The Need for a Change in Assessing Non-English Major Students at the Tertiary Level from Teachers’ Perspectives

Abstract

Assessment is one of the six main components of an English as a foreign language (EFL) curriculum. It plays an important role in language education. Having the right techniques to assess students certainly supports learning. However, whether an institution or a department has an appropriate policy of assessing students, and a teacher has effective assessment techniques or not needs to be investigated through teachers’ opinions as well as real classroom observation. This paper aimed to explore how non-English major students were assessed regarding classroom assessment and achievement tests and whether the applied assessment techniques were effective or not. This study was conducted at the tertiary level through the use of two instruments: “open-response questionnaire” with six experienced EFL teachers and observations of six classes at three universities in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. The findings revealed that very few classroom assessment techniques were used during the class and achievement tests did not meet their qualities such as validity and authenticity. The findings of the study provide administrators and EFL teachers with both theoretical and practical implications in student learning assessments at the tertiary level in Vietnam.