Steps in Test Construction (original) (raw)
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The Original Test Development Project 1 An Analysis of a Set of Three Tests EDU 570 Assignment One
Assessment is a crucial aspect of the teaching and learning processes. According to Nunan (1999), “assessment refers to the tools, techniques, and procedures for collecting and interpreting information about what learners can and cannot do”. Based on the previous statement, this paper wants to focus its attention on tests. They are useful tools to evaluate students provided that they are implemented appropriately; that is why, their analysis is a critical factor in the assessment process, given the fact that it informs teachers about their instruction, students’ performance, and the curriculum, amongst others. Bailey (1998), states that “when we talk about a test being “appropriate,” the issue is partly whether the test provides us with the information we need to gain about the students we serve.” It is paramount to identify the desired goals we want our students to reach, the place where they are in relation to them and the tools we need to provide them with, in order to help them getting higher achievements. Tests analysis helps us to identify those aspects and to adjust our teaching practices aiming at students to succeed. In accordance with the preceding information, the effectiveness of three subtests will be analyzed, so their validity, reliability, practicality and positive washback (Bailey, 1998, p. 3) will be determined as well. These subtests are part of an only language test that was administered to eleventh graders at a public school. It mixes three different constructs taking into account that students at this grade need to be prepared to face a standardized test, which evaluates learners similarly and is called Saber Test. It assesses learners’ English skills, such as their pragmatic, lexical, communicative and grammatical knowledge, and their reading comprehension (ICFES, 2014). The test discussed in this report is a progress one, whose stimulus material is based on mythology. This topic was studied in depth during the second term of the academic year, and learners have received complementing knowledge in other classes, such as Social Studies and Spanish. My purpose is to discover whether the test I designed fulfill my students’ needs, expectations and English level or, on the contrary, it needs to be modified in order to get reliable information about my pupils’ learning process. Additionally it will be analyzed how well the test measures the constructs and the way they relate each other, as Brown (2005) advocates, validity “is the degree to which a test measures what it claims, or purports, to be measuring”.
2021
Assessment is a very important part of a learning process. To conduct the assessment, teachers have to design a test. To retrieve a quality of a test, a physics teacher needs to do the items analysis. There are several ways of doing items analysis which including the analysis of difficulty index, discrimination index, and analysis of the validity and reliability. This research is a descriptive study that aims to describe systematically and accurate information on the actual situation in this case about the difficulty index, discrimination index, validity and reliability of the items. The variables analyzed were the quality of teacher-made tests physics. The results of this study indicate that physics teacher-made tests have low validity, reliability moderate or medium, high difficulty index, and poor discrimination index
Test Construction Techniques and Principles
The advent of technology has created paradigm shift in course offering and so every course offered online should be developed for online environment (VLE). Most times traditional educators believe course materials for classroom can easily be used for VLE. They missed important point which this course guide presents an answer to. Human working knowledge can not hold too much information and so looking at a course as a long string can be cumbersome, it is better delineated into small units that can be taken alone and when placed together will make a whole course that could accomplish an overall objectives. It is on this basis that courses are divided into modules with tasks, activities, resources and time allowed for leaner to take each task clearly stated. This study guide placed this in clear perspective as a sample of adopting course contents for virtual learning environment.
A Practical Approach to Local Test Development. Resource Paper No. 6. Research into Practice Project
1984
This resource paper is a guide for planning and developing instructionally relevant tests of student learning at the classroom, building, or district level. It is based on a model of instruction and testing which systematically uses assessment information to support and facilitate instructional improvement. Course goals and objectives are first translated into domain specifications which are used to link testing and instruction. A domain specifilation contains six components: (1) domain description; (2) content its; (3) distractor limits and response-criteria; (4) item format; (b) student directions; and (6) sample items. Test items are then developed to match domain specifications. Standard item construction rules are given for both constructed responses (essay, short answer, completion) and selected responses true-false, matching, multiple choice). Items are then judged for their match to the six domain components plus linguistic and thinking complexity using the Item Rating Scales. When all eight categories have been individually scored on scales from 0 to 10, an overall rating is calculated. Guidelines are given for interpreting overall item rating for acceptance, rejection, or revision. Appendices contain: (1) sample domain-referenced test specifications; (2) item difficulty levels; and (3) materials used in the item rating process. (BS)
Test Construction Test Correction
Giving regular tests to the class is important both to teachers and to students. Tests enable teachers to know what their students can or can't do and at the same time give them an idea about how successful their teaching has been. This paves the way to decisions to make about future class practices. As to students, tests enable them to know if they are progressing and " gauge " how well they are progressing. They can discover their own needs as learners and make decisions about their future learning. Different types of tests take place during the period of instruction. These tests and their frequency vary according to the general aim behind administering them. However, particular aims behind testing language components and/or language use may be another raison d'être for specific tests. For a test to be rated " good " , it should be valid (content validity; construct validity; face validity), reliable (test reliability; scorer reliability) and it should have an effect on the teaching program(s) that lead(s) to it (washback or backwash effect). When constructing tests, test makers respect the whole current educational approache(s) adopted in the curricula. For if the act of teaching happens communicatively, the act of testing takes place also communicatively. Within this framework, test constructors present contextualized items and authentic language/ material based on the principle of interaction, accompanied with instructions and tasks within the reach of the intended population. A learner-centered test, concerned with outcomes and processes and valuing the creative side of the learner's performance (accuracy and fluency) is, therefore, designed. Here is an evaluative checklist that a teacher can complete after administering a test:
Inventory of Testing Ideas and Structuring of Testing Terms
2013
Study includes software testing terms and ideas inventory, software testing high level review and schematization on meta-level and structuring of lower level elements related to the software testing such as testing oracles, testing levels, software quality characteristics, testing approaches, methods, and techniques. Main testing dichotomies are collected and described. An attempt to lay the scientific basis under the proper use of such terms as testing approach, testing method, and testing technique is performed.
Test Design Project: Studies in Test Adequacy. Annual Report
1981
These studies in test adequady foc two problems: procedures_for estimating renability, and techniques' for identifying. ineffective distractors. Fourteen papeTs are presented on recent advances in measuring achievement (a response to Molenaar); "an extension of the Dirichlet-multinomial model that allows true score and guessing to be correlated"; results on an answer-until-correct scoring procedure; the k out of 'n reliability of a test, and an exact test for random guessing; "determining the length of multiple choice criterion-referenced tests when an answer-until-correct scoring procedure is used"; "a closed sequential procedure for comparing the binomial distribution to'a standard"; "a closed sequential procedure for answer-until-correct tests"; "approximating the Probability of *
Test Construction and Test Correction
When constructing tests, test makers respect the whole current educational approache(s) adopted in the curricula. For if the act of teaching happens communicatively, the act of testing takes place also communicatively...
Classroom Test Construction: The Power of a Table of Specifications
Classroom tests provide teachers with essential information used to make decisions about instruction and student grades. A table of specification (TOS) can be used to help teachers frame the decision making process of test construction and improve the validity of teachers' evaluations based on tests constructed for classroom use. In this article we explain the purpose of a TOS and how to use it to help construct classroom tests.
Some problems of computer-aided testing and “interview-like tests”
Computers & Education, 2008
Computer-based testing-is an effective teacher's tool, intended to optimize course goals and assessment techniques in a comparatively short time. However, this is accomplished only if we deal with high-quality tests. It is strange, but despite the 100-year history of Testing Theory (see, Anastasi, A., Urbina, S. (1997). Psychological testing. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall) there still exist some misconceptions. Modern widespread systems for computer based course management and testing reveal a set of problems corresponding to certain features of testing methods. This article is devoted to some omissions typical to several course management systems (e.g., Moodle and Blackboard). These omissions and the ways of avoiding them are shown in a simple test intended to verify student knowledge. We suggest a special test description language dedicated to drawing your attention to the mathematical aspects of test quality. The language can also be realized in computer software. We provide an example of such software in this article.