ONLINE EDUCATION FOR SUSTAINABLE

DEVELOPMENT: AN ANALYSIS OF TEST SCORES

OF TERTIARY SRI LANKAN ESL LEARNERS IN
ONSITE SUMMATIVE AND ONLINE SUMMATIVE
EXAMINATIONS
Nethmi Udara1, Fairoza Fairooz2, and Ashani Jayasundara3
1,2,3
NSBM Green University, Pitipana, Homagama,10200, Sri Lanka
nethmi.u@nsbm.ac.lk
fairoza.f@nsbm.ac.lk
ashani.J@nsbm.ac.lk

ABSTRACT and relevant than the onsite tests as there is a

The present study is a quantitative study which
aims to analyse online summative written
examinations and its effectiveness against the
onsite summative written examinations. When
the entire planet faced Covid-19 pandemic, the
education system in Sri Lanka was on hold for a
considerable period. As a result, online
examinations or computer-based language tests
became a popular testing method to continue
education amidst all the challenges. Multiple
higher education institutes (both state and
private) have implemented online exams to
assess the students’ language skills. Thus, 42
second year students were selected from the
Department of Human Resource Management,
University of Kelaniya who follows a
compulsory English module; Advance English
for Commerce and Management studies. Their
scores at two different examinations (online and
onsite) were analysed using the SPSS. The
present study is based on concurrent validation,
which focuses on the degree of equivalence
between two test scores. The result of the
analysis proves that online tests are more valid
significant gap between the scores of the online
examination and onsite examination. The
analysis further proves that the students have
outperformed in online examination whereas
scores of onsite test fall onto regular distribution
around a single mean. The findings of this study
will be of significant value to ESL (English as a
Second Language) academics and students who
learn English as a Second Language. The
findings problematize the effectiveness of onsite
examinations as a successful language
evaluation method even though it is the
conventional and the most used method of
language testing in Sri Lanka.
Key words: language testing, online
examinations, onsite examinations validity,
relevance, test scores

Nethmi Udara et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the

terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License,
which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any 1
medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
1. INTRODUCTION The global pandemic COVID-19 has adversely
affected the day to day lives of people
worldwide creating a new way of life which
everyone calls the ‘new normal’. All domains in
Sri Lanka including education shows
considerable drawbacks after being exposed to
the outbreak of the coronavirus. For instance,
the educational system, from primary to tertiary
levels, was put on hold for a considerable
amount of time and this would have eventually
affected the academia of the country if an
immediate alternative were not found. Within
this framework, both teachers and students were
compelled to adapt to online teaching and
learning which was never/rarely used in state
education before. As a result, both the form of
instruction and evaluation was replaced by a
virtual education system. Online education in its
various modes has been growing steadily
worldwide due to the confluence of modern
technologies and global adoption of the internet
but it is a novel concept to third world
developing countries like Sri Lanka which has
its own challenges to grapple with due to the
vast socioeconomic and political disparities
within communities. However, multiple higher
education systems implemented conducting
examinations via online platforms, also known
as e-examination which enables examiners to
conduct exams using the internet within a pre-
decided timeframe for remote candidates. In this
form of adjustment online examinations or
computer-based language tests became a
popular mode of evaluation to ensure that the
education system remains intact. Therefore, the
current study aims to analyze the effectiveness
of online summative examinations against
onsite summative examinations which were
conducted to assess the language skills of
tertiary level ESL students from the Department
of Human Resource Management, University of
Kelaniya who follow a compulsory English
module; Advance English for Commerce and
Management. While problematizing onsite
examinations as a successful method of
language evaluation this study will also add

2
significant value to ESL academics and students
who learn English as a second language.  (2016) identifies that the same questions can be
2. LITERATURE REVIEW
During the Covid 19 pandemic developing and
using computer-based tests was an alternative
solution for educational assessment in tertiary
level. Many researchers argue that what worked
in the past in face-to-face settings does not
necessarily work in online environments
(Goldstein & Behuniak 2012). Nevertheless,
with the increasing availability of online
assessment platform options, online
examinations are being increasingly
implemented in higher education institutions as
a means of supplementing or even replacing
paper-based tests (Nicol, 2007). Despite that,
research to examine the online examinations
conducted for tertiary level remains unexplored.  error. According to Baleni’s study, participants
As Vonderwell, Liang, and Alderman (2007)
point out, assessment (whether formative or
summative) in online learning frameworks
incorporates diverse features as related to face-
to-face environments mostly due to the
asynchronous environment of interactivity
among the online contributors (the lecturer and
students). Formative assessment is usually used
in the classroom as a basis of continuing
feedback aiming to advance teaching and
learning.
According to Shraim (2019), e-exams are
particularly suitable for formative assessment,
for measuring learning rather than the
summative assessment of learning. Each attempt
is automatically marked, and the teacher can
choose whether to give feedback and/or show
the correct answers. Hence, one purpose of the
online exam should be to promote learning by
the provision of constructive and real-time
feedback. An online exam is, therefore, not just
an automated tool used for evaluating and
grading tool; it is also an integral part for the
learning process of the students (Jordan, 2013).
As a solution for students’ cheating, Farzin
presented to each student in a different order
from or different set of questions randomly
chosen from a question bank. Furthermore,
online assessments whether formative or
summative are beneficial due to reliability,
validity, and practicality. It is very useful for
marking to be reliable, particularly for large
classes (Heinrich et al., 2009). According to
Dermo (2009) that technological tools can be
used to mark online exams more accurately than
paper-based ones.
Baleni (2015) states that first-year
undergraduates at Eastern Cape University were
positive about the accuracy of scoring exams
and the technology used in online assessments is
more reliable since computers are free of human
perceived online exams as having significant
advantages over traditional, paper-based ones,
including reliability of scoring and long-term
efficiency in terms of time, effort and costs. The
findings also indicate that fairness, validity and
security aspects are the main challenges facing
the successful implementation of online exams.
Online examination systems, therefore, enable
the simplification of the traditional paper-based
examinations process especially when class
sizes are large, from the designing and
delivering the exam to marking, reporting,
storing the results and conducting statistical
analysis (Osuji, 2012; Farzin, 2016).
3
As discussed above, there has been a significant
body of literature highlighting the advantages of
conducting online evaluations aftermath of
Corona virus pandemic by focusing on the
perceptions of the learners, the examiners, and
the challenges they face. Most of the existing
literature highlights the advantages of online
formative assessments over online summative
assessments. Therefore, this study examines the
effectiveness of online summative examinations
against onsite summative examinations which
were conducted to assess the language skills of
tertiary level students.
3. METHODOLOGY
The study focuses on the degree of equivalence
between two test scores, the concurrent
validation method which was introduced by
O’Loughlin (2001) was used to correlate the test
scores obtained from the same group of test-
takers who have faced two distinct
examinations.
In addition, the quantitative approach was
adopted for the purpose of this research as it
deals with numerical values. The basic purpose
of adopting the quantitative research approach,
according to Babbie (2010), is to discover the
link between an independent variable and other
dependent or outcome variables. Thus, the
purpose of this study is to examine how test
scores, which is the dependent variable, vary
when employing online and onsite testing
methods, which are the independent variables.
The participants of the study were second year
students from the Department of Human
Resource Management, Faculty of Commerce
and Management Studies, University of
Kelaniya. A sample of 42 second year students
were selected from a population of 78 students
based on the results of the English placement
test, which was conducted by the Department of
English Language Teaching for all the
undergraduates of the Faculty of Commerce and
Management Studies. All 42 students belonged
to the category of UTEL benchmark 6. The
sample includes 28 female students and 14 male
students who are between 22 - 24 years.
As ethical considerations should be given
importance, first the Dean of the faculty of
Commerce and Management Studies was
informed through the Head of the Department of
Human Resource Management. After the
approval was granted, the consent from the
students to be research participants was taken.
As Govil (2013) states that, participants must
have prior knowledge of the work expected
from them, the students were first informed
about the study and the procedure. Then a
consent form was distributed among the
students and the consent form was designed
using both mediums, Sinhala and English.
With the prior permission of authorities and the
consent from the participants the module
‘Advanced English for Management Studies’
was taught and completed for four months. Then
an online test was conducted using the EKel
platform. This test included two grammar
questions (a fill in the blanks and a multiple-
choice question), two vocabulary questions (a
fill in the blanks and a multiple-choice
question), two comprehension questions (a
poem and a prose passage) and a writing
question. After the online test was conducted,
the onsite test was also carried out. The format
of the onsite examination paper was identical to
the online examination paper. To ensure that the
formats of the two tests are alike, all the
instructions and questions in the two tests were
checked through a readability test. Then the
papers were marked physically, and the scores
were collected. Finally, the scores of both the
tests were analyzed by using the Statistical
Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS).
4. DATA ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS
The collected test scores of the online and onsite
examinations were analyzed through the SPSS
25.0 software. Initially, an individual analysis
was done for both online and onsite scores as
follows.
4
 Table 1: Individual Statistics To further analyze the collected data, graphical
representations were also used as given below.
Online Onsite
N Valid 42 42
Missing 0 0
Mean 70.60 62.69
Std. Error of Mean 1.831 1.810
Median 73.00 62.00
Mode 82a 60
Std. Deviation 11.869 11.732
Variance 140.881 137.634
Range 45 60 Figure 1: Graph-Histogram for Online Test

Minimum 43 22
Maximum 88 82
Sum 2965 2633
Percentiles 25 62.00 57.25
50 73.00 62.00
75 81.00 71.00

According to the statistics provided in table 01,

the minimum score of the online test is 43 while
the minimum score of the onsite test is 22. In Figure 1: Graph-Histogram for Onsite Test
this case, the minimum score of the online test
is higher compared to that of the onsite test. In
contrast, the maximum score of the onsite test
which is 88 is higher than the maximum score
of the online test which is 82.
Further, the mean of the online test is 70.60 and
the mean of the onsite test is 62.69. On the other
hand, the standard deviation of the online test is
11.869 and the onsite test is 11.732 which is
almost the same. Yet, as there is a significant
gap between the means of the online and the
onsite tests and as the mean of the online test is
higher than the onsite test, it is safe to assume
that the students have performed well in online
tests.

5
The two histograms (Figure 1 & 2) given above
Pair Online 7.905 9.832 1.517 .000
show the distribution of the online and onsite
1 -
Std.
Onsite
Std. Error
Mean N Deviation Mean
Pair Online 70.60 42 11.869 1.831
1 Onsite 62.69 42 11.732 1.810
marks of the students from the Department of
Human Resource Management, University of
Kelaniya. The mean and the median of the
online test scores are 70.6 and 73 respectively.
This suggests that the distribution of the online
test is rightly skewed. In the onsite test, the
mean value is 62.7 and median value is 62,
which suggests that the distribution is normal as
the mean value is almost equal to the median
value. The mean of the online test scores is
higher than the onsite tests. Hence, by mean
comparison, it can be concluded that the
performance of the students is better in online
examination when compared with the onsite
examination.
Table 02: Paired Samples Statistics of Online
and Onsite

As shown in the above table, the mean of the

online and the onsite test are 70.60 and 62.69
respectively. Here we can see that the mean of
the online test is higher than the onsite test.
Additionally, in terms of standard deviation, it is
11.869 in the online test and 11.732 in the onsite
test. Similarly, the standard error mean value is
also higher in the online test when compared to
the onsite test. Therefore, it is proven that the
students have outperformed in the online test.

Table 03: Paired Samples Test of Online and

Onsite test marks
Std. Std. Sig.
Deviatio Error (2-
Mean n Mean tailed)

6
A paired sample test was conducted between the
test scores of the onsite and online test.
According to the test, the p-value is less than
0.01. Hence the assumption of equal means is
rejected. Therefore, it can be concluded that
there is a statistically significant difference
between the means of the online and onsite test
scores. Therefore, by looking at the statistics it
can be concluded that online examinations are
more effective than the onsite tests for tertiary
level students.
The findings clearly reveal that online
summative tests are important to sustain online
education in crisis situations like the covid-19
pandemic. This is not to conclude that onsite
examinations should be disregarded. The
suggestion is that online tests are the next best
alternative when the traditional assessment
method cannot be practiced. However, there are
certain limitations to this study. For instance,
the role of the exam invigilator during online
examinations is restricted and there is
comparatively more space for the student to
cheat during exams. Therefore, good results do
not directly indicate that online examinations
are successful but as reiterated before, it could
be regarded as a reliable method to assess the
students when necessary.
5. CONCLUSION
With the COVID-19 outbreak and loss of
human connection, the entire world was bound
together via online mediums of communication.
As sustaining the education system amidst all
challenges is of utmost importance, the digital
space became popular in no time even in
developing countries like Sri Lanka where
online education was a novel concept. With the
adoption of the online education system in the
tertiary level, the unquestioned traditional
methods of teaching and learning were put into
the spotlight and certain alternatives like online
summative tests proved to be more effective.
The research findings reveal that online
summative tests could be considered as the next
best alternative to assess students in crisis
situations and therefore to sustain an effective
education system. In addition, the current study
will be of significant value to ESL academics
and students who learn English as a second
language. The findings problematize the
effectiveness of onsite examinations as a
successful language evaluation method even
though it is the conventional and the most used
method of language testing in Sri Lanka.
6. REFERENCES
Farzin, S.(2016). Attitude of Students Towards
E-Examination System: An Application of
E- Learning. Management Science and
Information Technology, 1(2), 20-25.
Govil, P. (2013). Ethical Considerations in
Educational Research. International Journal
of Advancement in Education and Social
Sciences.1(2). p. 17-22.
Goldstein, J., & Behuniak, P. (2012). Can
Assessment Drive Instruction?
Understanding the Impact of One State's
Alternate Assessment. Research & Practice
for Persons with Severe Disabilities.
37(3): 199-209.
Jamieson, J. (2005). Trends in computer-based
second language assessment. Annual
7
 Review of Applied Linguistics. 25. p.
228–42.
Jordan, S. E. (2013). E-assessment: Past, present
and future. New Directions for Adult and
Continuing Education, 9(1), 87-106.
Nicol, D. (2007). E-assessment by design: using
multiple-choice tests to good effect. Journal
of Further and Higher Education, 31(1),
53–64.
O’Loughlin, K. (2001). Studies in Language
Testing 13: The Equivalence and Semi-
Direct Speaking Tests. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.
Osuji, U. (2012). The use of e-assessments in
the Nigerian higher education system.
Turkish Online Journal of Distance
Education, 13(4),140–152.
Shraım, K. (2019). Online Examination
Practices in Higher Education Institutions:
Learners’ Perspectives. Turkish Online
Journal of Distance Education, 20 (4) , 185-
196 . DOI: 10.17718/tojde.640588.
Vonderwell, S., Liang, X., & Alderman, K.
(2007). Asynchronous discussions and
assessment in online learning.
Journal of Research on Technology in
Education, 39(3): 309–328.
BIOGRAPHIES
Nethmi Udara is a Lecturer attached to the
Department of English and Modern Languages
of the NSBM and contributes to the faculties of
Business, Engineering, and Computing. She
graduated from the University of Kelaniya in
2020 with an Honours Degree in Bachelor of
Arts in Teaching English as a Second Language.
She has also completed a Higher Diploma in
Human Resource Management at the Faculty of
Business and Management Studies at the
University of Kelaniya. Before joining NSBM,
she worked as a Temporary Lecturer at the
Department of English Language Teaching,
University of Kelaniya. She has also served as
the Coordinator at the Centre for Distance and
Continuing Education (CDCE), at the
University of Kelaniya. Moreover, her expertise
lies in quantitative and qualitative data analysis
in interdisciplinary and multi-disciplinary
studies. She is interested in research on
Linguistics, Teaching English as a Second
Language, and Language Testing and
Evaluation.
Fairoza Fairooz is a Lecturer attached to
the Department of English and Modern
Languages of NSBM. She graduated
from University of Peradeniya in 2020 with a
Bachelor of Arts (Hons) in English. She is
currently reading for her Masters at the
University of Kelaniya. She has also
completed a certificate level course in
International Relations at the University of
Colombo. Before joining NSBM, she worked as
a Temporary Instructor at the Department of
English Language Teaching, University of
Peradeniya for a period of 2 years. As an
undergraduate, she volunteered for a Youth
Development Project in Romania.  Her research
interests are Applied Linguistics, Teaching
English as a Second Language, and Identity
Formation in the ESL classroom. Moreover, she
is the Co-Mistress in Charge of the LEO Club of
NSBM.
Ashani Jayasundara is a Lecturer attached to
the Department of English and Modern
Languages (DEML) at NSBM. She is a graduate
of the University of Kelaniya with a Bachelor of
Arts (Honours) degree in English, French and
Chinese languages. Further she studied Chinese
language at Tianjin Normal University, People’s
Republic of China. She represented Sri Lanka at
the Chinese Bridge Final Competition held in
Henan, China in 2018. She has also completed a
diploma in Diplomacy and World Affairs at
Bandaranaike International Diplomatic Training
8
Institute (BIDTI) and currently reading her PGD
in the same institute. As an undergraduate, she
worked as a volunteer English teacher at
Principesse Clotilde Institute, Turin, Italy.
Before joining the NSBM, she has worked at a
few private and government universities in Sri
Lanka. Currently she is reading for her Masters.
She is interested in research on Linguistics,
English as a Second Language, language
acquisition, online teaching and international
relations.