IMPLEMENTING ASSESSMENT FOR LEARNING IN THE CHINESE EFL CONTEXT: AN EXPLORATORY ACTION RESEARCH

International Journal of Education Vol. 9 No. 2, Februari 2017, pp. 97-104 ©2017 Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.17509/ije.v9i2.5463 IMPLEMENTING ASSESSMENT FOR LEARNING IN THE CHINESE EFL CONTEXT: AN EXPLORATORY ACTION RESEARCH STUDY Yan Zhu1 Mingwei Pani2 Fudan University1 Guangdong University of Foreign Studies2 First draft received: 31 October 2016 Final proof received: 18 February 2017 Abstract This article reports on a two-year-long action research project, where Assessment for Learning (AfL) was implemented in a tertiary foreign language classroom in China. It aims to seek answers to three research questions. First, to what extent can AfL impact on learner autonomy? Second, to what extent can AfL effectively improve learners’ proficiency of the target language? Third, what factors may influence the implementation of AfL? The qualitative data elicited from the interviews with learners, triangulated with the quantitative data from questionnaires, revealed that AfL is a rather effective way of promoting learner autonomy. In addition, quantitative data from pre- and post-tests lend support to the hypothesis that AfL in general achieves overall beneficial effects on learners’ language proficiency, though there are differential effects on sub-groups, i.e. female vs. male, and Shanghainese vs. nonShanghainese. This study also pinpoints certain factors that are possibly conducive to or constraining the implementation of AfL in the Chinese EFL context. Keywords: action research; Assessment for Learning (AfL); learner autonomy To cite this paper (in APA style): Zhu, Y., & Pan, M. (2017). Implementing assessment for learning in the Chinese EFL context: An exploratory action research study. International Journal of Education, 9(2), 97-104. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.17509/ije.v9i2.5463 INTRODUCTION Contextualized in education, assessment is “the measurement of the ability of a person or the quality or success of a teaching course, etc.” (Richards, et al., 1992, pp. 35-36). Despite the pivotal role of assessment, for most stakeholders in foreign language education, the notion of assessment or testing may quite naturally evoke negative emotion due to the anxiety and fear caused by standardized tests (see Maclntyre & Garner, 1989; Young, 1991). As summarized by Black et al. (2003), the negative impact of traditional assessment, exist in three aspects: effective learning, negative impact and the managerial role of assessment. Distinct from traditional assessment, Assessment for Learning (AfL) is defined as “the process of seeking and interpreting evidence for use by learners and their teachers, to identify where the learners are in their learning, where they need to go to and how best to go there” (Assessment Reform Group, 2002, pp. 2-3). Central to these defining characteristics of AfL is the notion that students are actively involved in gathering information and feedback that help them understand their learning processes, and are provided with the right for pedagogical decision-making (Berry, 2008). The bifurcation between assessment for and of learning is largely influenced by the distinct conceptions about the nature of learning. Formative assessment is underpinned by the neo-behaviorist model of mastery learning (Bloom, 1971; Hasting & Madaus, 1971), which stresses the learning process rather than require students to master specific learning objectives. Theoretically viable as it may sound, we still know admittedly little about the longitudinal implementation of AfL in the Chinese EFL context. In mainland China, assessment reforms have always been the main foci of educational reforms for various stages of education, for example, the issue and dissemination of English Curriculum for Basic Education (The Ministry of Education, 2012), College English Curriculum Requirements for Non-English Majors (The Higher Education Division of the Ministry of Education, 2007) and College English Curriculum Requirements for English Majors (College Foreign Language Teaching Steering Committee, 2000). However, a noticeable disparity is found between the guidelines issued by the educational authority and the ways they are implemented at the school level (Berry, 2011, p.54). A review of the extant literature reveals that there has been a dearth of empirical studies on the effectiveness of implementing AfL in Chinese tertiary EFL classrooms. In addition, it remains an unsolved question as what changes occur to learners’ motivational, affective and strategic factors over the process and what factors contribute to such a change, if any. As such, it is this research gap that motivates the present study. METHODS Research questions Against the aforementioned research background, this study aims to seek answers to three research questions as follows. First, to what extent can AfL 97 Zhu, Y. & Pan, M. Implementing assessment for learning in the chinese EFL context: An exploratory action research study impact on learner autonomy? Second, to what extent can AfL effectively improve learners’ proficiency of the target language? Third, what factors may influence the implementation of AfL in the Chinese EFL context? preliminary investigation intended to identify problems under investigation, based on which the research questions were formulated. Then the researchers worked out their Action Agenda I and implemented it into the teaching practices spanning two semesters. Towards the end of this phase was the evaluation, on which the ensuing reflections brought forth the formulation of Action Agenda II. Thereafter, an identical procedure was implemented for another two semesters. Research Design This study employed the action research method and was designed to follow the cyclic process of action research (Kemmis and McTaggart, 2005; Nunan, 1992) as illustrated in Figure 1. It started with a Preliminary Investigation Evaluation & Reflection Problems Identification Action Research Question Agenda II Action Evaluation & Reflection Agenda I Figure 1 Action research procedure Research setting and participants Isabella (pseudonym, one of the researchers), an EFL teacher based in Shanghai, has been teaching tertiary level students for nine years. In commencing her teaching at a new institution in the spring of 2010, she was confronted with a hardly manageable situation. Among 44 students in the class (there were 7 males and 37 females, aged between 17 and 20), 25 originated from cities outside Shanghai where students’ English proficiency is normally lower than Shanghainese students. At the outset of the first academic year, a college-wide placement test was administered to all the freshmen. After analyzing her students’ test scores with an independent samples ttest, she found there was statistical difference for the total scores between the two groups of students, t (41.94) = 4.55, p < .001. With regard to 6 subsections of the test, i.e., listening, vocabulary and g (...truncated)