Arguing for what?

The mid-term literature test of Mac Dinh Chi High School (District 6, Ho Chi Minh City) with 17 words, created opinions on how to catch the 'trend' appropriately and especially noted the principles of compiling the test.

The midterm exam for a 10th grade student at Mac Dinh Chi High School had the following content: "Write an essay discussing the current youth lifestyle". What students are interested in and teachers appreciate is "catching the trend" of youth life, high differentiation, discussing a phenomenon of life close to students' psychology. This helps students be interested in doing the test, and teachers are less bored when grading the test.

"P HONG BAT": SLUG THAT SHOULD HAVE AN EXPLANATION

However, teachers also gave their opinions on the compilation format as well as the required content of the test questions in the overall requirements of the program.

Master Tran Le Duy, lecturer at Ho Chi Minh City University of Education, said that the phrase "loi song phong trang" is a slang term on social networks, which can be confusing for students. Therefore, teachers need to provide materials or context for students to understand correctly. The person who sets the test also needs to consider whether it is necessary to use "loi song phong trang" or is there a simpler, clearer, and easier-to-understand way of expressing it?

A literature lesson for 10th grade students according to the new general education program

PHOTO: DAO NGOC THACH

Many other teachers also agreed that the word "phồng tranh" should be in quotation marks, this is a slang word, not commonly used, not all students understand. Therefore, teachers need to have clear notes. The test would be better if there was a story, pointing out some young people who have shown such behavior from real life.

Besides, some teachers disagree with the phrase "the wild lifestyle of today's youth" and think that it has stereotyped almost all young people as having such a lifestyle. Should we correct the phrase "the wild lifestyle of some young people today"?

Exam on 'Canvas Lifestyle': What do students think?

In addition, many opinions say that the 45-minute test is not in accordance with Circular 22 of the Ministry of Education and Training, which stipulates that the minimum assessment of secondary and high school students is 60 minutes. In addition, the test only has a writing section, without a reading section for students to identify the characteristics of the genre as directed by the program. The way the test is given is somewhat hasty and superficial.

Discussing the educational nature of the topic, Mr. Le Hai Minh, who teaches literature in Binh Thanh District (HCMC), shared: "Teachers choose a topic or try to 'catch the trend' to bring excitement and interest to students, but it is important to note that the educational nature of the topic is one of the very important factors."

N REQUIREMENTS TO BE MET WITH THE TEST

Master Tran Le Duy pointed out that the test must ensure the requirements according to the 2018 General Education Program, shown through the matrix and specification table. Ensuring scientificity, the expression in the test must be accurate, not ambiguous, not ambiguous, the quoted materials must be correct, the source must be properly cited; the knowledge and information included in the test must be standard, without errors. In terms of aesthetics and education, the test content must aim at noble values, convey positive lessons; orient students towards the values ​​of truth, goodness and beauty.

The exam is controversial.

Master Nguyen Phuoc Bao Khoi, lecturer of the Faculty of Literature at Ho Chi Minh City University of Education, pointed out that choosing hot social issues shows that the test maker is well updated with news, creating conditions for students to easily catch up with the test... However, this is still a 50/50 situation for the test maker because it can easily cause controversy and receive mixed reactions from public opinion.

Moreover, the social issues included in the essay for students need to be carefully considered in terms of compatibility and suitability with the students' perception and psychology. In addition, the social argumentation issue should be a situation close to the students' experience in handling it to be suitable for the orientation of competency assessment.

From there, Master Khoi reminded teachers to be very careful when compiling questions in choosing the thesis. For example, with this test, using the word "backdrop", the person who wrote the test needs to use the footnote or note below to clarify its meaning. If there is a reading text quoted from a reliable source and the command is converted into "Write an essay about the phenomenon mentioned in the article/newspaper above", the test will be better.

"When making an exam, regardless of the scope or level, the criteria of "safety and good differentiation" should be placed above all else. Public comments such as "good/bad, old/new, inspired by life/unconnected to reality" cannot be concretized into criteria and have never been criteria for evaluating an exam," said Master Khoi.

The Ministry has just issued training documents for key teachers on test preparation.

According to a teacher at a high school in District 1, Ho Chi Minh City, when creating questions, teachers need to closely follow the requirements and the Department of Education and Training has guidelines for creating questions.

This teacher also said that in October 2024, the Ministry of Education and Training issued a set of training documents for core teachers on the construction of periodic tests for high school literature. So up to this point, there have been only specific instructions and only core teachers have access to this document. Therefore, some errors and limitations in test creation by teachers are completely understandable because teachers teaching the new program are in the process of finding ways to change and approach. Hopefully, the guidance document will be disseminated and reach every teacher. Schools also need thorough professional meetings and especially should have feedback on test questions.

Test questions, criteria teachers need to pay attention to

When giving an essay topic, teachers first need to feel (at the time of searching for ideas), then use reason to strictly control the form, content, every period and comma in the topic, anticipate all situations and cut appropriately. Giving an essay topic with content like "background" must be done carefully and requires consensus within the professional group.

Exams need to be pedagogical. It is correct to use materials that reflect real life, but when a phenomenon or trend is of interest to young people and teachers want to integrate it into the exam, they should consider and use filters to refine the materials. High school students need to be taught to be polite, tolerant, upright, have dreams, know how to start a business, read books, and actively exercise. Exams that focus on this help students develop their abilities and qualities even though they are always "following trends".

Once, I asked the literature teacher to use the story of students at Le Hong Phong High School for the Gifted, Ho Chi Minh City, bowing to the security guard every time they came to school as material for a test. Everyone was interested and praised it, but more importantly, after that test, the students at my school gradually got used to bowing to the security guard.

From a literature test, I was moved to receive sweet fruit, the fruit of happiness!

Making test questions requires teachers to make efforts to practice methods, update knowledge, read books diligently, be close to life (real) and be steadfast in life (virtual).

The right to create test questions to evaluate students is just the hardware, the greatest authority of a teacher is through pedagogical activities to join hands in building schools, classes, teaching, and learning. The school is a "sacred temple", so "backdrop" comments will be blown away by the wind...

Dr. Nguyen Hoang Chuong

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/de-kiem-tra-ngu-van-ve-phong-bat-tranh-luan-vi-dieu-gi-185241030230112226.htm