School-based English language assessment as a high-stakes examination component in Hong Kong: insights of frontline assessors

Abstract

In recent years, school-based assessment (SBA) has been incorporated into the English Language subject of a traditional high-stakes public examination, the Hong Kong Certificate of Education Examination. As reactions from various stakeholder groups have been mixed, it was necessary to review this new practice. This paper reports on a study of 33 English language teachers who have been frontline SBA assessors. The study aimed to better understand (1) teacher-assessors' perceptions of the English SBA, (2) their professional development needs in relation to implementing SBA, (3) their perceptions of how students could benefit from SBA and (4) the pressing issues arising from the SBA implementation. The study found that, while many participants agreed that SBA could be beneficial to students' English learning, there was much room for improvement in all four aspects investigated. In particular, some problems identified at the very beginning of the implementation of the English SBA have still persisted.

School-based Assessment in English Language Teaching: Weighing the cow will not fatten it

“…There is clear evidence that countries such as Finland and Sweden, after intensive investments in teacher education, managed to successfully implement SBA on a large scale while countries such as Hong Kong and South Africa are confronted by serious implementation challenges (DBE, 2014;Qian, 2014). Common types of issues and problems are experienced with the SBA component of English in high-stakes national examinations in South Africa (Davison, 2007;Reyneke, Meyer & Nel, 2010).…”

“…One way of putting AfL into practice in examination-driven education systems, is to incorporate school-based assessment (SBA) into the formal assessment programme; an initiative already taken by a number of nations (Kellaghan & Greaney, 2003;Stanley, MacCann, Gardner, Reynolds & Wild, 2009;Qian, 2014). This paper seeks to explore the implementation of SBA in English First Additional Language (EFAL) in the Further Education and Training (FET) phase (Grades 10-12) in public schools in South Africa and aims at addressing the issue of how SBA in EFAL could be more effectively focused on enhancing learning.…”

Whatever happened to school-based assessment in England’s GCSEs and A levels?

“…For example, it has been adopted in Australian states such as New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland, in some parts of the United States, including Nebraska, New York and Vermont and in Hong Kong (Qian, 2014). In each jurisdiction, the success of SBA depends on the context within which it operates.…”

ESL students’ oral performance in English language school-based assessment: results of an empirical study

“…While responses of teachers and students to the underlying philosophy of SBA and its emphasis on improving the quality of teaching and learning were generally very positive, concern about the comparability of SBA scores across schools has been pervasive and still continues, with some more experienced teachers being even more vocal with regard to negative comments towards the administration of SBA in the initial stage (Qian 2014).…”

“…The literature on school-based assessment has been growing for more than two decades (Davison 2007;Meisels et al 2001;Gan 2012;Gan 2013;Qian 2014). Schoolbased assessment, as an alternative to testing, in the form of greater use of teachers' assessment of their own students, has become increasingly popular in many countries over the world.…”