Why are oral exams so dreaded?
Recently, at the conference to summarize the 2022-2023 school year and deploy the direction and tasks for the 2023-2024 school year in District 3, Director of the Department of Education and Training of Ho Chi Minh City, Mr. Nguyen Van Hieu, suggested that teachers not conduct oral tests at the beginning of class in the style of "suddenly calling, suddenly asking" because it will make students stressed and pressured.
According to Mr. Hieu, when teachers ask sudden questions, that knowledge does not bring any value to students but only makes them stressed before class.
Students of Nguyen Du Secondary School (District 1, Ho Chi Minh City) practice measuring the distance between trees in Tao Dan Park to get regular test scores instead of oral tests.
At the request of the Department of Education and Training, a secondary school teacher in Tan Binh District revealed about the oral examination activity.
"Obviously, calling students to the board to test them puts a lot of pressure on them, making them lose interest in starting a new lesson. Not to mention, students who do not know their lessons will have their names written in the class book; will have their names written in a self-criticism; will be called out in flag-raising activities; and will have their conduct points and class competition points deducted," said a junior high school teacher in Tan Binh District.
This teacher believes that teachers only ask questions and students answer, which can lead to grading that is not appropriate to the students' learning ability. Some students study hard but are mentally unstable and easily lose their composure, so they cannot remember the lesson when the teacher calls them to the board to check.
"In some cases, if a student cannot answer, the teacher will immediately give a zero and write it in the class's notebook, without prompting the student to answer the question. On the other hand, teachers with professional conscience will not give points arbitrarily, and will not use points to 'force' students to take extra classes," the teacher added.
Some schools use alternative forms of random oral testing at the beginning of each term.
Why are students obsessed with "oral tests"?
If you type the keyword "oral test" on search engines, users will immediately receive hundreds of articles on this topic. Many students call "oral tests" a nightmare. One student shared: "The first tests are always a nightmare. But fate is so ironic, the day I memorized the lesson, the teacher didn't call on me, the day I didn't memorize the lesson, my name was called out. It's really heartbreaking."
Tran Minh Quan, a 12th grade student in District 3 (HCMC), said that when they haven't prepared their lessons, the moment when teachers hold the list is the most "heart-stopping" moment. "If students are startled, their faces turn red with fear, this will make the teachers pay attention and... call their names. My classmates have also found a 'secret' to avoid being haunted: don't be nervous, confused, keep your head up high and especially don't talk or do personal things," Minh Quan shared.
What do teachers do to make a difference?
In the 2023-2024 school year, with the goal of building happy schools, Ho Chi Minh City education leaders believe that changes are needed to make students excited about going to school each day.
Instead of giving sudden oral tests at the beginning of class, which puts pressure on students, according to the Director of the Department of Education and Training, teachers need to diversify the forms of testing at the beginning of class, focusing on students' interests, making them enjoy learning and not stressed. That is a happy environment.
"The quality of teaching also lies in the fact that teachers create an environment for students to interact, directly participate in the teaching process of teachers, create gentle, quality teaching hours so that every morning when they wake up, they are excited to go to school...", said Mr. Nguyen Van Hieu.
On the teachers' side, Mr. Lam Vu Cong Chinh, Nguyen Du High School (District 10), said that reviewing old lessons and reviewing previously learned knowledge is an indispensable part of the teaching process. Teachers still need to assign lessons and tasks to students and check their results and progress.
However, according to Mr. Chinh, in addition to the "oral" method of giving homework, teachers can choose other solutions, such as applying digital technology to teaching, which is being implemented in Ho Chi Minh City this school year. The Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education and Training has trained and is implementing an online LMS system to help teachers assign tasks for students to do at home before coming to class and can easily check each student's results.
In addition to organizing multiple-choice test questions on the K12Online LMS system and playing knowledge games on Quizizz software, teacher Dang Huu Tri, Nguyen Du Secondary School (District 1), also organizes extracurricular activities during math lessons to make students excited.
For example, after completing the task of making a protractor, groups of students will use this tool to measure the height of trees in the park opposite Nguyen Du Secondary School.
Teacher Huu Tri said that this activity still meets the goal of consolidating knowledge and quickly testing the ability to absorb lessons, replacing the form of oral tests at the beginning of class "suddenly calling, suddenly asking".
During class, teacher Pham Nguyen Van Ha, Dinh Tien Hoang Primary School (District 1, Ho Chi Minh City) incorporated old knowledge questions to test students.
Teacher Pham Nguyen Van Ha, Dinh Tien Hoang Primary School (District 1), said that currently, oral tests will be conducted during class, called regular assessment.
According to Ms. Ha, instead of calling students' names for oral tests at the beginning of class, teachers will ask questions interspersed with old knowledge during class. That way, students will not think that she is testing their lessons but that she and her classmates are gently recalling knowledge. In addition, teachers can check whether their teaching activities are effective or not, instead of students just knowing how to cope, memorize, and recite lessons without understanding the knowledge.
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