Designing and Evaluating the Use of Smartphones to Facilitate Online Testing in Second-Language Teacher Education (SLTE): An Auto-Ethnographic Study

Nani Solihati,Herri Mulyono

doi:10.3991/ijet.v13i01.7683

Abstract

This paper reports on an auto-ethnographic study aiming to identify insights into the practice of using smartphone to facilitate online testing in context of second language teacher education (SLTE). In total of fifty-four pre-service teachers participated in the study. Two methods were employed to collect data, including observation and written-reflection. Additional data gathered from interview and students’ activity logs on the website were also used to triangulate the data collected through the initial methods. A thematic analysis were carried out to analyse the qualitative data. Findings of the study show that smartphone is viable as an electronic tool to facilitate online testing in SLTE context. More importantly, the use of Moodle as an online test platform fits both the teacher and the students’ needs on several aspects such as design, test structure, and online test activity. The study also highlights benefits and challenges of employing sequential and multiple attempt test modes and delayed feedback on online tests. Implications of the findings on the practice of online testing using smartphone in context of SLTE and further research in the field are also discussed.

Highlights

Recent developments in mobile technology have shifted the use of computerfacilitated online learning and adaptive testing from desktop or personal computers (PCs) to mobile devices such as tablets, personal digital assistants (PDAs), pocket PCs and smartphones
While researchers have been attracted to the use of mobile devices such as smartphones to facilitate computer adaptive testing (CAT), little attention has been paid to exploring the development of CAT for mobile devices and its implementation in the educational classroom setting
An auto-ethnographical research approach was employed to address the question of how we could improve our practice in designing, managing and distributing online tests to students using smartphones during courses in a secondlanguage teacher education (SLTE) context

Summary

Introduction

Recent developments in mobile technology have shifted the use of computerfacilitated online learning and adaptive testing from desktop or personal computers (PCs) to mobile devices such as tablets, personal digital assistants (PDAs), pocket PCs and smartphones. Mobile devices should be seen as potential tools to facilitate mobile learning, and mobile adaptive testing. With regard to the latter, mobile devices may offer particular opportunities because they do not require dedicated computer classrooms and, more importantly, they can be used anywhere [1]. While researchers have been attracted to the use of mobile devices such as smartphones to facilitate computer adaptive testing (CAT), little attention has been paid to exploring the development of CAT for mobile devices and its implementation in the educational classroom setting. This study addresses three research questions: 1. What is the process for developing a Moodle-developed website to facilitate online testing in SLTE?

Methods

Findings

Discussion

Conclusion