Promoting higher order thinking skills through formative assessment : a case study at Hoa Sen University

Abstract

Higher order thinking skills (HOTS) have been considered to be an important factor for undergraduate students in the 21st century. Since formative assessment (FA) has been believed to develop HOTS, various attempts have been made by researchers and practitioners either to propose theoretical models or to investigate the effectiveness of teaching and assessment strategies on HOTS promotion, namely analysis, evaluation, and creation - as found in the revised version of Bloom’s taxonomy. However, few studies have been conducted to explore the attitudes of the people involved in this worthwhile cause, especially in the context of higher education in Vietnam. This study, being mainly an exploratory case study research adopted an exploratory sequential mixed-method design. The participants were 10 English Language Studies teachers and 12 English majors, selected purposefully - as commonly practiced in case study research. The study was conducted with an aim of finding (a) how the participants perceived the importance of HOTS promotion in FA, and (b) what experiences they had regarding challenges and practices of promoting HOTS in FA in Hoa Sen University (HSU). The data from the teacher participants were collected by using a face-to-face interview and an online questionnaire interview, while those from the students were collected by using solely an online questionnaire interview. The analysis of the face-to-face interview data was thematically performed, and those from the questionnaires were graphically inspected. From the data analyzed, it was found that most teachers expressed a positive attitude towards the importance of HOTS promotion although there was a small number of teachers showing signs of indifference or “no-stance” attitude. With regard to their experiences with HOTS promotion, the challenges they faced and the actual work they practiced were sincerely shared (e.g. test-related factors, policyrelated issues, students’ level (i.e., low-achieving students), and teachers’ role and qualifications). The students also expressed their interest in the importance of HOTS promotion, though they were quite reluctant when asked about their attitude when HOTS were assessed in FA. Regarding the teachers’ practices, they generally realized that HOTS skills were assessed in FA and that the subjective test tasks were often used by the teachers, though some others remarked that objective test tasks were also used in FA. Though there have been some limitations identified, the study has provided practical implications for administrators, teachers, and students.