Exploration on the Evaluation Mode of “ International Trade Practice ” in Higher Vocational Schools

Considering the employment-oriented positioning of higher vocational education which is put by the education ministry and the features of higher vocational schools students, this paper indicates that the disadvantages in the evaluation mode of higher vocational school international trade course. Therefore, a reformed suggestion is given for the evaluation mode of higher vocational schools International Trade course. Based on the international business process, this evaluation mode integrates evaluation into students’ whole learning process. Besides, specialized practice evaluations are added in this mode. Thus, this evaluation mode is supposed to truly reflect the students’ abilities and to promote students and teachers.


The Characteristics of Vocational College Students and Teaching Objectives of "International Trade
Practice"

The Characteristics of Vocational College Students
Taking the students of Chongqing Education College as an example, they graduated from vocational high school or form general high school.In general, the students do not perform so well as students of general universities.Their learning attitude, ability of self-adjustment, learning thinking and understanding are not so good.Though they have failed the university entrance examination and had no choice but to enter vocational college, they have high self-esteem and are anxious to prove they are as good as undergraduates.They especially hope to find a good job to earn more money and better their families' life, but also prove their ability and value.As a result, though most of the students are not interested in learning theory, they are more positive in practices related with employment.Therefore, comparatively speaking, vocational college students pay more attention to evaluation mode that is mainly about practices.

Teaching Objectives of "International Trade Practice"
According to the feedback of present graduates majoring in international trades of vocational colleges, most of their jobs are needs practical abilities.Their careers include foreign trade sales, customs declarer, customs coordinator, forwarder member, documentary secretary, merchandiser and business secretary etc.In accordance with the "employment-oriented" principal, the students are expected to master the basic knowledge of imports and exports and the trade requirements of signing contract and are capable of negotiating and signing foreign trade contracts and also should have the ability to address some general contracts disputes of foreign trade.As a result, the evaluation should include examination on the students' comprehensive ability.

Present Evaluation Mode for International Trade Practice and the Disadvantages
At present, there are still many teachers focus more on learning theory and they evaluate the students mainly by taking a theory examination.This evaluation form has many disadvantages.

It Can Not Reveal the Students' Real Learning Effects.
Students of vocational college should adopt basic knowledge and theory through the international trade course and more importantly, they should master the practical operational skills of international trade, develop independent reasoning, thinking, expressing, coordinating, program management and flexible ability, most of which cannot be judged by taking examination.Therefore, examinations cannot fully reveal the students' learning effects.Though some students can get high scores in examination, they could not adjust themselves well to the working environment, working pace.They do not have proper product consciousness and cannot coordinate their work well.In a word, they do not have strong comprehensive professional ability and cannot adjust to their work, which is not in accordance with the development objectives of vocational education.

It Cannot Motivate the Students to Learn and the Teachers to Teach.
The purpose of examination is to evaluate the students' learning effects and also give the teachers feedback, letting the students and teachers to know the weakness and problems in the learning process so as to motivate the students to learn and the teachers to teach.However, the examination is too random to reveal the students learning effects.And even the existed problems can be revealed, the teacher could not comment on the exams and since the course normally only have one semester, it is impossible for the teacher to guide the students.As for the students and teachers, the examination is the end of everything and there is little possibility for them to improve.

Influence the Students' Confidence and Make Them Keeping Bad Habit.
The final examination becomes the sole standard to evaluate the students' knowledge and ability, which make them feel burdened.Since they have little interest in theory, the results of examination will weaken their confidence and learning interest, which will lead them to abandonment.On the other side, since the students are in lack of initiative and consciousness, they rely on the teachers to pass the examination.Some of them rarely learn, and only when it comes to examination they memorize the knowledge mechanically.Some students even try to cheat in the examination.

The Reform of Evaluation Mode of International Trade Course in Higher Vocational Colleges
The general evaluation concept is to infuse the evaluation into the learning process of international trade course.The task module is the core and make the students to reflect what they have learned when are learning new knowledge.And the teacher can find out the questions and adjust the teaching concepts according to the feedback.The evaluation would be divided into two parts.One is ordinary achievement and the other is final examination.

Ordinary Achievement (50%).
The Ordinary Achievement includes classroom assessment and practical achievement.The purpose is to motivate the students to learn by disperse examination.

Classroom assessment (30%)
Classroom assessment includes: discipline, classroom performance and special homework.
(1) Discipline (participation; obey to class discipline 10%).Call the role before each class, students do not appear will be deduced 2 score; student who are late for class will be deduced 1 score, students who ask for leave should provide the note for leave and will be deduced 1 score; students who violate the discipline should be deduced 1 score for each time.If one has been deduced 9 scores, the student should re-register the course.The focus of this evaluation is to disperse the assessment to daily learning.If the student cannot participate in the course or do not perform well during the class, he or she will fail the assessment.Therefore, it is necessary to build strict participating system and learning atmosphere.
(2) Class performance (10%).It mainly refers to the initiative and correctness of the students when it coming to answering questions and case studies.During the class, the teacher should randomly ask the students to answer some questions, or ask the students to analyze small cases, which will not only activate the class' atmosphere, making the students to be attentive, but also help the students to shape their self-express consciousness, developing their ability of expression and reaction.It can also facilitate the direct communication between teachers and the students.
(3) Special homework (10%).When the teacher is teaching international trade business, they should examine the students learning effect by assigning special homework after finishing the analysis of theory.The full score is 10.The teacher should add the average score of special homework to the final score.The special homework can be of many types.For example, when it comes to correspondence consultation, the teacher can ask the students to write a letter according to the provided circumstances.And when it comes to making documents, the teacher can ask the students to do it in the class.If it is about foreign trade negotiation, the teacher can divide the students into several groups and ask them to role-play the buyer and seller.If it is possible, the teacher can ask the students to intimate the real business or do self examination through internet.The teacher should comment on their homework in time.If it were group homework, the comments can be made in three parts and the principals are as follows: First, it is internal assessment between the group members.(Insert Table 1) Next is the intra assessment between the groups.The standard is as following.(Insert Table 2) Last but not lease, the teacher scores the groups according to their performance.As far as one student is concerned, the average score of the three assessments is his or her personal score for the team work.It can increase the students' initiative and make the students to learn from each other and think independently.What is more, it can let the teacher discover the students' problems and address the problems.

Practical achievement (20%)
Besides the assessments in class, practical assessment should also be enhanced.It should be added to the final score.For example, out investigation, internship and internet trade can be considered as practical achievements.
(1)Out-class investigation and investigation report (10%).Depending on the existed resources, the student can be guided to visit the exhibition, exposition, port, logistics center, customhouse or foreign trade companies.The assessment can be divided into three parts.One is to assess the students' preparation work.The students should hand in an investigation plan which should include background information, and program need to learn and understand during the investigation.Secondly, it is to assess the students' investigation details.Thirdly, it is the report the students hand in after they have finished the investigation.The students can have direct knowledge of foreign trade business, which can raise their interest in learning and confidence.
(2)Internship or internet trade (10%).If it is possible, the college should assign internship for the students.The time of internship is decided by the companies.The time is preferred to be flexible and can let the students to know the specific work of one job.The teacher should cultivate and manage the students in coordination with the companies.The achievement of internship is based on the companies' assessment (50%) and the students' internship report (50%).If it is difficult to assign internship, the teacher can ask the students to register on the internet market, such as Taobao, and to record the trade details.The students can combine what they have learned in class and write a report.The score standard is as follows: layout 10%, expression 20%, ability of data collecting 20%, ability of obtaining new knowledge 20% and analysis and comprehensive ability 30%.

Final Examination (50%).
Though the examination has many disadvantages, it can check whether the students have mastered the theory knowledge.Hence, it is necessary for taking examinations.The exam is mainly about the theory of international laws and the application.As a result, the examination should be close to practices and should focus on comprehensive analysis that can reflect the students' problems-solving ability.The teacher should analyze the examination and give the students feedback.

Significance of Evaluation Reform
The studying standards for vocational students are pragmatic and sufficient.However, most of them do not have good studying habit and studying method.They are also in lack of confidence.The traditional evaluation mode cannot motivate the students to learn.Hence, it is necessary to establish a comprehensive evaluation mode.The core is the practice of international trade which permeates the whole learning process.It consists of ordinary achievement and final examination.The ordinary achievement is made of a variety of evaluation methods, which can help the students to master what they have learned and also can help the teacher to improve the teaching methods.Besides, infusing extra-curricular practices into the whole learning process can increase the students' interest and can also help the students to understand the professions.For vocational students, they not only need to master theory of international trade, but also needs to learn how to manage, express and think independently and react in real environment.A comprehensive evaluation mode can fully reflect their real ability and can motivate them to learn and motivate the teachers to teach., Ning. (2008).Exploration of evaluation mode of international trade and practice.