CLASSROOM-BASED ASSESSMENT

GUIDELINES
1. TENTATIVE SCHEDULE (15-SESSION CLASSES)

Session
Course contents Required readings
s
- Introduction to the course
1.
- Reflection
- Brown, H. and Abeywickrama, P. (2010) Chapter
1 (G5)
2. - Assessment concepts, issues, and principles - Further reading: Coombe et al. (2012) Chapters 1,
3,4,10.
- Lecture notes
- Brown, H. and Abeywickrama, P. (2010) Chapter
- Assessment concepts, issues, and principles (cont.)
2 (G6)
- Types of test
3. - Brown, H. and Abeywickrama, P. (2010)
- High-stakes testing
Chapters 4+5
- The Common European framework of Reference
- Coombe et al. (2012) Chapter 9
(CEFR)
Lecture notes
- Aligning assessment with course learning outcomes - Coombe et al. (2012) Chapters 6 + 7
4.
- Developing test specifications for language assessment - Lecture notes
- Brown, H. and Abeywickrama, P. (2010) Chapter
5. - Designing in-house tests 3 (G7)
- Lecture notes
- Designing in-house tests (Cont.) - Reading: Brown, H. and Abeywickrama, P. (2010)
6.
- Instructor’s feedback - Lecture notes
- Practice: designing course learning outcomes and
developing test specifications Group portfolio
7.
- Designing in-house tests - Quiz 1
- Peers’ feedback
- Brown, H. and Abeywickrama, P. (2010) Chapter
12 (G1)
8. - Alternatives in assessment
- Further reading: Coombe et al. (2012) Chapter 17.
- Lecture notes
- Practice: Designing in- house tests
9.
- Peers’ feedback
- Brown, H. and Abeywickrama, P. (2010) Chapter
- Assessing vocabulary and grammar 10 (G8 + G2)
10.
- Instructor’s feedback - Coombe et al. (2012) Chapters 28 +29 (G4) -
Lecture notes
- Assessing listening and reading
- Brown, H. and Abeywickrama, P. (2010)
- Designing listening
Chapters 6 + 8 (G4 + G9)
11. and reading assessment tasks
- Coombe et al. (2012) Chapters 24 +26 (G5) -
- Instructor’s feedback
Lecture notes
- Practice: designing listening and reading assessment
12. tasks
- Peers’ feedback
Assessing speaking and writing - Brown, H. and Abeywickrama, P. (2010)
- Designing speaking and Chapters 7 + 9 (G3 + G10)
13.
writing assessment tasks - Coombe et al. (2012) Chapters 25 +27 (G6)
- Designing rubrics - Lecture notes
- Practice: Designing speaking and writing assessment
14. tasks - Quiz 2
- Peers’ feedback & Instructor’s feedback
15. - Grading and student evaluation - Brown, H. and Abeywickrama, P. (2010) Chapter
- Methods of course evaluation and teacher evaluation 11
 - Further reading: Coombe et al. (2012) Chapter 34
Instructor’s email address: bmbao@hcmussh.edu.vn

2. ASSESSMENT TASKS

Assessment tasks Scores Weighting

A1. Class work 100%
- In-class quizzes (x2) 25% - 25% Mid-term score 30 %
- Group Presentation 30%
- Summaries of the book chapters 20%
A2. Group portfolio 30%
Final score 70%
A3. Final Test 70%
100% (Passing Grade: 5/10)

Guidelines for group portfolio, progress test and final test:

(1) Group portfolio:

 Each group will design:
o an assessment portfolio for a General English course for adults at a pre-intermediate level. The
portfolio includes an assessment scheme, test specifications, alternative assessment tasks and
an achievement test based on the materials given by the course instructor. This portfolio is an
integral part of the teaching and learning process in which students will get feedback from the
course instructor and their peers in order to improve it.
o a reflection paper (500 – 700 words, of 1.5-line spacing, using Times New Roman font style (font
size 12)) on the topic: Critically think about the tasks you have completed during the course and
evaluate how the tasks affect your teaching in the future.
 The portfolio (in MS word format) should contain the following sections:
I. Title page (Institution/Faculty name, title of the portfolio, names of group members, student code, instructor,
date of publication)
II. Introduction to the portfolio (including the objectives of the portfolio)
III. Description of the students (their age, English proficiency level, etc.)
IV. Objective(s) of the assessment tasks to be designed (to be kept in line with those of the lessons given)
V. The actual assessment tasks designed to assess listening, speaking, reading, writing, grammar and vocabulary
(This section should also be supported with theory-based explanations of
a. what to be assessed,
b. why it/they is/are assessed,
c. how the items will be scored, and
d. why they are scored in such a way.
VI. Some possible lessons/reflection/difficulties the group learned during the designing of these assessment tasks
VII. References and appendices (if any)

 The portfolio should be around 2,000 - 2,500, of 1.5-line spacing, using Times New Roman font style
(font size 12) (excluding references and appendices).

(2) Progress tests & Final test

● Test dates (TBA): scheduled by the Faculty.
● Objectives of the progress and final tests: to assess if the students will be able to (i) synthesize concepts,
theories and principles of testing and assessment; (ii) identify the specifications of a language test; (iii) design
some test items on the four skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing.
● Format of the tests: Objective test items, short-answer questions, and test item design.
VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY-HO CHI MINH CITY
UNIVERSITY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES

FACULTY OF ENGLISH LINGUISTICS & LITERATURE

FULL-TIME PROGRAMME
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GROUP PORTFOLIO

Course: Classroom-based Assessment

Student’s name:
Student’s code:
Group:
Supervisor:

Ho Chi Minh City, (Date)