Exploring the Nexus between Assessment and Final Exam Scores in an Advanced Grammar Course among Undergraduate English Majors

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Asha Latha Bala Subramaniam
Faizah Mohamad
Laura Christ Dass

Abstract

This quantitative research study aims to investigate the correlation between the assessment scores and final test scores of first year undergraduates from two different English language programs (LG240 and LG243) who were taking a similar grammar course. The study was conducted across 2 cohorts of undergraduates (20232 and 20224) involving a total of 296 participants where various formative and summative assessments were looked at to determine the relationships among them. The formative assessments conducted throughout the semester involved an oral presentation on a given grammar component, eight sets of portfolio entries conducted online, four reflective writings and a grammar quiz. The summative assessment that tested students grasp of the various grammar components taught was conducted at the end of semester. This study set out to find the relationships between each formative assessment and the final scores of the 2 cohorts of undergraduates. The findings revealed that there was correlation between each of the assessments and the final scores in both programmes for cohort 20224, however, one assessment which was the oral presentation was discovered to be not significantly related to the final scores for cohort 20232 for both programmes. The other assessments had significant correlations with the final scores. In terms of mean differences, LG240 students outperformed their counterparts in all assessments except for the test in cohort 20224, however, they did better than LG243 students in only oral presentation and portfolio in cohort 20232.

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Research articles

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