Abstracts

In an English for academic purpose course at a Thai regional university, evaluations primarily consisted of multiple-choice exams.  This approach can put students at a  disadvantagewhen facing international standardized exams that require  essay writing.  Therefore, this mixed method research aimed to examine whether non-English major students at a Thai regional university were adequately prepared  for academic writing tasks and to analyze their self-perception regarding English writing proficiency and needs.  The participants comprised 71 non-English major sophomores and juniors enrolled in an English for academic purpose class.  They were tasked with writing an essay similar to those in the writing section of the IELTS exam. Subsequently, a questionnaire was administered to gauge their perceptions of their writing performance.  The results from the questionnaire showed that students lacked confidence in their writing abilities.  They disagreed with their ability  to write well enough for standardized English proficiency exams and expressed a need for an additional course on academic English writing to enhance their skills, given that their future careers would require proficient writing abilities.  Moreover, the results from essay grading corroborated the findings that assessing students with multiple-choice exams may not be sufficient.  Thai regional university students would benefit from an evaluation scheme that incorporates essay writing to gain more comprehensive writing experiences.  

Fairness in language assessment can have profound impacts on language learners and their success in the classroom. When learners perceive tests to be unfair, they have shown to demonstrate lower motivation, disruptive behavior, and weaker performance. Test fairness evaluations can be determined either objectively (as evidenced by an absence of bias in scores) and/or subjectively (perceptions of stakeholders). Of the two, subjective fairness has recently gained attention in the literature and is the focus of the current study. However, research has primarily examined it in the Chinese EFL context, thus limiting its generalizability. To address this limitation, data was collected from 130 veterinary Thai undergraduate EFL learners. Data sources included a questionnaire measuring five dimensions of subjective test fairness—procedural fairness (test procedures are equal), distributive fairness (test score accurately represents performance), informational fairness (test information is adequately provided), content alignment (degree the test content aligns with the curriculum), and curriculum coverage (extent the test covers the curriculum)—and organizational justice (how fairly the institution evaluates learners). The respondents reflected on a recent classroom achievement test when completing the survey. The descriptive results show how fairly the participants considered their recent test administration. Results from regression analysis show the degree to which the dimensions of perceived fairness predict the justice perceptions of the organization delivering the assessment. The presentation will offer implications for classroom practice and assessment and suggest future directions for research.