II. Analyze the test item below, a) What aspect(s) of language knowledge/ability is it testing or claiming to be testing) (2 points) b) Is it a valid and reliable test item? Back up your answers. (4 each quality)

Answer:

a) The title of the item claims to be testing “communicative competence” which is not true, because it is assessing only grammar use/ability by changing the verbs to the correct form/tense and not a communicative competence in general. It is not measuring communication and no one can assure that the person who takes the test is communicatively competent.

b) The activity is not quite valid. Going back to what I mentioned above, there is a certain issue with the title of the activity and what it actually means to measure. This means that the activity is not valid because it does not measure the intended outcome. However, the test example is quite reliable due to the fact that there is only one possible answer for each verb. This makes it very reliable because the results will probably be the same if the test-taker takes the test in different conditions or if it is evaluated by different test-raters. It is quite consistent and objective, even though it does not actually measure “communicative competence”

CAMILO SAAVEDRA