| There are currently a number of difficult issues in the field of assessment for learning.Quantitative assessment methods that use marks as outcomes dominate summative assessment.Mark-based assessment for learning tests a large number of lower-order thinking skills.In the case of higher-order thinking skills,quantitative assessment does not provide an objective explanation of them due to the complexity of thinking.This process is also accompanied by a lack of process assessment.For students,the current assessment methods simply let them know a number,a seemingly objective result.But it does not allow them to know what caused the result,and it does not stimulate students to progress in their learning.In the design of language assignments and test questions for junior secondary schools,there is an increasing use of subjective questions.This is a sign that objective questions based on rote learning no longer meet the real needs of language literacy development.Subjective questions have been designed to be used in a large number of major examinations because of their great advantage in testing students’ higher-order thinking skills.Improving the study of subjective questions,then,is a study that explores the performance of students’ thinking.This thesis is divided into five main sections.The first part is the introduction,which is an in-depth discussion of the background and purpose of this research.Parts two to five are the body parts of the thesis.The theoretical underpinnings of the thesis,SOLO classification theory,are first fully explained in the second part.It is clarified that SOLO classification theory,as a content-based representation and qualitative stratification theory,has theoretical advantages in the evaluation and examination of thinking.A summary of the research on SOLO classification theory is also presented.Designed for early papers in translation,papers in disciplinary applications and papers that explore SOLO classification theory in depth.There are fewer applications of SOLO classification theory in the language disciplines and a research gap that can be filled.Also focuses on the links between SOLO classification theory and both in-depth learning and cognitive comprehension,laying the theoretical groundwork for subsequent research.The third part is a practice-based investigation of the subjective examination questions in junior secondary languages.Through combing,it is found that subjective test questions are open,complex and thoughtful,and can dig deeper into the complex processing of students’ thinking functioning and cognitive development.However,there is a certain degree of difficulty in objectifying the subjective test questions for evaluation.The thesis analyses the types of subjective test questions in junior secondary language secondary examination papers.It then explores an example of the application of SOLO classification theory to existing middle school language subjective examination questions-stratified assignment questions.It was found that even for the stratified assignment questions based on SOLO classification theory,there were problems of conceptual ambiguity and non-correspondence in the criteria for stratification and examples of answers.There is also a strong tendency to subjectivise the assessment of existing subjective questions,which affects the credibility of the assessment of subjective questions.The fourth part is the focal part of this thesis: the development of an assessment system for subjective language tests in junior secondary schools based on SOLO classification theory.This part is divided into four steps.The first step is to analyse the learning performance of junior secondary school students on subjective test questions,summarise junior secondary school students’ answers to subjective test questions in process and summative assessments presenting the questions asked and determine the current state of students’ thinking on subjective test questions.The second step is to classify the objectives of the junior secondary language curriculum and to determine the level of competence that students are expected to achieve at junior secondary level.The third step is to develop an assessment system for the subjective test questions in junior secondary school based on the previous analysis.1.A tiered assessment of the subjective test questions is developed with two dimensions: the knowledge dimension and the contextual dimension.2.A multidimensional SOLO assessment scale for the subjective test questions is developed,divided into three dimensions,with three points refined under each dimension.The language dimension is refined into accuracy,completeness and richness;the cognitive dimension is refined into comprehension,analysis and evaluation;and the structure is refined into clarity,relevance and logic.3.Emphasis is placed on post-test feedback.Step four,an example of the application of the assessment system.The fifth part is a further reflection on SOLO classification theory and the development of the assessment system described above: to explore possible pathways based on SOLO classification theory for enhancing students’ performance on subjective tests,that is,their thinking performance.The first point is to enhance students’ intention to learn.This can be achieved through the emphasis on learning objectives,the prompting of methodological strategies and the enrichment of task contexts.The second point is to improve instructional design and move towards tiered teaching.Here is an example of the use of SOLO classification theory in instructional design.The third point is still focused on process assessment,designing thinking-led assignments that can achieve a stepped progression in student performance and thus structure student thinking.This can be achieved through tabular,mind-mapping and question chains.This thesis explores subjective questions based on SOLO classification theory in an attempt to give a high level of theory to subjective questions so that they can be more scientific and efficient.In such a study,some reference value is provided.To increase students’ willingness to learn and to optimise their learning as well as the mode of performance of the results.To truly realise the development of students’ comprehensive qualities. |
