Need analysis on the usage of multimodal reading assessment among secondary school teachers

Abstract

Strategically developed assessment rubrics are essential to ascertain fair and consistent assessment grading. Nevertheless, devising assessment rubrics poses certain drawbacks as scores that determine students’ capability are awarded holistically. In order to assure that students’ grades indeed reflect their current capability and to provide effective feedback on aspects that demand improvement, rubrics must accurately evaluate and measure the performances displayed by students. Hence, this study identified the suitability and acceptability of multimodal reading assessment upon assessing reading skills among secondary school students. This study, which involved English language teachers from several schools located across Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia, had adopted the survey research method to design a multimodal reading assessment rubric and to obtain teachers’ views on multimodal reading and viewing (MMRV). The study outcomes signified that although the teachers acknowledged and were aware of the advantages of applying MMRV, the absence of such rubric that specifically assesses MMRV seemed to limit this practice in classroom. This study concludes that it is imperative to formulate a comprehensive MMRV-based rubric to enable teachers assess their students’ reading skills in a more accurate manner.