Diagnostic Assessment Used in Teaching English to Grade 8 Students of SMP Swasta Imelda Medan

This study aimed to identify the types of diagnostic assessment used by the English
teacher and to investigate its implementation in teaching recount text writing to
Grade 8 students at SMP Swasta Imelda Medan. This study employed a qualitative
descriptive design. The data were collected through document analysis and
classroom observation. The documents consisted of the Google Form Pre-Test
Worksheet, the Google Form Pre-Test Worksheet Rubric, the Student Attitude
Observation Sheet, and the Student Attitude Observation Sheet Rubric, while the
observation focused on the teacher's implementation of diagnostic assessment
during classroom activities. The findings revealed that the teacher implemented two
types of diagnostic assessment, namely cognitive diagnostic assessment and noncognitive
diagnostic assessment. Cognitive diagnostic assessment was used to
identify students' writing abilities through a diagnostic pre-test, whereas noncognitive
diagnostic assessment focused on students' participation and selfconfidence
through classroom observation. The implementation of both assessment
types followed four stages proposed by Cheng and Fox (2017), namely planning,
administering, analyzing, and follow-up. However, several indicators in the
analyzing and follow-up stages were not fully implemented, and inconsistencies
were identified between the teacher's assessment rubric and the theoretical writing
indicators adopted in this study. The findings indicate that diagnostic assessment
had been implemented in teaching recount text writing, although several aspects
still require improvement to support more systematic instructional decisionmaking.