ขนิษฐา พิบูลย์คณารักษ์. A Survey of Secondary School Evaluation Procedures Focusing on Continuous Assessmen. Master's Degree(Applied Linguistics). King Mongkut's University of Technology Thonburi. KMUTT Library.. : King Mongkut's University of Technology Thonburi, 2007.
A Survey of Secondary School Evaluation Procedures Focusing on Continuous Assessmen
Abstract:
Evaluation is a crucial procedure in teaching and learning at every level and thus,
evaluation procedures should be valid. Therefore, this survey research aims to
investigate evaluation procedures at secondary level to assess their validity. Generally,
evaluation procedures can be divided into two main approaches - examinations and
continuous assessment.
The National Education Act of RE. 2542 (1999) enforced a learner-centred policy
which intends to encourage continuous assessment in evaluation procedures. Thus, this
research also focuses on the use of continuous assessment in evaluation procedures as
well as teachers' attitudes toward continuous assessment.
The subjects of this research were seventy-eight English language teachers who teach at
secondary schools in Bangkok and upcountry. All subjects were asked to respond to
questionnaires to survey evaluation procedures used. Then, a sub-group of eight
subjects was interviewed to inquire about teachers' reasons for using or not using
continuous assessment. The researcher, then analyzed data from questionnaires by
considering the methods of assessment used and proportions of scores allocated. Next,
the data from the interviews were analyzed according to themes which were identified
by considering frequent words and salient quotations.
The research findings show that the methods of assessment used in evaluation
procedures at secondary level are, in order of the frequency of use, final exam, mid-term
exam, quiz/test, assignment, participation, homework, portfolio, attendance and others
e.g. behaviour, foreign teacher's assessment and extracurricular activities (outside
class). Also, the evaluation procedures used in most secondary schools focus more on
examinations than on continuous assessment, although teachers think that continuous
assessment is more effective in terms of validity in assessment. Consequently, the actual
evaluation procedures used does not seem to follow the learner-centred policy.
Some possible factors which could be barriers to using continuous assessment in
practice are teachers' familiarity with traditional approaches of teaching and
assessment, their lack of readiness, their workload, and class size.
Therefore, the findings of this research, which show the current state of evaluation
procedures used as well as teachers' attitudes toward continuous assessment, could be a
useful guideline for policy makers, educational administrators and teachers in order to
develop English language teaching in Thailand.