Using moodle quiz to assist listening assessment: Efl students' perceptions and suggestions

USING MOODLE QUIZ TO ASSIST LISTENING ASSESSMENT: EFL 
STUDENTS' PERCEPTIONS AND SUGGESTIONS 
Cao Thi Xuan Lien*; Le Thi Hong Phuong 
University of Foreign Languages, Hue University 
Received: 10/01/2020; Revised: 15/02/2020; Accepted: 28/04/2020 
Abstract: This study investigated the perceptions of EFL students at University of Foreign Languages, 
Hue University, about the use of the Moodle Quiz in listening tests and the benefits as well as problems 
they had when taking Moodle-based listening quizzes. A mixed method was adopted to collect data 
from 73 first-year English majors. The findings showed that more than half of students liked taking 
listening tests on the Moodle Quiz while the rest of the students were not really keen on this method of 
testing. It is also indicated that more students preferred Moodle Quiz for formative assessment than for 
summative assessment. In comparison with paper-based tests, Moodle Quiz was said to provide the test-
takers with clear sound, better concentration, and quicker feedback. It was, however, revealed that the 
unfamiliarity with the tool, time pressure of the tests and facility-related trouble were students’ common 
problems in using this test delivery mode. Some suggestions were then made in order to improve the 
effectiveness of using Moodle Quiz in the listening assessment. 
Keywords: Moodle Quiz, EFL students, listening assessment 
1. Introduction 
There is no doubt that technology plays a significant role in education, especially in language 
teaching and learning. Not only does the advent of technological advances significantly support teachers 
and learners in acquiring new languages, but it also facilitates the process of language testing and 
assessment. At the University of Foreign Languages, Hue University, traditional paper-based tests have 
been long used to assess students’ learning progress. More specifically, in assessing students’ listening 
comprehension ability, tests are always created in paper-and-pencil format and delivered to students who 
are normally arranged in a brick-and-mortar setting. While the listening audio file is usually played by a 
CD player or a cassette, students attentively listen and provide the answers on the test paper. This way of 
test delivery has posed many difficulties to students as the quality of the sound is low, so it is hard for 
students to perform well in the test. Moreover, the traditional test takes teachers a great deal of time to mark 
and students a long time to receive their results and feedback. In order to eliminate these difficulties as well 
as innovate the way listening skills are tested, in this study, the researcher has applied Moodle Quiz to 
convert paper-based listening tests into web-based versions and deliver listening tests to students through 
computers in computer labs and personal devices. The research, therefore, aimed to discover what students 
thought about Moodle-based listening quizzes and what advantages as well as disadvantages they had when 
taking listening tests on Moodle. 
This study, therefore, aims to seek the answers to the following questions: 
 1. What is students’ perception of the use of Moodle Quiz in assessing listening skills? 
 2. What advantages and disadvantages did Moodle-based listening tests offer students? 
* Email: ctxlien@hueuni.edu.vn 
2. Literature review 
2.1. Computer-assisted language testing 
The conception of CALL - Computer Assisted Language Learning has come as an essential result of 
the computer invention and the Internet development. In fact, no one can deny the obvious benefits that 
technology advances have brought to the field of language education. In addition to facilitating the 
language teaching and learning process, technological advances also plays a significant role in the language 
testing procedure. 
According to Chapelle and Voss (2016), assessing learners’ language competence is an important 
part of language teaching and learning process. They defined language assessment as a process of collecting 
data systematically from the learners to understand their language ability; hence, decisions related to their 
study can be made. These days, language assessment has been facilitated thanks to the technological 
development, especially computers and the Internet (Winke & Isbell, 2017). The emergence of the term 
CALT - Computer-Assisted Language Testing shows the inevitable role that technology plays in language 
teaching and learning in general and in language testing in particular. 
Noijons (1994), Suvorov and Hegelheimer (2013) shared a similar definition of CALT when they 
regarded CALT as the application of computers to elicit and assess the test-takers’ performances. Therefore, 
computer-assisted or computer-based language tests were regarded as any kind of tests which are created 
and delivered to the testees through computers and other devices. Noijons also clarified that  ... y a third of students thought end-of-semester 
listening papers should be delivered through Moodle. It seems that students would like Moodle Quiz to be 
used for formative assessment more than summative assessment. 
In order to understand students’ preferences in the use of Moodle Quiz, their performances in 
listening quizzes delivered on both Moodle Quiz and on paper were compared. As showed below, among 
three types of listening quizzes including Moodle-based progress tests, Moodle-based mid-term test and 
paper-based mid-term test, students achieved the highest results in progress tests and their performance in 
paper-based mid-term test was slightly higher and the one on Moodle Quiz. 
Chart 4. 
Students’performances in listening quizzes delivered in different modes 
It can be seen that students’ preferences of the Moodle Quiz use in different test types were in inverse 
proportion to the influence levels of these tests on their final learning outcomes. Specifically, students most 
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90
Self-assessment
Mid-term tests
End-of-semester exam
What should Moodle-based listening tests be used for?
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Mid-term test on Moodle Quiz Mid-term test on paper Progress tests on Moodle Quiz
highly recommended Moodle Quiz to be used for self-assessment, i.e. progress listening tests, which only 
accounted for 10% of their total mark. Meanwhile, the smallest number of students preferred that Moodle 
Quiz could be used for the end-of-course exam because it took up 60% of the final mark. Therefore, it can 
be concluded that students were quite cautious about taking listening tests on Moodle Quiz, especially those 
high-stakes ones like mid-term tests or final exams. The reason for this caution might be that they were 
afraid that their unfamiliarity with the tool can affect their study results. Students’ caution was 
understandable as this was the first time they had done listening tests in an unconventional way. 
4.2. Advantages and disadvantages of taking Moodle-based listening tests 
During the Listening 1 Module, students were provided with both paper-based assignments/tests and 
Moodle-based assignments/tests so that they could experience both ways of delivering listening quizzes 
and have a clear insight into the pros and cons of each test type. The following was the result collected from 
students’ responses to the question “What advantages and disadvantages did Moodle Quiz offer you?”. As 
students provided their answers in Vietnamese, all of their responses which are cited as examples below 
have been translated in English to make them more understandable. 
4.2.1. Advantages of Moodle-based listening tests 
The most popular benefit that Moodle-based tests offered students was that they could concentrate 
on the tests more easily. 19 students mentioned this in their answers with some responses like “I had better 
concentration”, “I can concentrate better on listening”, “I can concentrate on doing the tests”, “it helps me 
concentrate better”, “it is easy for me to concentrate”, etc. This was because students took the tests on their 
own computer or device with listening output delivered to them through the headphone; therefore, the sound 
quality was much better than delivered through loudspeakers or CD players in a large room. Moreover, 
distracting factors such as background noise or other students’ behaviors were also eliminated, which 
contributed to students’ better concentration. 
The second benefit which students pointed out when taking listening tests on Moodle Quiz is that the 
sound quality was much clearer. Their responses included “clear sound”, “easier to listen”, “I can listen to 
the audio clearly”. This can be explained as students listened to the audios through the headphones in the 
computer lab or the earphones of their personal devices; therefore, the quality of the sound was not 
distracted by other physical factors. In traditional paper-based listening tests, students usually have to listen 
to the CD player or the loud speakers in a spacious classroom, which can reduce the clarity of the audios. 
In addition, students said that Moodle-delivered listening tests were more advantageous than the 
traditional ones as they could receive much quicker feedback and results. There were 13 responses 
mentioning some comments like “the test result was informed more quickly”, “I can receive the test result 
more quickly”, “It is quick to get the mark”, “the test result was released immediately”, “the tests were 
marked more quickly”, etc. This is because teachers can set up so that Moodle Quiz can automatically mark 
students’ performances and give the feedback to students as soon as they finish the tests. This function can 
save much time for not only students but also teachers. 
Another advantage which was experienced by the students taking listening tests on Moodle Quiz was 
better time management. 11 students shared in their answers that they couldmanage the time “better”, “more 
effectively”, “more easily” and so on. In fact, in each listening quiz delivered on Moodle, time limit which 
was set appeared on the screen to let students know how much time they had in doing the quiz. Students 
had to submit their answers before the time was over. Therefore, students were forced to manage their time 
effectively to avoid submission later than required. For many students, it seemed that this feature of Moodle 
Quiz helped them with their time management skills. 
In addition, several students mentioned some other benefits which they had when doing listening 
tests on Moodle Quiz. For example, Moodle Quiz helped to enhance students’ autonomy by 
“individualizing the test-taking process”, and “making students more active in learning process”. Moreover, 
students also revealed that Moodle Quiz could promote the reliability of the test results because it can 
“accurately assess students’ ability”, “give more accurate marks”, “be more objective”, “be fairer”, and the 
like. Besides, flexibility was also mentioned as one of the Moodle Quiz’s advantages. Specifically, students 
said that they could use Moodle Quiz “on every device”, “everytime and everywhere they wanted”, “more 
flexibly, and “more conveniently”. 
It can be seen that students’ opinions about the advantages that Moodle-based listening tests offered 
are quite consistent with the benefits of CALT that Noijons (1994) and Pathan (2012) mentioned. This 
means that, as a form of CALT, Moodle Quiz can enhance students’ test-taking experience. 
4.2.2. Disadvantages of Moodle-based listening tests 
Besides the benefits of taking listening tests on Moodle Quiz which the course participants appreciated 
above, several problems in doing Moodle-based listening tests were also indicated as follows. 
 First of all, although many students thought the appearance of allotted time on the screen helped them 
to manage time more effectively, to some others, this unfortunately put them under time pressure while 
doing the tests. 21 students said that they had difficulties in managing time because of some reasons like 
“time is quite short”, “I cannot catch up with the time”, “I am under time pressure”, “it is hard for me to 
manage time”, “I lack time”, “time passes quickly”, “I feel stressed because the time always appears in 
front of me” and so on. As a result of being stressed or anxious about late submission, many students 
actually rushed in making answer choices or even failed to provide the responses to some of the test 
questions. Because of students’ lack of effective time-management skills, their performance in the tests 
could not be as good as they had expected. This psychological effect may lead to students’ negative attitudes 
towards the use of Moodle Quiz in particular and other technological advances in general in testing and 
assessment. 
Additionally, facility-related problems were reported as a hindrance to students’ success in 
completing the tests. Some popular problems which students mentioned included troublesome headphones 
or unstable Internet connection. As these problems were all unexpected, when they happened during the 
test process, admittedly both the teacher and students had to struggle to figure out the quickest way to solve 
them so that there would be no interruption on students’ test-taking. 
Moreover, some students admitted that their unfamiliarity with these computerized listening tests 
was also a difficulty because they were not equipped with proper techniques and strategies to deal with 
technical problems, and when the problems occurred, they failed to solve them effectively on their own. 
Consequently, the feeling of being unfamiliar with the test delivery plus the test anxiety could negatively 
contribute to students’ low test performance. These problems were similar to what Noijons (1994) and 
Pathan (2012) showed as they both emphasized that the problems related to infrastructure, technical 
expertise can affect not only teachers but also students during the process of applying CALT. 
5. Conclusion and recommendations 
It can be seen from this study that the application of Moodle Quiz to design and deliver web-based 
listening tests to first-year English majors at University of Foreign Languages, Hue University brought a new 
method to change the way listening skills had been tested for a long time. The findings revealed that while it 
was positive that many students were interested in this type of test delivery and found no difficulty in taking 
the tests, a considerable number of students still had little interest in this method of testing. Therefore, they 
suggested adopting Moodle Quiz for the assessment for learning rather than the assessment of learning. It also 
showed that Moodle Quiz offered both advantages and disadvantages for students. Specifically, although 
Moodle Quiz helped to enhance students’ test-taking experience, it also challenged students by putting them 
under pressure and posing some technical problems. 
Based on the study findings, some following recommendations were suggested so that the use of 
Moodle Quiz in the future can be more effective. First of all, for teachers who intend to apply Moodle Quiz 
in their teaching context, it would be advisable to provide students with detailed guidance on how to use 
this tool and how to deal with some popular technical problems at the beginning of the course. Being 
familiarized with the functions on Moodle Quiz, students will find it easier to use it. Moreover, as the 
findings showed that students would like Moodle Quiz to be used for formative assessment more than 
summative assessment, teachers can firstly use Moodle-based quizzes for students’ self-assessment, and 
then when students are accustomed with the tool, they can try it for mid-term or end-of-term tests. Secondly, 
for students, in order to succeed in taking tests on Moodle Quiz, they need to equip themselves with some 
skills like time management skill, problem-solving skill and so on. In addition, students should play an 
active role in their learning process and take full advantages that Moodle Quiz offers to improve their 
learning outcomes. Finally, for university administrators, more attention should be paid to the technology 
infrastructure such as facilities and the Internet access so that teachers and students can be facilitated in 
applying innovative methods of testing and assessment like Moodle Quiz in classrooms. More importantly, 
there should be appropriate policies to encourage both teachers and students to keep up to date with the new 
development of technology and adopt it to improve their teaching and learning methods. 
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SỬ DỤNG MOODLE QUIZ ĐỂ HỖ TRỢ ĐÁNH GIÁ KỸ NĂNG NGHE CHO 
SINH VIÊN NGÀNH TIẾNG ANH 
Tóm tắt: Nghiên cứu này nhằm khảo sát nhận thức của sinh viên ngành Tiếng Anh tại Trường Đại học 
Ngoại ngữ, Đại học Huế về việc sử dụng Moodle Quiz trong các bài kiểm tra nghe và những vấn đề mà 
họ gặp phải khi làm các bài kiểm tra nghe trên Moodle. Để thu thập số liệu từ 73 sinh viên năm 1 ngành 
Tiếng Anh, phương pháp nghiên cứu kết hợp giữa định tính và định lượng đã được áp dụng. Nghiên 
cứu chỉ ra rằng hơn một nửa sinh viên thích làm bài kiểm tra nghe trên Moodle trong khi số còn lại 
không hào hứng lắm với phương pháp kiểm tra này. Kết quả phân tích cũng chỉ ra rằng sinh viên mong 
muốn Moodle Quiz được sử dụng để đánh giá quá trình hơn là đánh giá tổng kết. So với phương pháp 
kiểm tra nghe truyền thống trên giấy, sinh viên cho rằng Moodle Quiz giúp cải thiện chất lượng âm 
thanh, mức độ tập trung khi làm bài, cũng như thông báo kết quả một cách nhanh chóng. Tuy nhiên, 
việc chưa quen với công cụ này, cũng như áp lực về thời gian khi làm bài kiểm tra và những trục trặc 
về thiết bị là những vấn đề mà nhiều sinh viên gặp phải khi sử dụng Moodle Quiz. Từ những kết quả 
trên, một số đề xuất đã được đưa ra để nhằm cải thiện hiệu quả của việc sử dụng Moodle Quiz trong 
đánh giá kỹ năng nghe. 
Từ khóa: Moodle Quiz, sinh viên ngành Tiếng Anh, đánh giá kỹ năng nghe