Prof. Dr. Vu Duc Nghieu/ Photo: Thanh Long
- Sir, from what practical background did the University of Social Sciences and Humanities (Vietnam National University, Hanoi) develop a set of standards to assess Vietnamese proficiency of international students? and tests to assess Vietnamese proficiency for foreign students?
Prof. Dr. Vu Duc Nghieu:In fact, our desire to build a system of standards and tests to assess Vietnamese language proficiency for foreign students has existed for a long time. The reason is that the science of teaching languages in the world has been and is developing more and more; the ways and methods of testing, assessing, and determining foreign language proficiency have been and are changing and developing a lot. In the field of teaching Vietnamese as a foreign language, we need to change to keep up with and be in line with international advances in this field of testing and assessment.
The University of Social Sciences and Humanities has a long tradition of teaching Vietnamese, I mean from the early years of the establishment of Hanoi National University until now, and now, the number of people studying Vietnamese as a foreign language in and outside Vietnam as well as at the school is increasing day by day, so the construction of a set of standards to assess and determine the Vietnamese language proficiency of students has become an urgent need that must be done.
Therefore, Hanoi National University and the University of Social Sciences and Humanities have directed, assigned responsibility and created conditions for us to organize and implement the project to develop a set of assessment standards and assessment tests.
- All forms of assessment and testing aim to accurately assess the learner's ability and create the most favorable conditions for organizing the exam. In these two aspects, what are the outstanding advantages of this new testing method compared to the old one, sir?
Prof. Dr. Vu Duc Nghieu:Regarding the purpose of assessment, it is true that we must accurately assess the learners' abilities and qualifications. According to the new test method, the assessment results are more objective because the criteria and specific tests will include more assessment content on language skills and language competence than the assessment methods we have used up to now.
Secondly, the way we usually do it is: test and evaluate a certain level, then give questions at that level, to know whether the student has achieved that level or not; but in this new way, the assessment is based on a system of 10 standards, including 51 criteria, each test is a "spectrum" of questions, requirements ranging from the first level to the last level (according to the 6-level, 3-level scale of the European reference framework); test takers will freely demonstrate their language ability; finally, automatic scoring thanks to technology will show how many points the test taker gets, what level they have achieved.
In terms of organization and assessment methods, it is certain that with the support of information technology, the work will be done more conveniently in many aspects, from the organization space to the organization's human resources, scoring methods, scoring... The goal we are moving towards is: anyone, anywhere, anytime can register and take the assessment test, as long as they want and they are sitting next to a computer with an internet connection.
Foreign students during a new proficiency test at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities/ Photo: Huong Giang
- Is the knowledge content built and combined in this set of standards and exam questions different from the question bank of the old exam, sir?
Prof. Dr. Vu Duc Nghieu:Different, but not absolutely different, and certainly not denying the old-style question banks. Different is the means and methods of conducting the assessment. Here, the abilities to demonstrate language skills: speaking, listening, reading, writing are tested by many different "tests" and are discovered through many different requirements and "challenges". This is implicitly shown in the exam questions; and the test taker will be able to demonstrate all of his or her language abilities through the test.
- In the trial exam, foreign students liked the new exam format, but some said that the exam was a bit more difficult than the traditional exam format, and that there were occasional system glitches. What do you think about these responses?
Prof. Dr. Vu Duc Nghieu:It's normal; and that's very useful information for us, although we expected it. We don't have much tradition and experience in organizing this type of assessment. We will analyze everything carefully to continue to learn from experience, edit, and supplement on the long-term path of progress ahead.
- With this exam method, how will the exam registration and certification be carried out?
Prof. Dr. Vu Duc Nghieu:This, with today's information technology, is not a significant difficulty. There are specific instructions on the Website about the online registration procedure to take the test. It's easy.
- When implementing research and implementing this project, what is the biggest difficulty that the project team of experts must overcome?
Prof. Dr. Vu Duc Nghieu:Difficulties are something we face, especially in terms of resources. But I don’t want to talk about difficulties, I want to say that the members of the group that carried out this work have worked in conditions and with a spirit that you can hardly imagine. Our group has 11 people: Ms. Nguyen Viet Huong, Ms. Nguyen Thi Thuan, Mr. Nguyen Chi Hoa, Mr. Tran Nhat Chinh, Mr. Vu Van Thi, Mr. Nguyen Hong Con, Mr. Nguyen Van Phuc, Mr. Dao Van Hung, Mr. Nguyen Thien Nam, Mr. Nguyen Van Hieu and me. As the person assigned to take charge of implementing this project, I am very grateful to the members of the group. If everyone had reduced their efforts just a little bit, I certainly wouldn’t have anything to say to you today.
- The University of Social Sciences and Humanities has more than 45 years of tradition in training Vietnamese for foreigners, and is one of the few official addresses assigned to organize tests to assess Vietnamese proficiency of foreigners; so what is the significance of organizing tests and assessments in this new way for the innovation of the University's training work?
Prof. Dr. Vu Duc Nghieu:I don't need to say it, you can see it already. The assessment will be more comprehensive, flexible and agile in organization and implementation, creating more favorable conditions for those who want to participate in the assessment.
One of the tasks that need to be done to comprehensively reform our education today is to reform the assessment and evaluation work. Reform is the reform in the method of organization and implementation to have a more accurate and better assessment of capacity, knowledge and skills, not just in whether or not to use computers and information technology for assessment and evaluation. In what we are talking about here, computers and information technology are tools, technological means that are very effective and efficient in implementing a method of assessment and evaluation or in implementing teaching and learning work.
-Thank you for the above discussion.
Author:Thanh Ha
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