Formative Assessment Applied to English Teaching in A Vocational College and its Effects

唐晖华 刘婷婷

【Abstract】The author carries out a study on formative assessment and proves its effectiveness.The subjects in two classes majored in preschool education in a vocational college are arranged to have the experiment lasting for a semester.The date proved that formative assessment is effective to improve students achievements and teachers teaching effect，which not only develops students language knowledge and skills，but also develops their respective initiative and creativity，even their cooperation and autonomy abilities.

【Key words】formative assessment； assessmentapplication； summative； higher vocational college

In recent years，the foreign language world focus on language learning is not a knowledge acquisition，but skills learning.With the integration of the world economy and the frequent international cooperation，it will need a high quality worker team who have skills in English.So how to assess the students whether they have such skills is very important.while the traditional assessment and the single method misguide the orientation of language skills and deviate from the basic rule of language teaching to certain extent.There has been much negative effect.Therefore，the key point in English teaching is to reform the assessment.To combine assessment with English teaching is necessary to cultivate the potentials of students and improve the ability of teachers.

1.Research Methodology

1.1 Subjects

The subjects non-English majors of a vocational college.One is the experiment group （EG），The other is the control group （CG）.These non-majors are 83 students，9 male and 74 female，aged 18 to 20.They have learned English for 6 years and they have the similar learning backgrounds.And they are arranged to have English class twice a week，each class lasting for 80 minutes.

1.2 Instruments

The current experiment involves two authentic papers of PRETCO） and two questionnaire surveys.

The questionnaires are adapted from “ Student-Opinion Questionnaire from the Center of Faculty Evaluation” （Cangelosi 1991：249）.The questionnaire consists of 30 items，I selected 20 from them.The quantitative means were based on interviews，portfolios，diaries，observations，teacher assessment，peer assessment，self assessment.

Practical English Test for College（PRETCO） is a national standardized English test to determine the non-English majors language proficiency levels after two years training in high vocational college.I choose two authentic papers to compare the change s of students English proficiency levels before and after the study.

2.Implementation of the study

During the whole study，Teaching，guidance，learning，atmosphere and feedback are the major activities in classroom，all of which are the process of collecting information for formative assessment.And I assessed the students by teacher assessment，peer assessment，and self assessment and collected the useful information through interview，portfolio，diary，and observation.

3.Date Analysis and Discussions

The results of proficiency English test and questionnaire were gathered together with Excel 2000.I used SPSS 17.0 （the Statistics Package for Social Science，Chinese Version） to analyze the data collected.

3.1 Influence of Formative Assessment on Language Knowledge Grasp

To show the students' learning progress after applying formative assessment，the EG and CG took a post-test，the test paper was the authentic PRETCO-B （June，2010）.I used the Paired T-test to capture the differences between the pre-test and the post-test for English proficiency.And the result is described as shown as below：

Table 3.1Paired-samples T-test result of the scores between EG and CG

Pre-test Post-test

group N Mean1 SD1 Mean2 SD2

PRETCO-B test EG 38 62.271 16.994 69.661 14.564

PRETCO-B test CG 45 59.472 19.645 61.608 18.006

A mean score （Mean in brief） is used to reflect variable of central tendency and a standard deviation （SD in brief） is to reflect variable of dispersion.Table 3.1 shows the mean score of EG is 69.661，and the mean score of CG is 61.608，so the mean distance between them is 8.503.Furthermore，as P=0.031<0.05，there is significant difference between the two groups in English achievement.

3.2 Influence of Formative Assessment on Language Skills Improvement

Formative assessment focuses on improving students language skills，and having a all-round assessment on them.The methods of it are various which can guide the students to express their opinions by what they have learned.It is effective to improve their communicative ability.Through self-assessment，peer-assessment and teacher assessment，they can learn about their strengths and shortcoming in language application.

In the pre-test，the compositions in the two groups showed the following features：1） commonly used short sentences.2） the vocabulary were simple.3） grammar mistakes were common.4） the arrangement was not proper.But In the post-test，the compositions in EG were much more accurate in wording than those of CG，the structures were clearer，and sentences were more perfect and complete.The handwriting in EG was also tidy and clean.Beside writing，from the interview，65.7% （N=25） of the students in EG demonstrated that they have got great progress in other language abilities.

3.3 Influence of Formative Assessment on Learning Interest and Attitudes Improvement

In order to investigate whether students learning interest and learning attitudes have changed during the research，I made a comparative study of the results from

Questionnaire1 and Questionnaire2 of the two groups on item 5 “I am interested in English learning.”

Table 3.3Paired sample analysis on learning interest of EG and CG before and after the intervention of formative assessment

Before studyQ1 After studyQ2

Groups N Mean1 SD1 Mean2 SD2

Item 5

In Q CG 45 2.4889 .7814 2.6667 1.0014

EG 38 2.4737 .8633 3.3421 .9532

Notes：Q1=QuestionnaireⅠ； Q2= QuestionnaireⅡ

As we see from Table 3.3the formative assessment brings about some positive changes to students learning interest （The mean score in EG before training is 2.4737 but after training is 3.3421），that is to say，the students become a little interested in English learning.And with p=0.028<0.05，it means that after the intervention of formative assessment，students of EG are getting more and more interested in English than those of CG.As for the CG，the mean score jump from 2.4889 to 2.6667，it also proves that as higher vocational college students they have realized the importance of English and shown interest in its learning.More students in EG take much more time to make a learning plan and pay attention to improve their learning methods during the implementation of the learning plan.They have specific learning goals and good study atmosphere.So，formative assessment has a great impact on improving students learning attitudes and interest.

3.4 Influence of Formative Assessment on Learning Strategies and Autonomy Promotion

The influence of formative assessment on learning strategies and learning autonomy，I selected item 8 “I often reflect on my successes and failures in my English learning.” and item 10 “I look for opportunities to learn as much as possible in English.” to analyze.Next table is the results of the students in the two groups in Questionnaire 1 and Questionnaire 2.

Table 3.4 Statistics on learning strategies and autonomy of EG and CG before and after the intervention of formative assessment

Scale Never or

almost never Usually

not

Somewhat

Usually Completely

or almost

completely

Item8 in Q1

EG N=38 2

5% 10

26% 17

45% 8

21% 1

3%

Item8 in Q2

EG N=38 1

3% 5

13% 11

29% 17

45% 4

10%

Item8 in Q1

CG N=45 2

4% 12

27% 21

47% 9

20% 1

2%

Item8 in Q2

CG N=45 1

2% 10

22% 21

47% 11

25% 2

4%

Item10 inQ1

EG N=38 3

8% 14

37% 14

37% 6

15% 1

3%

Item10 inQ2

EG N=38 2

5% 7

19% 10

26% 16

42% 3

8%

Item10 inQ1

CG N=45 3

7% 13

29% 21

47% 7

15% 1

2%

Item10 inQ2

CG N=45 2

4% 12

27% 21

47% 8

18% 2

4%

Scales：1=Never or almost never true of me； 2=Usually not true of me； 3=Somewhat true of me； 4=Usually true of me； 5=Completely or almost completely true of me.

From Table 3.4，we can see the differences on learning strategies and learning autonomy of EG and CG before and after the intervention of formative assessment.Before the intervention of formative assessment，students in both EG and CG lack learning strategies and learning autonomy，because there was only one student in each group who would like to often reflect on his successes and failures in his English learning and to look for opportunities to learn as much as possible in English.After the intervention of formative assessment in EG，the students underwent significant changes in these aspects，showing greater English learning initiative.On item 10 “I look for opportunities to learn as much as possible in English.”，the students in EG holding a positive attitude with the percentage changed from 18% （7 students） up to 50% （19 students）.At the same time，with the guidance of teacher and the help of classmates，students began to have regular reflection on their learning strategies through learning diaries so as to monitor their own learning plan，and find out appropriate ones for their future learning.On item 8 “I often reflect on my successes and failures in my English learning.” before the experiment 24% of the students in EG （9 students） expressed their agreement，but after the experiment，about 55% of them agreed with the statement.While there were no obvious changes on these two aspects in CG during the semester.It proves that formative assessment is more effective to promote students leaning strategies and learning autonomy.

3.5 Influence of Formative Assessment on Team Spirit Development

Peer-assessment is an important method in formative assessment，such as in writing activity and pair work in the present research.From the peer-assessment forms in EG，we can see，as college students they can make a relevant assessment on each other，especially the assessment from group discussion，which not only develop their team spirit but also provide precious significance for themselves or others.

Students of EG are willing to cooperate with each other than those of CG.Table 3.5 describes it clearly.I chose item 15 from the questionnaire “I am willing to complete a certain task with teachers or classmates.” to collect the data and make an analysis.

Table 3.5 Statistics on team spirit of of EG and CG before and after the intervention of formative assessment

Scale Never o

almost

never

Usually not

Somewhat

Usually Completely

or almost

completely

Item15inQ1

EG N=38 5

13% 16

42% 10

26% 4

11% 3

8%

Item15inQ2

EG N=38 3

8% 6

16% 14

37% 10

26% 5

13%

Item15inQ1

CG N=45 9

20% 14

31% 13

29% 7

16% 2

4%

Item15inQ2

CG N=45 7

16% 13

29% 14

31% 8

18% 3

6%

As the Table shows 39% of the students in EG are usually or completely willing to work together after the experiment，while for students in CG，there is only 24%.During the experiment，students presented to be positive little by little to take part in the teaching activities such as group discussion，pair work，group work，peer-assessment and exchanging ideas with peers，which were parts of common activities in classroom.The writer found that the students of EG could ask their classmates or teachers for help when they found their learning method inefficient，and they became more courageous to overcome their shyness and anxiety and face up to their mistakes during the English learning.That is to say，they benefit a lot and cultivate their spirit of team work.They have learned to negotiate quite well with their peers in the process of working with them and evaluating others.They learned to how to cooperate with others and want to know what one is like in others eyes.

To sum up，a contrast between groups before and after the intervention and another contrast in each individual group pre and post intervention have been made.The quantitative data proves that through the application of formative assessment in higher vocational colleges，students in EG have made great progress in language knowledge and language skills，especially speaking and writing.During the learning process，they are getting more and more interested in English and they also have experienced quite changes in their learning attitudes，learning strategies，learning autonomy，and team spirit.

4.Conclusions and Pedagogical Implementations

On the basis of the data analysis above，I draw the following conclusions：

First，according to the surveys on the students' learning attitudes，the data analysis shows both of the two groups still insist that they learn English partly because of the pressure of taking tests，but quite a few of them are concerned to their future work and study.With the self-assessment and peer-assessment，students in EG can be more confident than before.And they are willing to take part in the activities and gradually become more active participants.They feel relaxed in English class，and most of them do not worry about making mistakes any more.

Second，according to the collected data，observations on the classroom and learning diaries，students in EG help each other in the process of learning and actively participate in the study to solve any problems with their teachers and classmates.They learn from each other，and based on the feed-backs from the assessment，they adjust their learning strategies.So it is obvious that using formative assessment is workable in higher vocational English teaching and learning.

Third，according to the data analysis to their achievements on PRETCO-B proficiency，students in EG made remarkable progress after a semester-length training.Their language knowledge and language skills have been enriched，and their English proficiency level has been promoted，so it proves that using formative assessment is more effective to aid higher vocational students to learn English.

In a word，formative assessment is a student-centered assessment system，which is indeed helpful for learning，even for teaching.It meets students needs and wants and improves learning and teaching quality.

References：

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【基金项目】本文系浙江省杭州科技职业技术学院2012年度教育教学改革“高职英语教学中形成性评价体系的研究与实践”（课题编号：HKYJG-2012-08）研究成果。