POINT REWARDING SYSTEM AS A WAY OF PROMOTING THE AUTHENTIC ASSESSMENT
EMBODIED IN THE 2013 CURRICULUM
(Action Research on Assessment Procedures and Their Impact on Students’ Learning Attitudes at a Junior High School in Bandung Barat Regency)
A THESIS
Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for
Master degree in English Education
by
Oceng Rum Karnodi, S.Pd.
NIM: 1204670
DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH EDUCATION
SCHOOL OF POSTGRADUATE STUDIES
Oceng Rum Karnodi, 2014
2014
Point Rewarding System as a Way of Promoting the Authentic
Assessment Embodied in the 2013 Curriculum
(Action Research on Assessment Procedures and Their Impact on Students’ Learning Attitudes at a Junior High School in Bandung Barat Regency)
Oleh
Oceng Rum Karnodi
S.Pd IKIP Bandung, 1998
Sebuah Tesis yang diajukan untuk memenuhi salah satu syarat memperoleh gelar Magister Pendidikan (M.Pd.) pada Fakultas Pendidikan Bahasa dan Seni
© Oceng Rum Karnodi 2014 Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia
Juli 2014
Skripsi ini tidak boleh diperbanyak seluruhya atau sebagian, dengan dicetak ulang, difoto kopi, atau cara lainnya tanpa ijin dari penulis.
OCENG RUM KARNODI
POINT REWARDING SYSTEM AS A WAY OF PROMOTING THE AUTHENTIC ASSESSMENT EMBODIED IN THE 2013 CURRICULUM
(Action Research on Assessment Procedures and Their Impact on Students’ Learning Attitudes at a Junior High School in Bandung Barat Regency)
has been approved and legalized by
Supervisor:
Prof. Fuad Abdul Hamied, M.A., Ph.D.
NIP.195008211974121001
Head of the English Education Program
School of Postgraduate Studies
Oceng Rum Karnodi, 2014
Prof. Emi Emilia, M. Ed., Ph.D.
ABSTRACT
Authentic Assessment (AA) is the main distinguishing feature of the 2013 curriculum. With the 2013 curriculum, teachers have to assess not only the product, but also the process of learning. With the 2013 curriculum the development of the attitudes of the students must be reported explicitly in the report book. This was not required in the previous curricula. The necessity to assess students’ attitudes is really new and is regarded to be overwhelming by all teachers because every time a teacher teaches, s/he must observe the attitudes of every student and take into account the development of students’ attitudes during the learning process. In this study, the researcher tried to apply the point rewarding system during three times teaching (three cycles). The essence of this system is awarding points to every student for every effort s/he shows during the learning processes such as answering or asking questions, or engaging actively in the processes of learning. This study employs the eight-step action research. The data gathered from observations and interviews with the students. The classroom observations were conducted by the expert teacher, the critical friends, and the researcher himself while the interviews were conducted only by the critical friends with the aim of maintaining the validity of the data. One expert teacher and two critical friends were involved in this study. They played very important roles. The expert teacher was to judge whether or not, the point rewarding system applied reflects the characteristics of the authentic assessment. And the critical friends were to see the impact of the point rewarding system, especially in the improvement of students’ learning attitudes. The findings of this study revealed that the point rewarding system was proved to embrace the characteristics of the authentic assessment, i.e. fostering powerful and productive learn ing for students. Since the first time of the imp lementation of the point rewarding system, the students’ level of engagement has shown some imp rove ment and after three cycles, the students were more fluent and more confident in producing the expressions.
Oceng Rum Karnodi, 2014
TABLE OF CONTENTS
APPROVAL... Error! Bookmark not defined.
DECLARATION ... Error! Bookmark not defined.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ... Error! Bookmark not defined.
PREFACE ... Error! Bookmark not defined.
ABSTRACT... Error! Bookmark not defined.
TABLE OF CONTENTS ... 1 LIST OF TABLES... Error! Bookmark not defined.
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CHAPTER I ... Error! Bookmark not defined.
INTRODUCTION ... Error! Bookmark not defined.
1.1.Background of the study ... Error! Bookmark not defined.
1.2. Research Question ... Error! Bookmark not defined.
1.3. Purpose of the study... Error! Bookmark not defined.
1.4. Significance of the study ... Error! Bookmark not defined.
1.5. Definition of the key terms ... Error! Bookmark not defined.
1.6. The organization of the paper ... Error! Bookmark not defined.
CHAPTER II ... Error! Bookmark not defined.
LITERATURE REVIEW ... Error! Bookmark not defined.
2.1. The 2013 English Curriculum of Indonesia... Error! Bookmark not defined.
2.1.1. The Educational purpose embodied in the 2013 curriculum ... Error! Bookmark not defined.
2.1.2. Determining that the purposes are being attained ... Error! Bookmark not defined.
2.2. Assessment and Teaching... Error! Bookmark not defined.
2.3. Traditional versus Authentic Assessment ... Error! Bookmark not defined.
2.4. The need for the Authentic Assessment ... Error! Bookmark not defined.
2.5. The Authentic Assessment ... Error! Bookmark not defined.
2.5.1. Some definitions of authentic assessment ... Error! Bookmark not defined.
2.5.3. Types of Authentic Assessment embodied in the 2013 curriculum ... Error! Bookmark not defined.
2.6. Summary of Chapter II... Error! Bookmark not defined.
CHAPTER III... Error! Bookmark not defined.
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ... Error! Bookmark not defined.
3.1. Research Design ... Error! Bookmark not defined.
3.2. Research Schedule ... Error! Bookmark not defined.
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Table 3.2. The Schedule of the Implementation Project.. Error! Bookmark not defined.
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3.6. Data analysis ... Error! Bookmark not defined.
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3.6.2.3. Data from interviews... Error! Bookmark not defined.
3.6.2.4. Data from video records. ... Error! Bookmark not defined.
3.7. Summary of Chapter III ... Error! Bookmark not defined.
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DATA PRESENTATION AND ANALYSES... Error! Bookmark not defined.
4.1. Data from the preliminary stage ... Error! Bookmark not defined.
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4.3. Cycle one of the project implementation... Error! Bookmark not defined.
The plan... Error! Bookmark not defined.
The action and observation ... Error! Bookmark not defined.
First action: Socializing the grading system (Monday 30th of September 201). .. Error! Bookmark not defined.
Second action: First time teaching employing the PPP teaching method (Thursday, 3rd of October 2013)... Error! Bookmark not defined.
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The Reflection on the first cycle ... Error! Bookmark not defined.
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The action and observation ... Error! Bookmark not defined.
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3. Closing... Error! Bookmark not defined.
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4.6. The Summative Assessment... Error! Bookmark not defined.
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The type of the test ... Error! Bookmark not defined.
The task of the test ... Error! Bookmark not defined.
The minimum mastery criteria ... Error! Bookmark not defined.
The Rubric of the summative assessment ... Error! Bookmark not defined.
The socialization of the mid-term test ... Error! Bookmark not defined.
4.7. Observing the process of the first mid-term test.. Error! Bookmark not defined.
Reflection on the process of the first mid-term test ... Error! Bookmark not defined.
4.7.1. Improvement of the sample student one... Error! Bookmark not defined.
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4.8. Observing the process of the second mid-term test ... Error! Bookmark not defined.
4.8.1. Improvement of the whole class ... Error! Bookmark not defined.
4.9. Observing the process of the written test ... Error! Bookmark not defined.
4.10. Summary ... Error! Bookmark not defined.
CHAPTER V... Error! Bookmark not defined.
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION ... Error! Bookmark not defined.
5.1. Conclusion ... Error! Bookmark not defined.
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5.3. Recommendation ... Error! Bookmark not defined.
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References... Error! Bookmark not defined.
APPENDIX 1: INTERVIEWS WITH 3 TEACHERS AS THE RESPONDENTS (Respondent 1 from Bandung, Respondent 2 from Majalengka, Respondent 3 from Subang)... Error! Bookmark not defined.
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APPENDIX 3: RESEARCHER FIELDNOTES AFTER THE FIRST TIME
OBSERVATION. ... Error! Bookmark not defined.
APPENDIX 4: FOCUS GROUP INTERVIEW WITH STUDENTS AFTER THE FIRST TIME CLASSROOM OBSERVATION (September 23, 2013) ... Error! Bookmark not defined.
APPENDIX 5: FOCUS GROUP INTERVIEW WITH STUDENTS AFTER
SOCIALIZING THE GRADING SYSTEM (Monday 30th of September 201). ... Error! Bookmark not defined.
APPENDIX 6: INTERVIEW WITH 3 STUDENTS AFTER THE FIRST TIME
APPLYING THE POINT REWARDING SYSTEM (3rd of October 2013) ... Error! Bookmark not defined.
APPENDIX 7: FIELD NOTES FROM THE CRITICAL FRIENDS AND THE EXPERT TEACHER ON THE PROCESS OF TEACHING IN CYCLE TWO (Monday, October the 7th, 2013)... Error! Bookmark not defined.
APPENDIX 8: FOCUS GROUP INTERVIEW WITHS STUDENTS AFTER CYCLE TWO (7th of October 2013)... Error! Bookmark not defined.
APPENDIX 9: FIELD NOTE FROM THE EXPERT TEACHER ON THE 2ND CYCLE OF THE IMPLEMENTATION PROJECT (Monday, October the 7th, 2013)... Error! Bookmark not defined.
APPENDIX 10: COMMENTS FROM THE HEADMASTER AND PARENT REPRESENTATIVE DURING THE REFLECTION ON THE THIRD CYCLE
(Thursday, the 10th of October 2013. ... Error! Bookmark not defined.
APPENDIX 11: FORMAT PENILAIAN INDIVIDU (THE FORM OF INDIVIDUAL ASSESSMENT) ... Error! Bookmark not defined.
APPENDIX 12: INTERVIEW WITH Rd AFTER THE FIRST MID-TERM TEST (Thursday, October 17, 2013) ... Error! Bookmark not defined.
APPENDIX 14: THE TEST ITEMS EMPLOYED IN WRITTEN TEST (Thursday, 24th of October, 2013)... Error! Bookmark not defined. APPENDIX 15: THE STUDENTS’ TEST RESULT FROM WRITTEN TEST
Oceng Rum Karnodi, 2014
CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION
This first chapter of the thesis unfolds the background of the study, the aim of the
study and the associated research question that the thesis seeks to answer, the
scope and the significance of the thesis, definition of the key terms and a brief
overview of the thesis organization.
1.1. Background of the study
Some negative reactions towards the enactment of the 2013 curriculum of
Indonesia were shown by some parties, such as those shown by the Federasi
Serikat Guru Indonesia, the Federasi Guru Independent Indonesia, and Sekolah
Katolik and Kristen se-Indonesia (Tan, 2013)
The Federasi Serikat Guru Indonesia and the Federasi Guru Independent
Indonesia resisted the new curriculum while Sekolah Katolik and Kristen
se-Indonesia postponed the implementation of it.
These unfriendly welcomes are caused by the assumption that the 2013
curriculum possesses so many weaknesses one of which is its top-down or
centralistic nature (Tan, 2013; Suwandi, 2013).
However, schools which have been assigned as the pilot project for the
implementation of the 2013 curriculum have no choice but to accept and
implement it properly. As a teacher in one of the pilot project schools, the
researcher of this study felt obliged to contribute to the success of the
implementation of the 2013 curriculum.
However, the atmosphere within the school where the researcher teaches is still
uncertain. Here, teachers view the new curriculum differently. Most of the
teachers have the opinion that the new curriculum makes them even busier than
syllabuses and the teaching materials since now they have been provided by the
government.
From many informal talks with some teachers, it was revealed that the need to
implement the authentic assessment in the day to day teaching practices was still
regarded to be the most complicated task for them.
This problem led the researcher of this study to start the quest for finding some
feasible ways and useful techniques in implementing the authentic assessme nt in
day to day teaching practices. In so thinking this study set off to find some
answers to the question of “What steps are to be taken by teachers to assess students’ learning attitudes as the implementation of the authentic assessment as
required by the 2013 curriculum?”
Based on the close scrutiny on the document and some interviews with some
English teachers, the researcher recognizes three new aspects within the 2013
English curriculum, they are the materials, the process of learning, and the
assessment.
Viewed from the materials to be taught to the students, the 2013 curriculum
provides fewer teaching materials compared to the 2006 curriculum (Kurikulum
Tingkat Satuan Pendidikan).
The teaching materials for grade seven (Buku Guru, page iv) consist of eight
chapters for one year. It means that in one semester four chapters must be
covered. The materials cover: 1) Interpersonal, 2) Transactional, 3) Specific
Functional, and 4) General Functional (Buku Guru, page 6-7). These materials are
covered in the topic, which are related to the life of the social, natural and in the
immediate surroundings of students’ home and school.
The material for improving students’ Interpersonal skill, the materials are: 1)
Greetings, 2) Taking leave, 3) Thanking, 4) Apologizing, and 5) introducing one
Oceng Rum Karnodi, 2014
To improve their transactional skill, the students of grade seven will be taught
how to tell and ask about facts and feelings, and how to ask and offer goods and
services.
The Specific Functional covers: a. Label, b. List, c. Instruction, d. Short notices, e.
Warning/Caution, f. Songs.
The General Functional covers: a. Name of days, months, parts of the day, date
and year, b. Personal identity, c. Names of animals, objects, and public buildings,
d. The characteristics of people, animals, and objects, e.
Behaviors/actions/functions of people/animals/objects, f. Descriptive text (people,
objects, and animals).
Teachers view the teaching materials of the 2013 curriculum differently. The
English teachers who teach in the suburbs and remote area, in which English was
introduced for the first time in grade seven, view this as quite fair.
But for the English teachers who teach in big cities like Bandung, Jakarta, or
Surabaya, where the students’ abilities are already above the level of the content covered in the 2013 curriculum, view the materials to be too easy, boring and do
not suit the need of their students.
This condition supports the argument of Tan (2013) who argues that the
uniformity in the level of teaching materials does not suit the various needs of the
students throughout Indonesia.
The second new aspect of the 2013 curriculum is the process of learning which
adopts the scientific approach or inquiry learning (Kemendikbud, 2013: 151). This
scientific approach to learning consists of the stages of observing, questioning,
associating, experimenting, and networking.
The issue of the employment of the scientific approach to learning English also
from the fact that the 2013 curriculum of English also still adopts the Genre-Based
Approach, which is stated explicitly in the preface of the textbook for grade seven
as follows:
The students are expected to have control over the types, the schematic structure, and the contexts of certain text (Kemendikbud, 2013).
Most English teachers who have been used to employing the Genre-Based
Approach (Hyland, 2004; Gibbons, 2002; Emilia, 2012), which consists of the
stages of Building Knowledge of the Field, Modeling, Joint Construction of Text,
and Independent Construction of Text, become confused with the enactment of
the 2013 which necessitates the English teachers to apply the scientific approach
as stated above.
The third new aspect of the 2013 curriculum, which is also the overarching aspect,
is the assessment techniques employed. The 2013 curriculum embraces the
authentic assessment principles. The assessment of students’ achievement is no
longer only based on the written test (paper and pen) but must also be based on
their performances and their portfolios (Kemendikbud, 2013: 280).
This is in line with the suggestion from Hargreaves, Earl, & Schmidt (2002) that
teachers are now expected to assess progress toward the outcomes by planning
rubrics, identifying indicators of reaching the outcomes, developing appropriate
modifications for individual students, assessing both the process and the product
of learning, encouraging self-assessment, and using frequent and varied
assessments.
The implementation of the authentic assessment is the primacy in the 2013
curriculum. It implies that the 2013 curriculum necessitates all teachers to deliver
the learning experiences for their students that will develop knowledge and skills
on the one hand, and supportive attitudes and values on the other. This has the aim
Oceng Rum Karnodi, 2014
Since the 1990s, there have been numerous advocates of authentic assessment as
one of the critical pieces necessary to help students learn (Neely and Tucker,
2012).
The effectiveness of the authentic assessment in improving the students’ learning
has also been researched by many proponents of the field such as Smith (2005),
Hildebrand (2005), Poikela (2004), Fook and Shidu (2010), Hammond and
Snyder (2000), Gulikers et al. (2006), and Neely and Tucker (2012).
The most relevant definition of authentic assessment of the 2013 curriculum is the
one proposed by Gulikers, Bastiaens, and Kirschner (2004) which reads:
require students to use and demonstrate the same (kind of) competencies, or combinations of knowledge, skills and attitudes, that are applied in this situation in professional life (Gulikers et al, 2004).
The inclusion of the attitudes in the definition above makes it similar to the
assessment intended by the 2013 curriculum of Indonesia.
From this and some other definitions of authentic assessment (Khaira and Yambo,
2005; Mueller, 2006) it can be stated here that the authentic assessment has to do
with students demonstrating that they know a body of knowledge, have developed
a set of skills, and can apply them in a real life situation and can solve real life
problems.
The authentic assessment is primarily important in the 2013 curriculum because it
can realize the concept of teaching and learning experiences which develop not
only knowledge and skills but also supportive attitude.
The researcher of this study believes that the authentic assessment is quite feasible
to be implemented in the Indonesian school setting and at every level of education
including the junior high school level.
However, based on some interviews with some English teachers, both in big cities
sure about how to implement the authentic assessment. What they are sure of
being only one thing, i.e. it will surely make them even busier than preparing the
syllabuses and the teaching materials which they used to do during the time of the
2006 curriculum or the KTSP.
The implementation of the authentic assessment embodied in the 2013 curriculum
is evidently a big problem for most English teachers, because they regard it as a
new thing. It is reasonable for previously most teachers might have not
implemented the authentic assessment app ropriately, although actually it was
mentioned as the principles of the whole assessment embodied in the 2006
curriculum or KTSP (Departement Pendidikan Nasional, 2007: 32).
Almost all of the teachers regard the implementation of the authentic assessment
is the most complicated task to carry out. Implementing the authentic assessment
implies that every day the teachers must observe and document the attitudes of
their students during the teaching/learning processes regarding their students’
discipline, confidence, honesty, respect, activeness, team-work, and their
communicative competence. Almost all the teachers have not had any idea and are
a little bit pessimistic regarding their ability as how to carry out this responsibility.
Based on these facts, conducting a study which addresses the implementation of
the authentic assessment at this early stage of the implementation of the 2013
curriculum, especially in the design of an action research which tries to find some
techniques of how to implement the authe ntic assessment properly is of great
value as this can pave the way to the achievement of the goals of the 2013
curriculum.
From the preliminary stage of this study what seems to be the most complicated
issue in the implementation of the authentic assess ment is the administering the
Oceng Rum Karnodi, 2014
1.2. Research Question
As stated in the background of the study that administering the assessment of
students’ attitudes is regarded the most complicated task, this study addresses the
research question:
1. What steps can a teacher take to administer the authentic assessment?
2. What impacts do the steps taken have on students’ competencies?
1.3. Purpose of the study
This study is aimed at finding some efficient, effective and feasible techniques in
implementing the authentic assessment embraced in the 2013 curriculum. The
findings of this study will equip the English teachers with the knowledge and skill
of assessing their students based on daily observations and documentations.
Such knowledge and skill will lift up one of the problems faced by the English
teachers at the moment. When the purpose is achieved it is hoped that the findings
can be implemented by all the English teachers in their day to day teaching
practices.
1.4. Significance of the study
This study deals with helping the English teachers in implementing the authent ic
assessment embodied in the 2013 curriculum. The significance of this study can
be viewed from at least two points of view, theoretically and practically.
Theoretically, this study is expected to enrich the literature on the techniques of
the implementation of the authentic assessment in the 2013 curriculum of
Indonesia. So far as the researcher of this study knows there has not been any
document regarding what steps are to be taken by teachers in implementing the
authentic assessment. It is hoped that this study can become a stepping stone for
Practically, this study will equip the English teachers with the knowledge and skill
in their teaching practices on how to implement the authentic assessment in their
daily teachings.
Those skills and knowledge will place the teachers in the position of creative and
innovative teachers not as robot as stated by Suwandi (2013). This is also in line
with the statement of Dharma (2008), who places the teachers in the position of
overarching agents in bringing success to the implementation of the curriculum.
Richards (2001: 209) suggests that teachers ultimately determine the success of
the program (curriculum). He also adds that good teachers can compensate the
deficiencies in the curriculum, the materials, or the resources they make use of in
their teaching.
Another proponent of education, Alwasilah (2013) from Indonesia University of
Education, regarding the enactment of the 2013 curriculum, states that what
matters is the teacher not the curriculum. Further, he states
A new curriculum is always a good notion. However, drawbacks invariably stem from implementation (The Jakarta Post, 5/1/2013).
Realizing that the role of teachers is the key factor in achieving the goals of the
curriculum, it is evident that this study, practically, is of great significance.
1.5. Definition of the key terms
There are three key terms that most frequently come up in this study, i. e. the 2013
curriculum, the authentic assessment, and the learning attitudes. To make them
clear, it is necessary to define them in advance. A brief review of the definition of
the terms is presented as follows:
The 2013 curriculum in this study refers to the curriculum for junior high school
in Indonesia, which was enacted in 2013 and was first implemented in June of
Oceng Rum Karnodi, 2014
The authentic assessment in this study refers to the assessment that teachers must
implement along with the implementation of the 2013 curriculum of Indonesia.
The authentic assessment necessitates the teachers to assess the knowledge, skill,
and attitude of the students.
The learning attitudes in this study refer to the attitudes mentioned in the 2013
curriculum which covers: respect for others, honesty, care, courage, confidence,
social awareness, and curiosity (Kemendikbud, 2013: 282).
1.6. The organization of the paper
Following the tradition put forward by the proponents of educational research
(Swales and Feak, 1994; Evans and Gruba, 2002; see also Emilia, 2009), this
study report consists of a title page, a declaration page, an approval page, a
preface, an abstract, an acknowledgement, a table of contents, five chapters as the
body of the study, a reference, and appendices.
The five chapters as the body of the study are organized as follows:
Chapter one is the introduction to the study. This chapter sets out with the
background of conducting the study and followed by some important notions of
the study covering research question, the purpose of the study, the scope of the
study, the significance of the study, and the definition of the key terms.
Chapter two addresses the literature review that underpins the study and become
the theoretical reference during the overall process of the study. The theories
covered in this section are the 2013 English curriculum of Indonesia and the basic
notions of the authentic assessments.
Chapter three presents the methodology which contains the research design,
research site and participants, the criteria of success, data collection methods, and
Chapter four unfolds the results or findings of the study. In this chapter the data
are presented and analyzed. The inclusion of the analysis of the data in this
chapter follows the suggestion put forward by Swales and Feak (1994; 2004).
Oceng Rum Karnodi, 2014
CHAPTER III
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
To follow the guideline of writing a thesis written by Emilia (2009) and also the
suggestion from two proponents of action research, Alwasilah (2011: 119) and
Koshy (2005: 128), this chapter presents the report of what the researcher did in
conducting the study. This includes the research design, the research site and
participants, the criteria of success, the time and procedure, the data collection and
the data analysis.
3.1. Research Design
Because thepurpose of this study is to seek local understanding and improve the
researcher own teaching practice, the Action Research design is believed to yield
optimal results. This is in line with the suggestion of Nunan and Bailey (2009: 250) that action research aims at improving the researcher’s own practices.
Carr and Kemmis (in Nunan and Bailey, 2009: 226-227) define Action Research
as:
A form of self-reflective enquiry undertaken by participants in order to improve the rationality and justice on their own practices, their understanding of those practices and the situations in which the practices are carried out.
Some characteristics of this study, which match the principles of action research
are dealing with the immediate problem, having the intention to improve teaching,
establishing self-critical teacher, starts small, and taken directly in situ. These
characteristics match the principles of action research which are proposed by its
proponents such as Hult & Lennung (1980), McKernan (1991), Kemmis and
McTaggart (1992), Zuber-Skerit (1996b), Winter (1996), Stenhouse (1975), Biggs
(2003),and Nunan and Bailey (2009).
The more detailed rationales are as follows:
First, this study deals with the immediate problem. Currently, the need to
by most teachers, including the researcher of this study. Kemmis and MC Taggart
(1992: 21-22) state that
Action research is not research done on other people. Action research is research done by particular people on their own work.
The second feature of action research that matches the characteristic of this study
deals with the purpose of the study. According to Kemmis and MC Taggart
(1992) action research helps the researchers improve what they do. Action
research deals with individual or group with a common purpose of improving
practice. It has been stated in the first chapter that this study also has the purpose
of improving the practice of administering the authentic assessment.
The third feature of action research that suits this study is the nature of emergence.
In this study, the researcher intends to introduce some innovative ideas on how to
integrate the authentic assessment in the teaching- learning process. This is in line
with the role of action research proposed by Koshy (2005: xii).
This study was conducted at the time when most of teachers, including the
researcher himself, were in the problematic situation. Most of the teachers did not
have a clear set of steps on how to implement the authentic assessment in their
daily teaching practices. The book of training material on the implementation of
the 2013 curriculum (Kemendikbud, 2013) does provide the forms of the
authentic assessment, but it does not provide the guidance for teachers on how to
administer it.
The findings of this study can be regarded as new theories which will equip the
teacher with the knowledge of how to implement the authentic assessment so that
the teachers will function more intelligently and skillfully (Burns, 1994: 294).
This production of practical knowledge which is useful to teacher in everyday
context is the nature of action research which is outlined by Reason and Bradbury
Oceng Rum Karnodi, 2014
of the current practices. Improvement or change is the key word of action research
(Koshy, 2005: 9).
The fourth reason for choosing the action research as the design of this study is
because this study was conducted directly in situ which starts small. This
coincides with the suggestion of Bell (1999), and Cohen and Manion (1994: 192)
who state that action research deals with concrete problems located in an
immediate situation.
As a whole the action research design was chosen in this study with the purpose
of finding some techniques of administering the authentic assessment so that the
two research questions can be answered wholly or at least a part of it.
The most commonly known method of action research is the one proposed by
Kemmis and McTaggart (2000: 595) which consists of planning, acting,
observing, and reflecting (see also Lewin, 1946; 1948).
Kemmis and McTaggart (2000: 595) propose that in the action research the
process of planning – acting – observing – reflecting is cyclical. Sagor (2005) uses
different terms: clarifying vision and targets, articulating an appropriate theory,
implementing activities and collecting data, and reflecting on the data and
planning informed action.
Koshy (2005: 31) gives more detailed stages of conducting action research which
goes: (1) identifying the topic and setting the context, (2) reviewing and analyzing
the literature, (3) focusing on the topic, question or hypothesis, (4) planning
activities, (5) gathering data, (6) analyzing data, (7) acting/implementing, (8)
reflecting on outcomes, and (9) reporting.
procedure suggested by Cohen et al. (2007: 306-8), the model is known as the
eight-stage process of action research. This model suited the purpose of this study.
The stages are discussed in the following paragraphs.
The first stage involves identificatio n, evaluation, and formulation of the problem
perceived as critical in an everyday teaching situation.
The second stage consists of preliminary discussion and negotiations among the
interested parties – teachers, researchers, advisers, sponsors, possibly – which
may culminate in a draft proposal. This may include a statement of the question to
be answered.
According to Cohen et al. (2007: 306-8) it is very important that the objectives,
purposes, and assumptions are made perfectly clear to all concerned. So during
this stage, the researcher of this study held a discussion with the advisor, the
head-teacher, and three colleagues (English teachers in the research site) involved in
this study.
During this stage the researcher made clear to all concerned abo ut the objectives,
purposes, assumption, and most importantly the research questions. The result of
this stage has been stated in chapter I (sub-section 1.2.).
The third stage involves a review of the research literature. This stage has the
intention to find out what can be learned from comparable studies, their
objectives, procedures and problems encountered.
The fourth stage, according to Cohen et al. (2007) involves a modification of the
initial statement of the problem in the first stage. It may now e merge in the form
of testable hypotheses, or a set of guiding objectives. In this stage the assumptions
underlying the project are made explicit (e.g. in order to effect curriculum
changes, the attitudes, values, skills and objectives of the teachers involved must
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It was at this stage the objective of this study made clear, i.e. to improve the skill
of the researcher in integrating the authentic assessment into his daily teaching.
The fifth stage is the selection of research procedure – sampling, administration,
choice of materials, methods of teaching and learning, allocation of resources and
tasks, deployment of staff and so on.
The sixth stage is deciding the evaluation procedures. This evaluation procedure
will be continuously used. In this study this stage is presented under the
sub-section of the criteria of success (see subsub-section 3.3. of this chapter)
The seventh stage is the implementation of the project. According to Cohen et al.
(2007) this stage can be over varying periods of time. This stage includes the
conditions and methods of data collection (e.g. fortnightly meetings, the keeping
of records, interim reports, final reports, the submission of self-evaluation and
group evaluation reports, etc.), the monitoring of tasks and the trans mission of
feedback to the research team, and the classification and analysis of data.
It was during this stage the employment of the cyclical action research took place
in this study.
The eighth (final) stage involves the interpretation of the data; inference to be
drawn; and overall evaluation of the project. Discussion on the findings should be
done in the light of previously agreed evaluative criteria. Errors, mistakes and
problems are considered. The general summing up is made in which the outcomes
of the project are viewed, recommendations made, and arrangements for
dissemination of results decided.
The eight-step action research design employed in this study is shown in the
following figure:
STAGE 1
Figure 3.1. The Seven Stage Action Research of this study STAGE 3
Review of the research literature STAGE 2
Preliminary discussion and negotiations among the interested parties – teachers, supervisor, advisers, and head-teacher
STAGE 4
Establishing testable hypothesis, skills and objectives of the teachers involved that must be changed
STAGE 5
Selection of research procedure – sampling, administration, choice of materials, methods of teaching and learning, allocation of resources and tasks,
STAGE 6
Deciding the evaluation procedures
STAGE 7
The implementation of the project. One cycle of the action research (plan – act – observe - reflect) was conducted in
this stage.
STAGE 8
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3.2. Research Schedule
Based on the eight-stage model of action research above, this study was conducted
with the schedule as shown in table 3.1.
Discussion Expert teacher July and August, 2013
The implementation project (stage 7) of this study employed the main cycle of
action research, i.e. planning – acting –observing – reflecting as proposed by
Kemmis and McTaggart (cited in Koshy, 2005: 4). The cycle can be seen in the
following figure
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The implementation of the project lasted for seven time meetings starting from
September 23 until October 24, 2013. The following table (Table 3.2.) is the
schedule for the implementation of the project of this study:
Table 3.2. The Schedule of the Implementation Project No The Stage of the implementation project Date
1 Initial observation 23
Sept. 2013 2 Cycle one
Plan 26
Socializing the grading system 30
1st action 3
research site must be a school where the new curriculum has been implemented.
The school where the researcher of this study teaches was selected as the
research site because it had been assigned as the pilot school project on the
implementation of the 2013 curriculum.
The selection of the research site was also in line with one of the characteristic of
action research which is conducted in situ. As stated by Cohen and Manion (1994:
192) who describe action research as
This school is a junior high school in Bandung Barat Regency. Previously this
school was one of the RSBI (Piloting International Standard School).
3.3.2. Research Subjects
There were two subjects of observation in this study. The first was the students
who received the treatment of the project implementation and the second was the
researcher himself.
The researcher of this study was given an opportunity to implement the project in
a class of grade seven. The number of students in this class was forty. These forty
students were the first subject of the study. They were the subject of observations
which were conducted by the researcher, the expert teacher, and the critical
friends during the implementation of the project.
The second subject of this study was the researcher himself. He was also the
subject of observations which were done by the expert teacher and the critical
friends.
All the actions of the researcher are subject to scrutiny, criticism and analysis.
This is in line with the suggestion of Biggs (2003: 7) who states that the target of
action learning is the teaching of individual teacher herself or himself. In the same
vein Carr and Kemmis (1986: 162), Cohen and Manion (1994: 192) state that
action research is a form of self-reflective inquiry. The scrutiny focuses on the
action of assessment.
This is also in line with the purpose of the study and the characteristic of action
research which is to improve the professionalism of the researcher himself, in this
study, the researcher positioned himself as the participant observer (Flick, 1998:
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3.3.3. Research Participants
In this study there were some important participants who acted as the
collaborators. Two of them played the most important role without whom this
study could not be conducted. They were the expert teacher and the critical
friends.
The existence of the expert teacher in this study is crucial as she acted as the
collaborator whose function was to give guidance and to decide whether the
researcher had implemented the authentic assessment accordingly or not.
One of the English teachers in the research site voluntarily took the role as expert
teacher. She has got the training program of the implementation of the 2013
curriculum in June 2013. She is the chairperson of the MGMP (teacher
professional development network) in the school and the chairperson of the
MGMP in Bandung Barat Regency. She has attended many workshops, seminars,
and teacher training programs as well as other Continuing Professional
Development (CPD) programs.
The second and the third participant in this study were two colleagues of the
researcher. They served as the critical friends. The existence of the critical friends
is in line with the suggestion from Burns (2009) and Koshy (2005: 40). Their
comments and point of views played an important role in the verification of the
conclusions drawn from the data.
3.4. The Criteria of Success
Deciding the evaluation procedures (Cohen et al., 2007: 307) is the sixth stage of
this action research. In this subsection the researcher uses the term criteria of
success. This stage is important because it can lead to the termination of the
Following the statement of Emilia (2013, in one of her lectures) that action
research can be terminated when the success have been achieved. Thus, it is very
important here to state the criteria of success.
The success of this study is based on two criteria. The first is the change
experienced by the researcher. The researcher had to gain proof that he had
implemented the authentic assessment by integrating it into his day to day
teaching practices. This is gained from the judgment of the expert teacher.
The second criterion of success is viewed from the change experienced by the
students in terms of improvement in their learning attitudes. Students’ learning attitude improvement will be shown by the level of students’ involvement in the learning processes. This is gained from the verification of all the collaborators (the
expert teacher and the critical friends).
3.5. Data collection methods and techniques
The employment of the eight-stage action research (Cohen et al., 2007) in this
study necessitates the researcher to collect data at two different times. The first
was prior to the implementation program, referred to as the preliminary stage
(stage 1 to 6), and the second was during the implementation program (stage 7).
The data were collected through different methods and techniques at each stage.
3.5.1. Data collection methods at the preliminary stage
At the first stage, i.e. the stage of identification, evaluation, and formation of the
problem, the data were collected through interviews and questionnaires with some
English teachers as the respondents. These data were needed to identify the
problem faced by most English teachers related to the implementation of the
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At the second stage of the study, the data were gained from the interview with the
headmaster in the research site and the supervisor at the level of regency of
Kabupaten Bandung Barat.
At the third stage of this study, the data were gained from some reviews on the
relevant literature, the document of the 2013 English curriculum and some
literatures on authentic assessment. This stage is documented in chapter two of
this paper.
At the fourth and fifth stages, the data were collected from some discussion with
the expert teacher concerning the hypothesis of this study.
At the sixth stage, the data were gathered from reviewing the literature on the
educational research methods. The result was the decision to employ the action
research design.
3.5.2. Data collection methods of the implementation project
The seventh stage is the implementation program. During this stage the researcher
teamed up with an expert teacher and two critical friends (see research participant)
to collect various relevant data needed to address the two research questions. The
data were gathered from observation and interview with the students. The data
gathered at this stage is the focus of this study.
Table 3.3. Shows that the data collection method and techniques employed in the
implementation of the project (stage 7) were the observational (observation and
video recording) and non observational (interviews) methods (Burns, 2009). This
has the purpose of gaining knowledge from insider (or emic) perspective.
The observational method consisted of the peer observations, other observations,
and video recordings. The non observational (interviews) took the students as the
Table 3.3. Research Questions and Data Collecting Techniques
Research Questions Data collecting techniques 1. What steps can a teacher take to
administer the authentic assessment?
Peer observations Video Records
2. What impacts do the steps taken have on students’ competencies?
Other observations Video Records Interviews The overall activities of the data collection can be seen in table 1.
The following paragraphs unfold how/why the techniques were employed in the
implementation program (7th stage).
3.5.2.1. Peer observations
Peer observation is observation of the teacher researcher by others who act as
mentor and influencer (Burns, 2009). In this study the peer observations were
conducted by one expert teacher (see the research participants) and two critical
friends.
The expert teacher and the two critical friends were supposed to observe both the
teacher researcher and the students during the teaching learning processes of the
intervention programs in which the researcher tried to implement the authentic
assessment as intended by the 2013 curriculum.
The employment of the peer observation in this study is in line with the
suggestion from Cohen et al. (2007: 397) that the aim of observation is to catch
the dynamic nature of events, to see intentionality, and to seek trends and patterns
over time.
Hopkins (2002, see also Koshy, 2005) proposes the three-phase observation cycle
as shown in figure 3.3. This observation cycle consists of three phases, the
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In this study, during the planning meeting the researcher and the collaborators (the
expert teacher and the two critical friends) reflected on a proposed lesson which
led to a mutual decision to collect observational data on the aspect of authentic
assessment being implemented by the teacher researcher.
Figure 3.3. The Three-phase observation cycle. Adapted from Koshy (2005: 100)
During the classroom observation phase of this study, the collaborators observed
the actions of the teacher researcher and collected objective data on the effect of the action taken by the teacher researcher towards the improvement of students’ attitudes, knowledge, and speaking skill (appendix 6).
The results of the observations were then discussed in the phase of feedback
discussion. In this study, the expert teacher, who functioned as the mentor and the
influencer (Burns, 2009, in Heigham and Croker, 2009) commented on two
aspects. First she would judge whether the researcher of this study had
implemented the authentic assessment or not (appendix 8). And secondly, she
would give advice concerning what steps to be taken by the teacher researcher to
implement the authentic assessment as intended by the 2013 curriculum.
While the critical friends, were to give comments regarding the data of the
improvement of the competencies of the students and give confirmation and to
crosscheck the validity of the data found by the expert teacher and the teacher
researcher. The data from the peer observation were needed to answer the research
questions.
The results of the peer observations were kept in the form of field notes (appendix
6 and 8). And when the expert teacher declared that the researcher had
implemented the authentic assessment, the intervention program was terminated.
This principle coincides with the suggestions from Koshy (2005) that:
Observation is a natural process – observing people and incidents all the time and based on the observation, judgments are made (p. 98).
The field notes of the observation of students’ attitude were then used as the basis
to answer the second research question. The nature of this observation was the
open-ended observation in which no preconceived plans or checklist used.
3.5.2.2. Other observations
Other observation is the observation by the researcher of others in the classroom
setting (learners, team teachers, pre-service practicum teachers, classroom aides,
bilingual assistants, parents) (Burns, 2009).
In this study, the researcher conducted observations of the learners, especially
their attitudes during the teaching learning processes. The instrument used was the
field notes taken during the teaching learning processes. The nature of this
observation was open-ended observation. The researcher positioned himself as
the participant observer.
Based on these observations the researcher collected the data to answer the second
research question.
3.5.2.3. Interviews
Interviews were conducted in this study with some students as the respondents to
seek data to answer the second research question (see table 3.2.). The two critical
friends acted as the interviewers. This had the aim of gaining as objective data as
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The interviewees were selected based on their attitudes during the teaching
learning processes. The open-ended (Burns, 2009) interviews suited the purpose.
These interviews were conducted at the end of every meeting (class). The purposes of these interviews were to find out the reasons of the students’ shown attitudes during the learning process that day and to gain information on how the
students perceived the actions taken by the teacher researcher during the class.
3.5.2.4. Video records
In this study it is imperative to video record the processes of the intervention
program. First, it can eliminate the difficulty of collecting the data while the
researcher was teaching. This is in line with the statement of Burns (2009) that
being the action researcher collecting data while teaching is difficult.
Secondly, the data from the video can be used to crosscheck the validity of the
data gathered from the three techniques above (peer observation, other
observation, and interview).
3.6. Data analysis
There were two groups of data collection in this study. First, the data from the
preliminary stage and secondly the data from the project implementation.
3.6.1. Data from the preliminary stage
All the data were analyzed following the thematic ways (Sternberg, 1988, cited in
Pedoman Penulisan Karya Ilmiah UPI, 2013: 32).
The data collected at the stage of the preliminary stage were only used to
recognize the problem mostly faced by the teacher regarding the 2013 curriculum
3.6.2. Data from the Implementation Project
More space of analysis in this study dedicated to the analysis of the data collected
during the stage of the implementation of the project, which is the seventh stage of
action research design proposed by Cohen et al. (2007). This is because the two
research questions presented in this study could be answered by analyzing the data
from the implementation of the project.
As commonly happens in the qualitative research (Alwasilah, 2002), the inductive
analytical approach, was applied in this study to analyze the data. The inductive
reasoning begins with data and ends up with a theory (Nunan and Bailey, 2009:
421).
Data analyses in this study were conducted during (on- going) the process of the
study. Exactly every time after the teaching, learning processes, i.e., during the
feedback discussion (see the three-phase observation cycle above).
The data analysis began while they were being gathered. As the characteristics of
qualitative research, the analyses were tentative and provisional throughout the
study and only become comprehensible once the data were completely collected
(Travers, 2002).
In analyzing the data, the model proposed by Miles and Huberman (1994; see also
Koshy, 2005: 113-114) was applied. This model presents three concurrent flows
of activities. They are (1) data reduction, (2) data display, and (3) conclusion
drawing and verification.
Data reduction is a form of analysis that sharpens, sorts, focuses, discards, and organizes data in such a way that ‘final conclusion’ can be drawn and verified (Koshy, 2005: 114). During the data reduction the data were selected, focused,
simplified, abstracted and transformed into the written up field notes and
transcriptions. The researcher was continually engaged in data reduction
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The next step in the data analysis is the display of the data in the form of tables.
The purpose of this is to make organized information into immediately available,
accessible, compact form so that the analyst can see what is happening.
The last step in the data analysis is conclusion drawing and verification. From the
start, the researcher tries to decide what things mean and to note regularities,
patterns and explanations (appendix 4). The researcher holds these conclusions
lightly, maintaining skepticism until they were more explicit and grounded.
Although final conclusions appeared only when the analysis was over, the
researcher also drew conclusions as the project progresses.
3.6.2.1. Data from peer observations
The data from peer observation which were conducted by the expert teacher
consists of two kinds, the first are data concerning the actions of the teacher
researcher (appendix 9) and the second kind of data were the data concerning the students’ learning attitudes (appendix 5). Both kinds of the data were collected from the field notes made during the processes of teaching by the expert teacher
who acted as the non participant observer (Burns, 2009, in Heigham and Croker,
2009).
The data about the actions taken by the teacher researcher were analyzed and
discussed by the researcher and the expert teacher right after every lesson. This
was done with two purposes, first to decide which action taken by the researcher
during the lesson reflect the authentic assessment, and secondly to plan the step to
be taken in the following lesson to realize the implementation of the authentic
assessment. This data analysis is the basis of answering the first research question.
3.6.2.2. Data from other observations
These data were in the form of researcher’s field notes (appendix 3). These data
were used to cross check and complete the data collected by the expert teacher,
which later were confirmed by the expert teacher’s field note on students’
attitudes that emerged as the impact of the actions taken by the teacher researcher.
3.6.2.3. Data from interviews
The data from the open-ended interviews with the students (appendix 4,5,6,12)
were analyzed and discussed with the expert teacher to arrive at the correct
interpretation of students’ learning attitudes.
3.6.2.4. Data from video records.
The data from the video records were analyzed and discussed with the expert
teacher to confirm and triangulate the data from the three data sources previously
stated (peer observation, other observation, and interview).
3.7.Summary of Chapter III
This chapter has presented the steps of the study, which are divided into two broad
divisions. They are the preliminary stage and the implementation project (Cohen
et al, 2007). In the preliminary stage the researcher conducted six steps, they are:
Identified and formulated the problem, held discussions with some English
teachers, supervisor, and head-teacher, reviewed the related documents,
established a hypothesis, selected research procedures, and decided the criteria of
success.
The implementation of the project utilized the Three-phase observation cycle
(Koshy, 2005) which consists of the planning meeting, the classroom observation,
and the feedback discussion. This step was conducted for three cycles.
During the implementation of the project three participants were involved, they
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expert teacher was to judge in what ways the steps taken by the researcher reflect
the characteristics of authentic assessment. And the critical friends were to
observe the effects of the steps on the students’ attitudes, knowledge and skill.
The data were collected from classroom observations and interviews with selected
students. The data from the classroom observations were in the form of field notes
made were taken by the collaborators while the data from interviews were
recorded by the critical friends and then synchronized with the observational data
to elevate the validity of the data. All data were discussed during the reflection
stage (Burns, 2009) or during the feedback discussion (Koshy, 2005) which aimed
CHAPTER V
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
In this final chapter of the study, the conclusion along with some
recommendations will be presented. The conclusion will present the answer to the
two research questions, while the recommendation will suggest further studies on
the similar topic.
5.1. Conclusion
The authentic assessment embodied in the 2013 curriculum coincides with the
definition proposed by Wiggins (1989) and Wolf (1989), which state that
authentic assessment values the thinking behind the work, the process, as much as
the finished product. From this definition it is clear that the 2013 curriculum
necessitates teachers to assess the attitudes of the students during the learning
processes.
From this necessity the researcher tried to find a technique to assess students’ attitudes during the learning processes which is feasible to be administered.
In this sub section the answers to the two research questions are presented
subsequently.
5.1.1. The answer to the first research question
The first research question is: What techniques can a teacher apply to assess students’ attitudes?
In this study the researcher applied the technique of point rewarding system to assess students’ attitudes. This technique reflects the characteristic of authentic assessment embodied in the 2013 curriculum.
With the point rewarding system the teacher always paid attention to the students’
