LANGUAGE ASSESSMENT FOR YOUNG LEARNERS :A Descriptive Study of How Teachers at Three Elementary Schools in Eastern Part of Bandung Assess Their 4th Grade Students.

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of the study

Learning English in an early age is in fashion in Indonesia. In response to this, The Department of Educational and Culture has made regulation of English instruction as contained in the decree of the Minister of Education and Culture number 060/U/1993. English is included in the curriculum for the elementary level of education as one of the local content subjects from grade four to grade six (www.depdiknas.go.id)

English is taught in elementary school if the local community considers that English proficiency is considered necessary by students. Its curriculum content will be determined by the Provincial Office of the Department of Education and Culture (Huda 1999:135)

English is taught in elementary school based on the assumption that learning foreign language will be much easier at an early age. Hence young learners have a better chance to be successful in acquiring foreign language.

However, learning L2 at an early age is not the sole factor that would determine the success of language learning. Cook (1991) said besides age, interactions that learners have with the situation and with other people play an important role in language learning. Musthafa (2003) shared similar opinion; he said that there are many other factors that would determine the success of language learner such as exposure, support, engagement, teacher’s confidence, capabilities, and sponsorship.

teachers provide great contribution to the success of language learning. Teachers who teach young learners should have the knowledge of who children are and what should they do to facilitate children’s learning.

Nevertheless, as reported by Suyanto (2004), most English teachers at elementary school were lack of competence to teach English to young learners. Similar findings emerged from research conducted by Suharno (2005) and Chodijah (2004). Those studies reveal that only few teachers comprehend the principles of teaching English to young learners.

Lack of competence in teaching young learners would create many problems, one of the problems may deal with assessing the learners’ ability in using English. The researcher found assessment as an interesting issue since assessment often plays a prominent role in the teaching and learning processes. The way teachers conduct assessment would affect young learners’ motivation in learning language as Rixon (1992) said that it is assessment that become the focus of attention when it comes to evaluating the success of a teaching program. Brewster et.al (2003) reported that in some countries assessment becomes the most important part in instruction.

If teachers are lack of competence in teaching young learners, it can be assumed they are too lack of knowledge of assessing young learners. This study would focus on how assessment carried out at elementary school. Hopefully findings of this study would provide an insight of the process of assessment at elementary school. It is expected that this study would contribute lucid information of how assessment should be carried out, hence there will be improvement on the way teachers assess young learners

1.2 Rationale of the study

Teaching and learning require teachers to constantly gather information and make decision. In order to become “good decision makers” regarding instruction, teachers need to know how to assess young learners in the classroom. Thus, according to Gipps (2000) teaching, learning and assessment are inextricably interrelated as illustrated by the figure below:

Figure 1.1 The Teaching and Assessment Cycle

(Taken from Brewster et.al 2003: 247)

Assessment is part of teaching cycle as we can see from the above figure. It becomes the tool to provide information about areas to be improved in the teaching and

Aims and objectives

Evaluation of result

Recording of result

Assessment techniques

Assessment criteria

Syllabus and course description

Teaching methodology

Learning outcomes

learning processes. In some contexts, assessment plays a very prominent role, that the way learners are taught and activities they do are influenced heavily by assessment.

Assessment is a systematic process of making decision towards particular matter. Related to language learning, the decision may concern students’ performance and ability, as well as the degree of knowledge or skill (Hancock 1994). Thus assessment is not only restricted to testing. According to Brown (2004) testing is only a subset of assessment

However, a research conducted by Rea-Dickinson and Rixon (cited in Carter 2001) reveals that many teachers are still using language test as the sole instrument to assess young learners’ ability in using English. The language test itself focused on grammar and vocabulary test in the form of multiple-choice and gap filling to assess young learners. Furthermore they said that this pencil and paper model (language testing in the form of multiple choice and gap filling or as Brown (2004) refers as traditional assessment) is considered to be counter productive for the development of young learners’ language learning. Children may suffer from stress because of traditional assessment, it may also raise children’s affective filter that eventually discouraged them from learning language (Carter 2001). Helm and Grondlund (1999) share similar opinion, they said that testing put a great pressure to young learners, which may decrease the accuracy of assessment.

Furthermore, they said that teaching does not only provide opportunity to learn knowledge and skills, but also develop attitudes towards learning and applying those skills. Thus assessment may influence young learners’ motivation and interest. Early experience may contribute to the continuity of learning language (Cameron 2001). It is

essential that teachers be sensitive towards young learners’ feelings and emotions; they should construct and foster young learners’ enjoyment in studying foreign language.

Using pencil and paper model as the sole tool to assess young learners is incompatible with the basic principle of teaching young learners. Based on young learners’ characteristics, they learn through songs, games, chants, etc.(Harmer 2001). Thus it is inappropriate to assess them with pencil and paper test model. As Hughes (2004) said that “assessment would be the way of the same type of activities that the learners are involved in the L2 class”

Consequently teachers should select an appropriate tool to assess young learners. Shaaban (2000) said that well-designed assessment is crucial to the evaluation of students’ progress, teaching effectiveness, and the suitability of program and materials. In learning a language, students acquire the disposition to use the skills and strategies, as well as the knowledge of how to apply them, which is the target of assessment. Thus more meaningful assessment is required.

Since traditional assessment is considered to be incompatible, thus educators are turning to alternative methods as tool for educational reforms. The alternative methods are variously called as alternative assessment, authentic assessment or performance-based assessment (Dietel et.al 1991).

Activities in alternative assessment are in the form of portfolio, dialog journal, self-assessment, etc. Alternative assessment emphasizes on assessment as a process not product. Alternative assessment would provide a more accurate measurement of students’ achievement since it gauges learners’ ability from various perspectives

Prior to this study, the researcher conducted observation towards teachers five elementary schools. The data revealed that the purpose of teachers’ assessment were to identify students’ strength and weaknesses and to gain data for the record book. Assessment activities cover formative and summative test. Teachers’ observation applying norm-referenced is also one of the tools of assessment. This study aims to get a vivid picture of assessment for young learners. The researcher would like to investigate how assessment carried out by English teachers at elementary school.

1.3 Research statement

This study focuses on how language assessment carried out by teachers in elementary school. The following questions will guide the study.

1. What are teachers’ understandings towards language assessment for young learners

a. What is (are) the purpose(s) of teachers’ assessment? b. What aspects of language do teachers assess?

c. How would teachers give feedback?

2. What techniques do teachers employ in assessing young learners?

3. What are difficulties encountered by teachers during assessment process?

1.4 Aims of the study

The purpose of the study is to identify how teachers carried out assessment for young learners. The aims of this study will be elaborated as follow:

1. to identify teachers’ understanding towards assessment

2. to identify techniques employed by teachers in assessing young learners 3. to identify difficulties encountered by teachers during assessment process

1.5 Clarification of terms

1. Assessment refers Assessment is a systematic process of making decision towards particular matter. Related to language learning, the decision may concern students’ performance and ability, the degree of knowledge or skill.

2. Traditional assessment refers to pencil and paper assessment. In the process students are assessed of what they know about the language

3. Alternative assessment refers to the way of assessing take into account variation in students’ needs, interests and learning styles; and they attempt to integrate assessment and learning activities

1.6 General approach to the study

. Relevant to the nature, the aims of the study and the statement of the problem above, this study will employ a qualitative research design. As Wiersma (cited in Sook 2003) said that “qualitative research investigates the complex phenomena experienced by the participants by examining people’s words and actions in descriptive ways”.

The aim of the study is to give a portrayal of how teachers carried out assessment for young learners. Therefore this study employs descriptive method (Jackson 1995). In general, the methodology of data collection in this study relied on questionnaires, interviews and observations.

1.7 Significance of the study

This study would provide an insight of how young learners should be assessed. Findings of the study would give empirical evidence of the way English teachers carried out assessment at elementary school. As such, the result of this study hopefully makes teachers aware of crucial things in assessing young learners, thus assessment would help learning instead of working against it.

1.8 An overview of the study

This study is organized into five chapters. Chapter One mainly discussed the reason and the purpose of the study. It presents the background of the study, the aims of the study and research questions, the general approach, the significance of the study and overview.

Some concepts adopted for the study is discussed on Chapter Two. This chapter also discusses previous studies undertaken by others on similar issues.

The third chapter explains the way the researcher carried out this study. It covers the research site, the participants and methodology.

Chapter Four contains the analysis and findings of the data collected. It later discusses what findings mean for the purpose of the study based on the data collection and related literature. It attempts to answer all the questions presented in Chapter One.

The finding and discussion is concluded in Chapter Five. This Chapter also presents some recommendations and suggestions to improve the quality of assessment for young learners.

CHAPTER 3

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

This chapter deals with the discussion of steps taken by the researcher in conducting the research. There are five sections in this chapter. The first section is research design. It presents the methodology used and illustrates how the study is carried out. The second section is related to research site and participants involved in the study. The data collection including the instrument employed is discussed in the third section. The last section elaborates on how the data gathered is analyzed and interpreted.

3.1 Research design

Yin (1984) said that research design is a plan that guide researcher in the process of collecting, analyzing and interpreting data. Furthermore he said that one of the factors determined research design is the research question. This study investigates how teachers carried out language assessment for young learners. Therefore relevant to the nature, this study would employ qualitative research design as Lynch (1996) said that qualitative paradigm emphasizes on observing, describing, interpreting and understanding how events take place in the real world.

The aim of this study is to identify the process of language assessment for young learners, hence this study is designed as a qualitative and descriptive study. Hadari (1990) said that descriptive study is concerned with condition or relationships that exist, opinion that are held, process that are going on.

3.3 Research site

Since the focus of this study is English assessment for young learners, this study conducted in elementary schools. Three elementary schools located in Gedebage subdistrict were chosen as the research sites of the study. Those schools were selected based on the assumption that they shared similar features with many other public elementary schools. The features shared are: teachers must deal with a great number of students, usually fifty students. English teachers come from various backgrounds (English and non-English background). Another reason for choosing this elementary school is because the researcher has the access to conduct the research, thus data can be gathered easily. As Maxwell (1996) said that researcher should build a good rapport with respondents, thus data can be gathered easily

3.4 Profiles of the participants

This study involved three participants. Those teachers are teaching English from grade one until six. However the research would be focused on assessment carried out by participants in grade four. In order to go along with the ethics, the code of the teacher are respondent 1, respondent 2 and respondent 3. Below are the profiles of the three teachers.

Respondent 1 was born in 1975. She graduated from Indonesia University of Education in 2000, majoring in PKK/Tata boga. She has been teaching English at elementary school since 2005. Through out her career as an English teacher she has never participated in any seminars or workshop in dealing with how to teach English to young learners.

Respondent 2 was born in 1970. She graduated from STBA-ABA Yapari Bandung in 1992, majoring in English. Her teaching career was started in 1994. She has taught English in various levels, such as elementary school, junior high school and high school. She has taught English at the research site for seven years. She has never attended seminars or workshop concerning teaching English to young learners.

Respondent 3 was born in 1983. He graduated from UIN Sunan Gunung Djati Bandung with Sarjana degree in Arabic pedagogy. He has taught English for one year and has never attended any seminars or workshop about teaching English to young learners throughout his career.

3.5 Data collection

In this study the researcher had role as non-participant observer (Merriam 1998 cited in Alwasilah 2000) during the data collection process. Since this study is designed as qualitative and descriptive, Gray (1990) said that descriptive data are usually collected an observation, interview, questionnaire or interview. Therefore instruments employed to obtain data for the study are:

a. Questionnaire

Questionnaires were administered to three participants. The questionnaires functioned as pre-interview activity, so that participant would get the picture of the research. It enabled participants to focus on questions during interview. The questionnaires are divided into two parts. First is the participants’ personal data. It is used to attain the information about teachers’ background, such as personal data, educational background and working experience. And the last part covers

the questions about activities teachers employed in assessment process, teachers understanding towards assessment for young learner, techniques employed by teachers in assessing young learners and difficulties they encounter in conducting assessment.

The questionnaire included both open-ended questions and questions with fixed alternatives. The questionnaire was written in Bahasa Indonesia to ensure complete understanding of the items by participants.

b. Interview

Data collected from questionnaires was followed up by interview. Thus the questionnaire may function as pre-interview, while an in-depth interview aimed to clarify data. According to Alwasilah (2002) interview should be conducted in accordance to the researcher’s need In this study, interview was conducted twice. The first interview aimed to get the respondents’ perspective of assessment, while the purpose of the second interview is to clarify data gained from the first interview. The respondents also conducted interview which was unrecorded during the observation process. The type of interview employed for this research is structured interview. Nunan (1992) expounds that semi-structured interview provides three advantages for researcher. First it provides the interviewee a degree of power and control over the course of the interview. Second it gives the interviewer a great deal of flexibility. And the last one this form of interview gives one privileged access to other people’s lives.

c. Observation

To validate data gained from questionnaire and interview, class observations were carried out by the researcher. As Maxwell (1996) said that through observation researcher would get some data that cannot be acquired through questionnaire or interview such as participants’ tacit understanding and how theory- in-use.

The aim of classroom observation is to see the actual process of assessment carried by participants. To observe the class, the researcher used field notes since the students’ attention was distracted when they were videotaped. The classes were observed carefully until the researcher able to identify the pattern of participants’ assessment. The researcher was also present during the process of mid-semester test and final test. During the observation some assessment tools applied by teachers were collected.

3.6 Data analysis

Data analysis is the process of interpreting and making sense of the collected materials (Boglan and Biklen 1992). Data analysis was guided by the research questions Data gathered from questionnaires, interviews and observations were coded and classified based on research questions. Each classification was analyzed and interpreted. The interpretation was limited to the data findings to produce grounded theory on the phenomenon observed in this theory.

CHAPTER 3

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

This chapter deals with the discussion of steps taken by the researcher in conducting the research. There are five sections in this chapter. The first section is research design. It presents the methodology used and illustrates how the study is carried out. The second section is related to research site and participants involved in the study. The data collection including the instrument employed is discussed in the third section. The last section elaborates on how the data gathered is analyzed and interpreted.

3.1 Research design

Yin (1984) said that research design is a plan that guide researcher in the process of collecting, analyzing and interpreting data. Furthermore he said that one of the factors determined research design is the research question. This study investigates how teachers carried out language assessment for young learners. Therefore relevant to the nature, this study would employ qualitative research design as Lynch (1996) said that qualitative paradigm emphasizes on observing, describing, interpreting and understanding how events take place in the real world.

The aim of this study is to identify the process of language assessment for young learners, hence this study is designed as a qualitative and descriptive study. Hadari (1990) said that descriptive study is concerned with condition or relationships that exist, opinion that are held, process that are going on.

3.3 Research site

Since the focus of this study is English assessment for young learners, this study conducted in elementary schools. Three elementary schools located in Gedebage subdistrict were chosen as the research sites of the study. Those schools were selected based on the assumption that they shared similar features with many other public elementary schools. The features shared are: teachers must deal with a great number of students, usually fifty students. English teachers come from various backgrounds (English and non-English background). Another reason for choosing this elementary school is because the researcher has the access to conduct the research, thus data can be gathered easily. As Maxwell (1996) said that researcher should build a good rapport with respondents, thus data can be gathered easily

3.4 Profiles of the participants

This study involved three participants. Those teachers are teaching English from grade one until six. However the research would be focused on assessment carried out by participants in grade four. In order to go along with the ethics, the code of the teacher are respondent 1, respondent 2 and respondent 3. Below are the profiles of the three teachers.

Respondent 1 was born in 1975. She graduated from Indonesia University of Education in 2000, majoring in PKK/Tata boga. She has been teaching English at elementary school since 2005. Through out her career as an English teacher she has never participated in any seminars or workshop in dealing with how to teach English to young learners.

Respondent 2 was born in 1970. She graduated from STBA-ABA Yapari Bandung in 1992, majoring in English. Her teaching career was started in 1994. She has taught English in various levels, such as elementary school, junior high school and high school. She has taught English at the research site for seven years. She has never attended seminars or workshop concerning teaching English to young learners.

Respondent 3 was born in 1983. He graduated from UIN Sunan Gunung Djati Bandung with Sarjana degree in Arabic pedagogy. He has taught English for one year and has never attended any seminars or workshop about teaching English to young learners throughout his career.

3.5 Data collection

In this study the researcher had role as non-participant observer (Merriam 1998 cited in Alwasilah 2000) during the data collection process. Since this study is designed as qualitative and descriptive, Gray (1990) said that descriptive data are usually collected an observation, interview, questionnaire or interview. Therefore instruments employed to obtain data for the study are:

a. Questionnaire

Questionnaires were administered to three participants. The questionnaires functioned as pre-interview activity, so that participant would get the picture of the research. It enabled participants to focus on questions during interview. The questionnaires are divided into two parts. First is the participants’ personal data. It is used to attain the information about teachers’ background, such as personal

the questions about activities teachers employed in assessment process, teachers understanding towards assessment for young learner, techniques employed by teachers in assessing young learners and difficulties they encounter in conducting assessment.

The questionnaire included both open-ended questions and questions with fixed alternatives. The questionnaire was written in Bahasa Indonesia to ensure complete understanding of the items by participants.

b. Interview

Data collected from questionnaires was followed up by interview. Thus the questionnaire may function as pre-interview, while an in-depth interview aimed to clarify data. According to Alwasilah (2002) interview should be conducted in accordance to the researcher’s need In this study, interview was conducted twice. The first interview aimed to get the respondents’ perspective of assessment, while the purpose of the second interview is to clarify data gained from the first interview. The respondents also conducted interview which was unrecorded during the observation process. The type of interview employed for this research is structured interview. Nunan (1992) expounds that semi-structured interview provides three advantages for researcher. First it provides the interviewee a degree of power and control over the course of the interview. Second it gives the interviewer a great deal of flexibility. And the last one this form of interview gives one privileged access to other people’s lives.

c. Observation

To validate data gained from questionnaire and interview, class observations were carried out by the researcher. As Maxwell (1996) said that through observation researcher would get some data that cannot be acquired through questionnaire or interview such as participants’ tacit understanding and how theory- in-use.

The aim of classroom observation is to see the actual process of assessment carried by participants. To observe the class, the researcher used field notes since the students’ attention was distracted when they were videotaped. The classes were observed carefully until the researcher able to identify the pattern of participants’ assessment. The researcher was also present during the process of mid-semester test and final test. During the observation some assessment tools applied by teachers were collected.

3.6 Data analysis

Data analysis is the process of interpreting and making sense of the collected materials (Boglan and Biklen 1992). Data analysis was guided by the research questions Data gathered from questionnaires, interviews and observations were coded and classified based on research questions. Each classification was analyzed and interpreted. The interpretation was limited to the data findings to produce grounded theory on the phenomenon observed in this theory.