TDT
CREATIVE LANGUAGE CENTER

ENGLISH FOUNDATION 1
GUIDE
 TDT CLC ASSESSMENT GUIDE

INTRODUCTION
WHAT WILL YOU FIND HERE? Additionally, it gives some extra
materials to help students practice
This book is a complete step by step
producing some short phrases and
guide for English Foundation 1
sentences about daily life English at
Course. It uses different book than
the level equivalent of A1+.
other courses and due to low level of
students’ English it requires special
attention and preparation from you.
COURSE BOOK
You will use Well Said Intro by Linda
ENGLISH FOUNDATION 1 Grant and Eve Einsellen Yu. Published
COURSE in 2017. It has clear pronunciation plan
and offers students wide range of
The course lays its emphasis on
activities to improve their
preparing students for understanding,
pronunciation in class and at home.
knowing, and improving their
Additionally, you will use materials
pronunciation and awareness of it. The
chosen for students to build their
course offers a clear course plan
vocabulary, reading and grammar
covering the essential areas of
foundations.
pronunciation, including stress,
rhythm, and intonation - features that
research shows help students the
most. Pronunciation of a very limited
repertoire of learnt words and phrases
can be understood with some effort by
native speakers used to dealing with
speakers of his/her language group.

PAGE #2
 TDT CLC ASSESSMENT GUIDE

ASSESSMENT
OVERVIEW

The general objectives of the new Participation

assessment focus on formative 10
evaluation. We are aiming at improving
students’ self-awareness of their learning Progress Tests Final Test
10 30
process in order to develop their life-
long learning skills. On the right you can
see the new assessment components Speaking Portfolio
with their share in the final score. The 10
main components of the assessment are
the same as in other courses but content
Reflective Paper
of each part can differ. Please read this
10
guide book carefully before you start Group Project
teaching English Foundation 1. 30

In order to pass the course students will

have to meet following requirements:
- Get 70 points out of total 100
- Reach the minimum score of the
Final Test (38%)

PAGE #3

ASSESSMENT DESCRIPTION
In this part you can find brief
descriptions of each part of the
assessment system. On the
following page you can find
rubrics that will be used to
assess students performance.
Group Project
Group Project is slightly
different that in other courses. It
consists of two parts:
1. Presentation (20 points)
2. Pronunciation work (10
points)
Presentations are a bit easier
than in other courses and
prepare students for challenges
in the future.
Pronunciation work - this task
aims to test students progress
on pronunciation skills. Students
will read chosen text or listen to
audio recording and shadow
speaker’s voice. You will assess
their pronunciation using simple
rubrics.
Reflective Paper
Reflection is widely
acknowledged as a learning
process that encourages
students to demonstrate and
examine the knowledge they
have ingested. To achieve this
aim students will answer survey
type questions that will help
them reflect on their progress.
Additionally, in order to test
students writing skills, they will
have to answer few questions
based on the topics studied
during the course.
Speaking Portfolio
Students will record and submit
5 recordings on MyELT platform.
Teachers will not assess
students grammar or
pronunciation. The main
purpose of this task is to
provoke more learning
opportunities for students
outside the classroom and to
motivate students to sharpen
their speaking skills
independently. However, the
role of teacher is still very
important to encourage
students to improve their
recordings. Teachers will be
responsible for using the
recordings in the classroom by
organizing self and peer
assessment sessions.
TDT CLC ASSESSMENT GUIDE
Progress Tests
There are two Progress tests
during Foundation 1 course.
One on the day 12 - “Minimal
Pairs” - listening test, and one at
the end of the course - day 23
which tests students acquisition
of vocabulary, grammar and
reading comprehension.
Participation
Participation positively
correlates with students
learning process. Especially,
improves their ability to speak
and listen. You will assess three
criteria: attendance,
contribution, and preparedness
and focus. In the Assessment
Guide, we will show you how to
objectively assess your students.
Final Test
Final test will take place after
finishing and completing the
course. It will evaluate student’s
general comprehension of
spoken and written language
(reading and listening skills).
PAGE #4
 TDT CLC ASSESSMENT GUIDE

ASSESSMENT
RUBRICS
Group Project Participation
Criteria/Points 5 4 3 2 1 Criteria/Points 3 2 1 0.5

Presenting skills Contribution

Language skills Preparedness and Focus

Organization and visual Attendance

aids
Content and critical
thinking

Pronunciation:

Criteria /Points 2 4 6 8 10
Quality Very poor Poor Fair Good Excellent
Description
•Structure
•Pronunciation and
Intonation
•Preparedness

PAGE #5

GROUP PROJECT
HOW TO INTRODUCE THIS TASK?
We would like you to emphasize to your students
importance of this task. Explain carefully each step
of the task and show students the rubrics with
criteria.
Tell them that creativity, presentation skills, and
their collaboration are the most important parts of
this task.
While you introduce the topics, suggest that they
should choose one that they are really interested
in.
Emphasize that copying is not welcomed and it is
easy to recognize if this is their original project.
Make sure that students have access to the topics
list.
Tell them that they should inform their absent
friends. They can add them to their group as long
as the can provide their friend’s full name.
HOW TO COLLECT THE TOPICS FROM
STUDENTS
Create a form on Google Drive where students can
add their names and topics.
On the days 3 -6 of the course check the list with
students. Make sure that each students has
someone to work with. In some cases, you can
allow students to work in pairs or groups of 3. Do
not allow to create groups bigger than 4 students.
For example split 5 into 3 and 2, or 6 into 3 and 3.
Send the document to your group leader.
TDT CLC ASSESSMENT GUIDE
HOW TO MARK PRESENTATIONS?
In order to assess presentations please use the
rubrics prepared by the Center. Rubrics are
different from other courses - there are less criteria
in order to simplify this task for students.
Remember that scores for group criteria should be
the same for each member of the group. It is their
task to collaborate and find compromises in order
to deliver the task. Even if one student seems much
better than the others, the only fair way to reward
her/him is to appreciate the presentation skills,
language or overall impression.
PRONUNCIATION WORK
Pronunciation is the most important component of
the English Foundation 1 course. That is why, you
will have to assess students overall improvement in
pronunciation. We give you a choice of the
pronunciation task to do on Day 23 (after the test).
- shadow reading - you will choose a recording,
students will have to listen to it and shadow the
speaker’s voice. Recordings will be provided by
the Center
- Reading -students will choose one of the
previously prepared graded readings and will
read it out loud (one by one, they can prepare it
as “role reading” if possible). Readings will be
provided by the Center.
This assignment will be done in groups in order to
minimize the time necessary to complete it. You
will use rubrics to assess students’ performance.
PAGE #6
 TDT CLC ASSESSMENT GUIDE

GROUP PROJECT

Pronunciation work Presentation:

•Teachers choose a recording - Students choose one
in the lesson. A group of of the topics
students will hear and shadow - submitted online
the speakers’ voice one by before Presentation
one. Teachers need to prepare Day
a number of recordings from - stored PowerPoint
the lessons for different groups files allow to control
•Or Teachers choose a reading plagiarism
text for students’ dictation.
Teachers need to prepare a
number of texts
•Or Students read their written
task and Teacher assess their
pronunciation

GROUP PROJECT
PROCEDURE
T presents Day 11: Students Copy scores to the
topics Time to work on a project. submit their Marking Sheet file
Ss form groups For example conduct a presentations
and choose survey, divide the workload
topics

Day 3: Ts remind students about

Ss submit their preparing the presentation Presentation Day
topics and submitting it online

PAGE #7
 TDT CLC ASSESSMENT GUIDE

GROUP PROJECT
MARKING SCHEME
Criteria 5 4 3 2 1
- Maintain eye contact. - Maintain some eye -Minimal eye contact. - Maintain no eye
The presenter contact. The presenter The student contact. The
maintained eye kept eye contact most of occasionally used presenter read all of
contact with the the time but frequently eye contact, but still the report with no
audience, seldom returned to notes. read most of the eye contact.
returning to notes. Mix of report.
Presentation
- Some rehearsal obvious 4 and
skills
- Well rehearsed 2 - Some rehearsal
- Appropriate body possible - No rehearsal
- Appropriate and language obvious
effective body - Body language
language inappropriate - Absent body
language
- The presenter used - The presenter's voice was - The presenter's - The presenter
a clear voice and clear and pronunciation of voice was low and mumbled, incorrectly
correct, precise most words was correct. difficult to hear and/ pronounced words
pronunciation, so that Most audience members or words were frequently or spoke
Mix of
Language all audience could hear the presenter. incorrectly too quietly.
4 and
Skills members could hear pronounced
2
the presenter.
-Some grammar mistakes. - Grammar mistakes - Grammar mistakes
- Grammar mistakes were noticeable were frequent.
were rare.
- Presentation has a - Presentation has a clear - Presentation Presentation is
clear and logical structure, some logical structure is hard to chaotic
structure inaccuracies are present follow
- Presentation slides - Presentation slides - Presentation slides - No presentation
effectively present present the ideas, but do not present slides
Organization Mix of
students’ ideas they are not clear students’ ideas
and visual 4 and
aids 2
- Students used -Students used simple - Students misused - No visual nor audio
variety of visual and visual or audio aids visual and audio aids aids
audio aids
 TDT CLC ASSESSMENT GUIDE

Criteria 5 4 3 2 1
- Group deeply - Group understands - Group -Group -Group barely
understands the the topic somewhat understands the understands the
topic understands surface of the topic
the topic topic

- Group - Group presented - Group -Group’s -Group did not

Content and presented their their perspective and presented only perspective and present their

critical perspective as mentioned others’ their opinion is not own perspective

thinking well as others’ perspective clear or opinion

- Presentation has - Presentation has a -Conclusions are -Presentation

clear and clear conclusion but not clear has no
understandable implications are conclusions
conclusions and confusing
implications

PRONUNCIATION WORK
Criteria /Points 2 4 6 8 10
Quality Very poor Poor Fair Good Excellent
The student has The student has The student has The student has The student has
• Structure very poor poor structure fairly good good structure excellent structure
structure and and flow. structure and and flow. and flow. Needs
flow. Needs Needs constant flow. Needs Needs constant constant help or has
constant help or help or has constant help help or has no hesitations.
has many quite many or has some hesitations.
hesitations. hesitations. hesitations.



 
 
 Student’s 

Student makes Student makes Student’s pronunciation is Student’s
•Pronunciation little or no effort an effort to pronunciation is mostly pronunciation is
and Intonation to enunciate and enunciate and quite intelligible and very intelligible and
articulate in articulate in intelligible and intonation is intonation is
target language.  target intonation is controlled well.  controlled very
language.  controlled fairly well. 
well.  Reading does
• Preparedness Reading does not not show
show practice, Reading does Reading does practice, the
the reading is not show not show reading is Reading does not
unnatural and practice, the practice, the mostly natural show practice, the
unprepared reading is quite reading is quite and prepared reading is natural
unnatural and natural and and prepared
unprepared prepared
 TDT CLC ASSESSMENT GUIDE

HOW TO DEAL WITH

ABSENT STUDENTS?
ABSENCES ON THE PRESENTATION DAY same as if he or she was absent more than 5 times.
It means that student has to contact TDT CLC staff
We have to inform our students that their presence
in order to provide a proof for the absence.
on the assessment days is very important, and it is
their responsibility to come to the class on that day.
If one or more students are absent again on the
final day of the course the group has to present
The absence without an appropriate reason will
anyway. Each member will present his/her part and
result in getting 0 points for the presentation.
you will asses the whole project based on their
presentation and the Group Project Form.
If one or more students are absent on the
Presentation Day, you can allow the group to
In special cases, the Center will organize make-up
present on the last day of the course (Day 25). You
sessions for students to present their work before
should leave a note on the students’ Group Project
the Final Test.
Form for your co-teacher.
However, you should allow it only if the absent
student had a good reason for his absence. The

FAQ
HOW TO ASSESS A STUDENT WHO HAD A
VERY SHORT PART OF THE PRESENTATION?
The organization of work is one of the students’
task in this project. Students have to divide the
presentation evenly, because we have to assess
their language and presentation skills.
If one student had a very short part of the
presentation it is also affects the whole group’s
score. That is why you have to deduct points for
“Organization” (group) along with overall
impression and other individual criteria.

PAGE #10
 TDT CLC ASSESSMENT GUIDE

REFLECTIVE
PAPER

HOW TO INTRODUCE THE THIS TASK? You can give half points for partially correct
sentences.
Start introducing this task to students with
explaining what reflection means. Tell them that
they will have to think about their learning process,
what they have learned about, what skills they have EXAMPLE
improved. 1.Write about a sport you like by answering
following prompts: (1point)
Reflective survey focuses on the pronunciation •When did you learn it? ( 1 point)
skills. •Where do you practice? (1 point)
•How often do you train with friends/ by yourself?
Tell students that along with the reflection you have (1 point)
to assess their writing skills. Due to their level of •Why do you like it? (1 point)
English this task is simplified into a short survey
with comment section and that in order to assess
the writing skills, they will have to answer few
questions based on the additional content of
the course.

HOW TO GIVE STUDENTS POINTS?

For completing Reflective part students will get 5
points. You can deduct the points only if students
refuses to complete the survey.

The writing part consist of one main questions and

4 guiding questions. You will give student 1 point
for each correct answer (usually it will be 1
sentence) - max 5 points.

Total: 5 + 5 = 10 points

PAGE #11
 TDT CLC ASSESSMENT GUIDE

SPEAKING
PORTFOLIO
WHAT IS IT? recordings to their partners/group members. You
can integrate the recording into your lesson as the
Students will have to record and submit 5 (2 points
part of the review or extra activities.
each) recordings on MyELT platform. Teacher will
Types of activities:
choose which task form the book students will - self-assessment
have to record and submit. - Peer assessment
- Peer feedback
HOW TO DO IT?
You should prepare special forms for students to
You will have to create 2 assignments (MyELT):
fill in. For example:
1. First assignment (deadline: day 12) for the first
3 activities
Recording No. Peer’s name:
2. Second assignment (deadline: day 23) for the Date:
last 2 activities.

Strengths: Weaknesses:
Note: - -
It is very important to close the assignment on the - -
- -
deadline days without any extensions. Students
who did not submit the recordings on time will get
0 points points for each missing recording.
Besides that, you should spend some time during
other sessions (10-15 minutes) on playing
HOW TO GIVE STUDENTS A students’ recordings in order to encourage them to
CONSTRUCTIVE FEEDBACK work and praise them for their efforts.

We are aware that you are not able to listen to all of
the students’ recordings, so we want you to spend
some time in the class to organize “recordings
reviews”. The best time for this task are
Presentation Practice days, because students will
work on the presentation task anyway. You should
play students’ recordings in the classroom, so
students can listen, assess and give feedback to
their classmates. Students can also play their
TIP:
A very good way to provoke students to reflect on
their learning is to let them compare their first
works with the last ones. It allows students to track
their improvements and become aware of their
progress along with identifying their weaknesses
and strengths.
PAGE #12
 TDT CLC ASSESSMENT GUIDE

SPEAKING PORTFOLIO
PROCEDURE
1 2
Day 1:
Introduce the task and During the course, review some
create a course on MyELT of the students’ recordings - praise
along with the first them for their efforts
assignment

3 4 5
Organize a recording Day 12 and Day 22: Check
review or integrate Transfer points into the
the submissions and count the
recordings into your Marking Sheet
points
lessons

PAGE #13
 TDT CLC ASSESSMENT GUIDE

PARTICIPATION
“To assess the quality of thoughts of people, don't listen to their words, but
watch their actions.
Amit Kalantri, Wealth of Words

HOW TO ENCOURAGE STUDENTS TO Preparedness and Focus criterion - in this case you
PARTICIPATE IN A LESSON? check if a student has necessary materials (book,
pen) and if she/he comes late to class. You do not
First of all we would like to let you know that this
have to check all class every time, but you can note
part of the assessment is not meant to be a tool for
down names of students who regularly are not
you to punish your students.
prepared or come late to the class. You should
reduce students score for submitting late their
We want you to use positive approach. Inform your
presentation (-1 point).
students about this at the beginning of the course.
Show them rubrics that you are going to use - even
Remember that it is very important to inform
if they have seen it before. Explain that you will
students about their participation during the
observe them during group and pair work
course, and give them some feedback if you see
activities - this is a chance for shy students who are
that they are not active enough.
afraid of speaking in front of the class.

Constructive feedback during and after the course

Tell them that you will be as objective as you can in
is the key to success with this assessment. Students
order to give them fair scores.
have to understand why their score is lower than
others. We hope that with this tool, you will be able
to create a positive atmosphere in your classroom.
HOW TO OBJECTIVELY USE THE RUBRICS?
It is very hard to be 100% objective while assessing
students’ participation in the class. As you can see
there are 3 criteria and one is entirely objective -
attendance. You have to simply check students’
attendance at the end of the course. You will give
1 extra point for students who had 0 absences.
The other two criteria are more subjective to your
own opinion. In order to avoid raters’ errors, you
can develop your own system of following
students participation and note down their activity
during the semester.

PAGE #14
 TDT CLC ASSESSMENT GUIDE

PARTICIPATION
Criteria 3 2 1 0.5
Contribution - Routinely provides - Usually - Sometimes - Rarely provides useful
useful ideas when provides useful provide useful ideas ideas when participating
participating in the ideas when when participating in classroom discussion.
classroom. participating in in classroom
classroom discussion.
discussion.
- A definite leader who - A satisfactory
contributes a lot of - A strong student who does - May refuse to
effort and who makes student who what is required. participate or is
class discussions better. tries hard. frequently absent from
class.
Preparedness - Always comes to class - Very rarely late, - Sometimes late to - Frequently late to class,
and Focus on time, follows all almost always class, often brings rarely brings needed
classroom procedures, brings needed materials but materials.
brings needed materials material to class, sometimes needs to
to class almost always borrow. Usually
follows follows procedures
classroom
procedures.

- Consistently stays - Focuses on in- - Focuses on the - Has difficulty focusing

focused on in-class class work and task and what on class work and
work and what needs what needs to needs to be done procedures.
to be done. Self- be done most of some of the time.
directed and highly the time. Often must be
motivated. reminded by the
teacher about what
needs to get done.
Attendance 1 absence 2 absences 3 absences 4 absences

PAGE #15
 TDT CLC ASSESSMENT GUIDE
PROGRESS TEST
CONTENT AND TYPE OF
TASKS
In progress tests, we are going
to assess students acquisition of
listening, vocabulary, grammar
and reading skills. We want
students to consolidate small
chunks of material, and we want
to motivate them to pay more
attention to the course book
content.
MINIMAL PAIRS
Students will listen to minimal
pairs audio recordings and
complete the test. Audio files,
tests and answer keys will be
provided by the Center.
TEST 2
Test 2 content is based on the
additional materials integrated
in the course. The main focus of
this test is to prepare students
for the final test.
PAGE #16
1
Test Day:
Pick up the tests from
room E0012
ABSENCES 2
Prepare your
If a student is absent on the classroom for the test:
Progress Test 1, he/she should - separate students
follow the procedure and - make sure they
contact TDT CLC staff in order have only a pen on
the desk
to register for another test.
In case of the Test 2 and 3
Reflective Paper, you can allow
absent students to write the test Write the start and end
as soon as possible. They will time on the board
have to follow the procedure
and contact TDT CLC staff in 4
order to provide a proof of his/
her absence. In the meantime Conduct the test
you will mark the test and
Reflective Paper. The Center will
check students’ documents and 5
approve or dismiss students’
case. Providing inappropriate or Collect and mark the
forged documents will result in tests at home.
getting 0 points from the Transfer scores into
the Marking Sheet
assessment component and
disciplinary consequences for 6
the student
Submit marked test in
the room E0012
 TDT CLC ASSESSMENT GUIDE

MARKING SHEET
HOW TO USE IT? You will have to copy the list of your
students and make sure that the
Marking sheet is an excel file that
order is the same in each
you will use to keep your students
spreadsheet.
scores.

It is recommended to share a
There is a separate spreadsheet for
Marking Sheet with your co-
each assessment component.
teachers. You can send it to each
other every time you add scores or
It has automatic calculation formulas
share it on Google Docs. It will help
that will help you to complete it.
you to better understand students’
Adding scores for one component
progress and follow the procedures.
will transfer score to the final score
spreadsheet.

PAGE #17
 TDT CLC ASSESSMENT GUIDE

ASSESSMENT



SUMMARY
1 Participation 10

2 Reflective Paper 10
Written in class: Day 22
3 Pronunciation portfolio (recordings) 10
5 activities recorded on MyELT platform.
Submission deadline:
•First 3 activities before Day 12
•Last 2 activities before Day 23
4 Progress tests 10
oTest 1 (Day 12) Minimal pair listening (2x5)
oTest 2 (Day 23), Unit 1-6: Grammar and vocabulary
5 Group Project: 30
•Presentation: submission – Day 22, presenting – Day 24
•Pronunciation work– Day 23
TOTAL: 70

6 Final Test (Reading and Listening), conducted after final day of the course. 30
Required score to pass: 30points (40%)
TOTAL: 100

Course timeline:

Day 3: Group Project topics submission

Day 11: Presentation Practice

Day 12: 3 recordings submission, Progress Test 1 (Minimal pair listening tasks)

Day 22: Reflective Paper, Presentation (ppt file) submission

Day 23: Progress Test 2, Pronunciation work, 2 recordings submission

Day 24: Group project (presentation)

Day 25: Results and feedback,

PAGE #

SHARING THE ASSESSMENT
WITH CO-TEACHER(S)
You will be sharing your class
with 1 or more teachers:
Teacher 1 - the main teacher,
responsible for the collecting
assessment information, and
giving the final scores
Teacher 2,3 - this teacher is
responsible for the assessment
if it falls on his/her day of
teaching. He/She is responsible
for conducting the assessment,
grading students’ work, and
transferring scores into the
Marking Sheet file. Teacher 2 or
3 has to assure that his scores
are correct.
We would like you to truly
collaborate on the assessment.
Please contact each other if you
find any troubles or mistakes.
Do not blame each other for
little misunderstandings but
work together to find the best
solution for your students.
TDT CLC ASSESSMENT GUIDE
GROUP PROJECT Online submission of Group
Project Form and
Day 1 and Day 3 Introducing
Presentation:
the assessment
The teacher that starts the
Teacher 1: You are responsible
course will be responsible for
for this task. Students will send it
introducing the topics and
to you, because you are
forming the groups. Students
responsible for their final
will have to send to you their
scores. Also, any delay with this
group list along with their topic.
task should influence their final
Participation score.
If there is any delay in forming
the groups (absent students)
Day 23 Pronunciation Practice
you can extend the time for the
topic submission to one more
Teacher 1: You are responsible
week.
for choosing the type of the
pronunciation work.
After receiving the list, please
share it with your co-teacher.
Teacher assigned on this day
Students cannot change the
will conduct the pronunciation
topics or group members
task and share the score with
anymore.
co-teacher.
Day 11:
Day 24 Presentation Day:
Teacher 1 or Teacher 2:
Students will discuss their
Teacher 1 or 2: You will assess
progress on the Group Project.
students presentation using the
You can create activities that
rubrics prepared by the Center.
summarize their work and help
After the presentation you will
them to plan their next steps.
transfer scores into the Marking
Sheet file. (Teacher 2 will send it
to Teacher 1)
PAGE #19
 TDT CLC ASSESSMENT GUIDE

SHARING THE ASSESSMENT

WITH CO-TEACHER(S)
PARTICIPATION be responsible for organizing a
full review of at least one
Teacher 1: You are responsible
recording activity in your class.
for that task. You will assess
students participation, but you
Teacher 2: You are responsible
have to ask Teacher 2 for his/her
for reminding students about
opinion.
this task and integrating
recordings into your lesson.
Teacher 2: You can send your
suggestions about students’
You will spend at least 1 period
participation to Teacher 1.
on reviewing one of the
recording tasks.
REFLECTIVE PAPER AND
PROGRESS TEST:

Teacher 1 or Teacher 2:
These tasks are done in a
classroom. You have to follow
the same procedure. Teacher 2
transfers the scores into the
Marking Sheet and send it to
Teacher 1.

SPEAKING PORTFOLIO:

Teacher 1: You will be

responsible for the final
assessment of this task. It means
students will submit their
recordings to you. And you will

PAGE #20
TDT CREATIVE LANGUAGE
CENTER

TDT CLC – Ton Duc Thang University


Address: 19 Nguyen Huu Tho, Tan Phong Ward,
District 7, Ho Chi Minh City Room: E0012

Telephone: (028) 3775 5064

Email: clc@tdt.edu.vn
Website: http://clc.tdtu.edu.vn