTER 3
The experimental process showed that the Observation slips were a new tool but
considered feasible and effective by most teachers; the experimented tests also had a good
reliability. Through the specifications of each question in tests, it can be seen that the tests
are suitable with the capability of grade 9 students, however, there are still some questions
that need adjusting to increase the reliability. The experiment process also helped us to get
a better insight of the backward impact of the assessment on the objects, content, and
teaching methods, thereby determining the basis for making appropriate
recommendations. And the development of assessment tools for students’ reading
competency in both continuous assessment and periodical assessment is a right research
direction, contributing to improving the quality of teaching reading comprehension in

reading competency, the author identified the process for developing the tools with 6 steps
and 4 principles. These four principles need to be complied with, the steps may be
adjusted in accordance with practice and characteristics of each tool. The thesis also
researched and proposed assessment standard for grade-9 students’ reading competency,
including common standard for three genres of text and specific standard for each genre
learned by students. Each standard was proposed with 3 levels to achieved the
differentiation for each type of question. To facilitate teachers in applying the tools in the
teaching practice, the author continued to study and propose the way of developing, using
and basically structuring each tool. Sticking to the identified scientific basis, the thesis
conducted research to develop an illustration of some assessment tools in respect of the
two forms, continuous assessment and periodical assessment. To clarify the ideas, the
author carefully analyzed the characteristics of each tool, instructed the way to apply in
teaching practice and gave notes to help teachers use these tools comfortably. However,

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the science of assessment was remarkably sophisticated because of its sensitivity
(particularly in Literature), it required not only the accuracy, science, objectivity but also
factors showing the suitable flexibility in accordance with the diversified and messy
practice. Therefore, the aim of these initial tools was to explain the arguments raised in the
thesis, drawbacks were certainly inevitable. We hope that teachers when having the idea
of applying will make thorough consideration of the specific conditions in terms of
students, lesson progress, syllabus, etc. to make suitable adjustments while still adhering
to the core, important objective, which is to assess for the development of grade-9
students’ reading competency.
3. The feasibility of the scientific hypothesis raised by the thesis was shown
through the pedagogical experiment at 3 secondary schools of 3 different regions. The
initial test result revealed that the proposed tools satisfied the basic criteria and were
welcomed by teachers and students; the information processing result in the relationship

students’ reading competency; paying attention to the use of information after assessment
to review students’ progress and develop teaching strategy in order to improve teaching
quality.
- Methodically investing for research on Standard for reading competency
assessment in particular and component competency in Literature in general at all
educational levels as the basis for teachers to compile the assessment tools.
For secondary school teachers:
- Positively, actively self-learning, self-fostering to improve professional
qualification in terms of assessing students’ academic performance following the
competency development orientation.
- Dauntlessly applying, experimenting new direction in assessing students’
academic performance in general and students’ reading competency in particular, paying
special attention to the goal of assessment for learners’ improvement.

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