VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACUTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES
***************

NGUYỄN THỊ TRANG

AN EVALUATION ON THE VALIDITY OF
END-TERM ENGLISH TESTS USED FOR YEAR 11 STUDENTS
AT A VIETNAMESE PUBLIC HIGH SCHOOL IN THE NORTH
EAST AREA OF VIETNAM
(Đánh giá tính giá trị trong các bài kiểm tra hết học kỳ môn tiếng Anh
của học sinh lớp 11 ở một trường công lập tại phía Đông Bắc Việt Nam)

Field: English Teaching Methodology (Applied program)
Code: 8140231.01

HANOI- 2019


VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACUTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES
***************

NGUYỄN THỊ TRANG

AN EVALUATION ON THE VALIDITY OF END-TERM
ENGLISH TESTS USED FOR YEAR 11 STUDENTS AT A
VIETNAMESE PUBLIC HIGH SCHOOL IN THE NORTH EAST
AREA OF VIETNAM


On the completion of this paper, I would like to express my gratitude to
all my teachers, my supervisor, the administrators, staffs, teachers, and
students at a Vietnamese public high school in the North-East area of
Vietnam, friends and family.
First and foremost, I would like to express my deepest gratefulness to
my supervisor. She gives me all the best consultancy, valuable comments and
motivation as well.
Secondly, I highly express my gratitude to the teachers at Faculty of
Post-graduate Studies of University of Languages and International Studies
for their previous lessons in school year 2016-2018. They directly provided
me with the understandings, the knowledge and skills relating to my fieldEnglish language teaching.
Moreover, I sincerely appreciate the cooperation of the administrators,
staffs, teachers and students at a Vietnamese public high school in the NorthEast area of Vietnam. Especially, I am so thankful to Ms. A for providing me
the data of two school years.
Finally, I would like to thank my loved family, who have supported me
throughout entire process, both by keeping me harmonious and helping me
putting pieces together. I will be grateful forever for your love.

ii


ABSTRACT

English is one of the main subjects in Vietnam education nowadays.
All fields are using English from business, commercial, transport, technology
to tourism, education, and logistics. With the deep concerns about the
importance of English, the researcher carried out study titled: “An evaluation
on the validity of end-term English tests used for year 11 students at a
Vietnamese public high school in the North East area of Vietnam”. The main

1.4. Methods of the study .................................................................................. 3
1.5. Research questions ..................................................................................... 3
1.6. Design of the thesis .................................................................................... 4
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW...................................................... 5
2.1. Basic concepts of testing ............................................................................ 5
2.2. The relationship between teaching, learning and assessment. ................... 6
2.2.1. Testing and teaching ............................................................................... 6
2.2.2. Testing and Learning............................................................................... 7
2.2.3. Language Testing .................................................................................... 9
2.3. Major characteristics of a good language test .......................................... 10
2.4. Achievement test and its types ................................................................. 16
CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY............................................................... 17
3.1. English learning and teaching at a Vietnamese public high school in the
North East area of Vietnam. ............................................................................ 17
3.1.1. Students and their backgrounds ............................................................ 17
iv


3.1.2. The English staffs .................................................................................. 17
3.3.3. Syllabus and its objectives .................................................................... 18
3.1.4. The textbook: “Tiếng Anh 11”.............................................................. 21
3.2. English testing at a Vietnamese public high school in the North East area
of Vietnam ....................................................................................................... 21
3.2.1. Testing situation .................................................................................... 21
3.2.2. The current final year-11 achievement tests ......................................... 22
3.3. Research method ...................................................................................... 24
3.3.1. Data collection instruments ................................................................... 25
3.3.2. Participants ............................................................................................ 25
3.4. Data analysis ............................................................................................ 25
CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION ......................................... 32

Table 3.2
Table 3.3
Table 3.4
Table 3.5
Table 3.6
Table 3.7
Table 3.8
Table 3.9
Table 3.10
Table 3.11

A checklist for test evaluation
Detail subjects for each grade
Number of English periods in two semesters
Syllabus goal and objectives
Topics of English 11
Specification of the first end-term test for year 11
Specification of the second end-term test for year 11
Average score of four achievement tests
Frequency distribution of 1st final achievement test in
2015-2016
Frequency distribution of 2nd final achievement test in
2015-2016
Frequency distribution of 1st final achievement test in
2016-2017
Frequency distribution of 2nd final achievement test in
2016-2017
LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 2.1

Leading to the needs for learning and teaching English language in any part of
the world is growing. With national education in many countries, English has
become a compulsory subject. Their target is help learners access the best
things and have good jobs in the world. To meet these needs, the government
and the education department need to find the best ways to help teachers and
learners using proficiently English language.
Fully recognizing the importance of English language, the
government and the Ministry of education and training in Vietnam have
required all students from grade 3 to grade 12 to learn English as a
compulsory subject. Therefore, English has been taught at any primary,
secondary and high schools in Vietnam aiming at equipping the students with
a best tool to work in any field in their life. Strongly knowing the importance
of English language, a Vietnamese public high school in the North East area
of Vietnam has taught English subject in all classes from grade 10 to grade
12. With oriented classes, there are at least four periods per week and others
have three periods per week. Besides that, each year always has two semesters
with overall for 111 English periods. However, after finishing a semester and
a year, a test has not evaluated what students acquire English, how well they
use English with taught lessons and at which level of English they are
1


standing. In a public high school in the North East area of Vietnam, with
English subject, teachers and students have followed the textbook named
“Tiếng Anh 11” which has five main parts including these orders: reading,
speaking, listening, writing and language focus. Nevertheless, in the end-term
tests, only grammar knowledge is displayed on the test papers. So, do the tests
meet the validity? Can students use English well to communicate outside?
Seeing these points, I decide to undertake this study entitled “An
evaluation on the validity of end-term English tests used for year 11 students

First, the author based herself both on the theory and on the principle
of Language Testing, major characteristics of a good test, especially test
validity, achievement test and statistical methods used in interpreting test
results. From critical reading, the writer has gathered, analyzed and
synthesized many reference materials to draw out a theoretical basis to
evaluate the used achievement test for the 11 th year students in terms of its
validity.
1.5. Research questions
This study is implemented to find answers to the following research
questions:
1. To what extent do the tests for year 11 students in a Vietnamese
public school in the North East area of Vietnam meet the content
validity?
2. To what extent do the tests for year 11 students in a Vietnamese
public school in the North East area of Vietnam meet the construct
validity?
3. To what extent do the tests for year 11 students in a Vietnamese
public school in the North East area of Vietnam meet the face
validity?
3


1.6. Design of the thesis
The thesis is clearly organized into four main chapters:
Chapter 1: Introduction of the thesis presents such basic information as the
rationales, the scopes, the aims, the methods, the research questions and the
design of the study.
Chapter 2: Literature review reviews theoretical backgrounds on evaluating a
test which includes these main points: the importance of testing in education,
language testing, major characteristics of a good test and achievement test.

Through testing, the teachers can make important decisions on the courses,
the syllabus, the course book, teachers and learners. Bachman (1990) asserts
that language tests can provide the means for more focus on the specific
assure of interest. With Brown (1994) insists that “a test, is a method of
measuring a person‟s ability or knowledge in a given area”. Therefore, in
short, testing is an effective mean of measuring and assessing students‟
language knowledge and skills. This is to evaluate learners‟ ability, suitable
5


teaching methods, teaching and learning materials. Through testing, the
administrators can make important decisions on the course, the syllabus, the
course book, teachers, learners and administration. Testing contributes a very
important part in teaching/learning process. It is the last stage in education
technology. Therefore, to take advantages of testing to measure the quality of
education, the administrators must build an essential and eligible testing
technology. This is to evaluate learners‟ ability, suitability of teaching
methods, teaching/learning materials and teaching/learning conditions and
suitability of set-up training objectives.
2.2. The relationship between teaching, learning and assessment.
In every teaching and learning experience, testing is a significant part.
To measure learners‟ ability, the best way we use is testing. It may create
positive or negative attitudes toward teaching and learning process. Testing
reflects teaching process and overall training objectives and aims. Through
testing, the administrator can make important decisions on the course, the
syllabus, the course book, teachers and learners.
Testing contributes a very significant part in teaching and learning
process. It can be the first, middle or the last stage in education technology.
Therefore, to take advantages of testing to measure the quality of education,
the administrators must build an essential and eligible testing technology.

abilities of the student” (Henning, 1987:1). That is, through testing, learners
can find out at which level they are standing and what difficulties they have
faced up with. As a result, they can adjust their learning; explore more
effective ways of learning. At the same time, the teacher can rely on the
results of tests to understand better learners‟ ability and then can improve his
methods of teaching or revise knowledge. Thus, Read (1982:2) said that “a
test can help both teachers and learners to clarify what the learners really need
7


to know”. It is clear that not only the teacher but also learners may achieve the
benefits through testing.
To sum up, tests can benefits students, teachers and even administrators
by confirming progress that has been made and showing how they can best
redirect their future efforts. In addition, good tests can sustain or enhance
class morale and aid learning.
Assessment as “a systematic approach to collecting information and
making references about the ability of a student or the quality or success of a
teaching course on the basis of a various sources of evidence” (Richard,
2009). Assessment is also a critical link for teaching and learning, which
plays an important role in the process of curriculum design and teaching
implementation. Hughes (1989) summarizes the relationship as “the proper
relationship between teaching and testing is surely that of partnership”. If the
testing leaves good effects on teaching, the effect of the vice versa
relationship is said beneficial. Richards, J.C and Nunan,D., (1990) refer to
what should be focus on assessment:
o

Insure reliability and validity



positive and negative impact on teaching. Testing provides teachers how
effective their teaching has been.
2.2.3. Language Testing
Language testing is one of the forms of testing and it is also one form
of measurements. Its importance in English learning is reviewed as: “properly
made English tests can help create positive attitudes toward instruction by
giving students a sense of accomplishment and a feeling that the teacher‟s
evaluation of them matches what he has taught them. Good English tests also
help students learn the language by requiring them to study hard, emphasizing
course objectives, and showing them where they need to improve” (Davies,
1996:5)
Mc Namara (2000) presented three main roles of language testing,
which is applied not only in education but in other fields as well. Firstly,
language testing is considered as a key to succeed as language testing is a
decisive way in recruitment. Secondly, it serves educational goals. According
to Mc Namara, tests are used to place learners in a suitable course. The third
role of language testing is for the grant of research. Every researcher who
wishes to do a research on a language need to evaluate standard tests or to
design tests in that language.
From Henning‟s view, he suggested six purposes of language testing as
follow:
 Diagnosis and feedback: to explore strengths and weaknesses of the
learners
 Screening and selection: to assist in the decision of who should be
allowed to participate in a particular program of instruction
 Placement: to identify a particular performance level of the student and
to place him at an appropriate level of instruction
9


Test Usefulness
(Bachman & Palmer,1996)

Henning (1987) added more test characteristics and he summarized in
the form of table call “A checklist for Test Evaluation”. The checklist is for
rating of the adequacy of a test for any given purpose.

11


Table 2.1 A checklist for test evaluation
Name of test………………………………
Purpose Intended…………………………
Test characteristic

Rating (0 = highly inadequate, 10 = highly adequate

1. Validity

…………………………….

2. Difficulty

…………………………….

3. Reliability

…………………………….

4. Applicability

To make a good test, teachers have to take considerations the various
factors such as the purposes of test, the content of the syllabus, the students‟
background and so on. Following a number of leading scholars in testing by
Harrison (1983) and Brown (1994), all the good tests have four typical
characteristics. First and foremost, testing need having reliability. Any good
test needs to have reliability. There are three aspects of reliability are used
taken into account. The first concern the consistency of scoring among
different makers. The second is the concern of the tester how to enhance the
12


agreement between makers. The third aspect of reliability is parallel-forms
reliability. Reliability is the first essential for any test (Davies, 1968).
Another feature of a test is discrimination that means its capacity to
discriminate among the different candidates and to reflect the differences in
the performances of the individuals in the group. Next, a test must be
practical. The most obvious practical considerations concerning the tests
overlook. Another practical concerns the answer sheets and the stationary
used. A final point concerns the presentation of the test paper itself. Finally,
validity of a test always plays an important role. The test must aim to provide
a true measure of the particular skill which it is supposed to measure.
(Hughes, 1989).
In term of content in any test, validity has five typical types. The first
one is content validity. A test is said to have content validity if its content
constitutes a representative sample of the language skills, structures with
which is meant to be concerned (Hughes, 1989). “Content validity seems an
almost and completely overlapping concept” (Kelly, 1978). The second one is
construct validity. With construct validity, a test can measure a theoretical
construct of trait. Each construct is developed to explain and organize
observed response consistencies (Anastasi, Quantifying Construct Validity:

on the basis of the aim of the test. For instance, a listening test with written
multiple- choice options may lack validity if the printed choices are so
difficult to read that the exam actually measures reading comprehension as
much as it does listening comprehension.
Validity is classified into these such subtypes as below:
 Content validity
This is a non-statistical type of validity that involvers “the systematic
examination of the test content to determine whether it covers a representative
14


sample of the behavior domain to be measured” (Anastasi A., & Urbina,
1997: 114). A test has content validity built into it by careful selection of
which items to include. Items are chosen so that they comply with the test
specification which is drawn up through a thorough examination of the
subject domain. Content validity is very important in evaluating the validity
of the test in terms of that “the greater a test‟s content validity, the more likely
it is to be an accurate measure of what is supposed to measure” (Hughes,
1989: 22).
 Construct validity
A test has construct validity if it demonstrates an association between
the test scores and the prediction of a theoretical trait. Intelligence tests are
one example of measurement instruments that should have construct validity.
Construct validity is viewed from a purely statistical perspective in much of
the recent American literature Bachman and Palmer (1981a). It is seen
principle as a matter of the posterior statistical validation of whether a test has
measured a construct that has a reality independence of other constructs.
To understand whether a piece of research has construct validity, three
steps should be followed. First, the theoretical relationships must be specified.
Second, the empirical relationships between the measures of the concepts

end of a specific unit or lesson.

16


CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY

This chapter is the main part of the study. It provides practical background for
the study and it is an overview of English teaching, learning and testing at a
Vietnamese public high school in the North East area of Vietnam. More
importantly, it presents data analysis of the chosen test and findings drawn
from the analysis.
3.1. English learning and teaching at a Vietnamese public high school in
the North East area of Vietnam.
3.1.1. Students and their backgrounds
Students who have been learning at a Vietnamese public high school in
the North East area of Vietnam are of different levels of English because of
their own background. It is common that those who are from gifted secondary
schools or from cities have greater ability of English than those from other
secondary schools or from villages where foreign language learning is not
paid much attention to. In addition, there are some students who have had
some years of learning English at centers before entering high school, some
have just learnt in text book at school, and others have never taken care of
English before. Moreover, their entry into high school is rather low because
English is not a main subject in the exam. As a result, their attitude towards
learning English is not very highly appreciated.
3.1.2. The English staffs
The English section of a Vietnamese public high school in the North
East area of Vietnam is a compulsory section with thirteen teachers. They
take over teaching both gifted classes and normal classes. All the English