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Student Assessments: Are T hey F air F or I nternational S tudents ?. Connie Eudy & Li Jin Program for Instructional Excellence The Florida State University. Commonly Used S tudent A ssessments. Multiple choice Short essay Group project Class presentation Case study Final paper - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
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Student Assessments: Are They Fair For International Students?
Connie Eudy & Li JinProgram for Instructional Excellence
The Florida State University
Commonly Used Student Assessments
• Multiple choice• Short essay• Group project• Class presentation• Case study• Final paper• Field experience (intern, etc.)
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Barriers for International Students
• Language barriers: reading, writing, speaking• Life experience: contextual knowledge,
confidence, cultural difference• Time: will longer time be helpful• Grader bias
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Fairness Issue in Student Assessments
How these barriers may affect the fairness of the student assessments--
Q1: What types of tests are fair for international students?
Q2: What types of tests are unfair for international students?
Q3: What factors may have contributed to the unfairness? (why is it unfair?)
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Research Method
Instrument: A survey consisted of 12 questions
Participants: 63 Graduate students at a south-eastern public university
Data: International students’ responses (15) vs. domestic students’ responses (48)
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Definitions of Fair and Unfair
• Three questions to collect opinions on fairness– 1. Do you think it is fair to compare the scores of international students to the scores of domestic students in the
following types of tests?– 2. An international student can perform as well as an domestic student in the following types of tests when they
have the same level of knowledge on the subject.– 3. An international student may perform as well as a domestic student in the following types of tests when they
have the same level of critical-thinking skills.
• When more than ¾ of the responses are strongly agree & agree, the test is reported as fair. Otherwise, it is reported as unfair (as less fair). This criteria is arbitrary.
• 50% cutting off threshold was used to identify contributing factors.
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Types of tests reported as fair/unfair for international students
All Responses International Student Responses
Domestic Student Responses
Fair Multiple ChoiceShort EssayGroup ProjectCase Study
Multiple ChoiceShort Essay
Multiple ChoiceShort EssayGroup ProjectCase StudyField ExperienceFinal Paper
Unfair Class PresentationField ExperienceFinal Paper
Class PresentationField ExperienceFinal PaperCase StudyGroup Project
Class Presentation
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Factors contributing to the unfairness for each test type
Test Type All Responses International Student Responses
Domestic Student Responses
Multiple Choice English-reading skills none English-reading skills
Short Essay TimeEnglish-writing skillsEnglish-reading skills
English-writing skillsTimeEnglish-writing skillsEnglish-reading skills
Group Project English-speaking skillsContextual knowledge
English-speakingContextual knowledge English-readingConfidenceCultural difference
English-speaking skillsContextual knowledge
Class Presentation English-speaking skillsConfidenceContextual knowledge
English-speaking skillsConfidence
English-speaking skillsConfidenceContextual knowledge
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Factors contributing to the unfairness for each test types (continued)
Test Type All Responses International Student Responses
Domestic Student Responses
Case Study English-writing skillsEnglish-reading skillsContextual knowledge
English-writing skillsEnglish-reading skillsContextual knowledgeCultural difference
English-writing skillsEnglish-reading skillsContextual knowledge
Final Paper English-writing skillsEnglish-reading skills
English-writing skills
Time
English-writing skillsEnglish-reading skills
Field Experience English-speaking skillsContextual knowledge
English-speakingContextual knowledge TimeConfidenceCultural difference
English-speakingContextual knowledge
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Comparison of factors contributing to the unfairness
All Responses International Student Responses Domestic Student Responses
English-reading skills; Contextual knowledge
English-writing skills; English speaking skills; Contextual knowledge; Confidence; Cultural difference
English-reading skills; Contextual knowledge
English writing skills; English speaking skills
TimeEnglish-reading skills
English-writing skillsEnglish-speaking skills
Confidence ; Time
Confidence; Time
Conclusions and Discussions• International students reported that 5 out of
the 7 types of tests were unfair.• Domestic students reported that only one out
of 7 types of tests were unfair.
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Conclusions and Discussions• The factors contributing to the unfairness of
the tests reported by international students did not match with those factors reported by domestic students for any of the tests.
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