READING TEST SPECIFICATIONSASSIGNMENT-01: 4.8

GROUP MEMBERS:

BILAL H. YASEEN GS39550 NURUL NAJWA BINTI ABU BAKAR GS36081HANI SHAKIR GS39584

LECTURER:PROF. DR. CHAN SWEE HENG

Faculty of Modern Languages and CommunicationUniversiti Putra Malaysia

November 2014

READING TEST SPECIFICATIONS: 4.8

• Introduction:

How can we help students to learn in an efficient, effective,attractive and accessible way? There is no simple straight wardanswer to this question; depending on the specific situation,solution X will work best for person Y. It’s generally acknowledgedthat we can improve testing consider by making the conditions tooptimal specifications and then use this acknowledge to design newtest events.

We are going to introduce the concepts of test design, and examinewhat a test designer must know in order to create high-quality testdesigning, and to discuss the nature of this specifications, how itcan be modeled in terms of rules, and how the rules are derived.We also will use three examples (Designs / Contexts) to introducethe different modeling concepts and use the term test designer, todescribe those who learning design task to perform.

THE PURPOSE OF THE TEST

This is a reading comprehension assessment.

• To measure the testees' performance based onthe curriculum during teaching and learningsessions in the whole school semester.

• This test is under local control - used to placelearners into classes for the next school semester

• To discover how much the students haveachieved in their L2 learning.

READING TEST SPECIFICATIONS: 4.8

THE PURPOSE OF THE TEST Cont.

• This test is low-stakes or summative.

• However, teachers use the information tomake decisions about which classes are moresuitable for the learners to be in for the nextsemester of school, according to their levels ofperformance.

READING TEST SPECIFICATIONS: 4.8

• Grade 4 ESL students of Baghdad Secondary School, Iraq.

• The assessment is designed to measure the academic achievement of all test takers with diverse background of Grade 4.

• Items in the assessment are written in plain language, without unnecessarily complex syntactical structure because they are adolescent ESL learners with the kind of language needs.

• This assessment is carefully designed to provide accommodations for this type of learner’s level; teenage ESL students.

• The passage and items are accessible.

READING TEST SPECIFICATIONS: 4.8

The Test Takers

Context and Modality

• The Modality: Reading skill (Comprehension).• The context: In this test design the tester chooses THREE efficient contexts

which is: • Multiple choice item 2) True and False item. 3) Matching item.

The Test design:Reading comprehension test for measuring the competence and the performance of the testees. (Achievement test).

• ACHIEVEMENT TEST Achievement test attempts to measure what an individual has learned-his or her present level of performance; in this design the testees will be examined for his/her comprehension in the reading skill.

READING TEST SPECIFICATIONS: 4.8

1. Identify the puspose of the test.

2. Identify the best specification.

3. Select the contents of the test.

4. Consider the form of the test.

5. Write the test item.

6. Consider the layout of the test.

7. Consider the timing of the test.

8. Plan the scoring of the test.

In planning a test, the Designer can proceed the following :

READING TEST SPECIFICATIONS: 4.8

1.To diagnose a student’s strength, weakness and difficulties.

2.To measure achievement.

3.To measure aptitude and potential.

4.To identify readiness for a program.

1. IDENTIFY THE PURPOSE OF THE TEST

READING TEST SPECIFICATIONS: 4.8

2. IDENTIFY THE TEST SPECIFICATIONThe test specification includes :

1. Which program objectives and student learning

outcomes will be addressed.

2. Which content areas will be addressed.

3. The relative weightings, balance and coverage of items.

4. The total number of items in the test.

5. The number of questions required to address a

particular element of a program or learning outcome

6. The exact item in the test.

READING TEST SPECIFICATIONS: 4.8

3. SELECT THE CONTENTS OF THE TEST

Gronlund and Linn (1990), suggest that an item analysis will need to consider :

1. The suitability of the format of each item for the (learning) objective (appropriateness)

2. The ability of each item to enable students to demonstrate their performance of the (learning) objective (relevance)

3. Clarity of the task for each item

4. The straight forwardness of the task

5. The independence of each item (i.e. where the influence of other items of the tests minimal and where successful completion of one another)

6. The adequacy of coverage of each (learning) objective by the items of the test.

4. CONSIDER THE FORM OF THE TEST

The designer (tester) will need to considerwhether the test will be undertaken individually,or in a group, and what form it will take.Comprehension test, for example, can beconducted if the designer feels that reading willobstruct the true purpose of the test.

READING TEST SPECIFICATIONS: 4.8

5. WRITE THE TEST ITEMS

In this test we tackled three contexts:

1. Multiple Choice.

2. True-false Items.

3. Matching.

READING TEST SPECIFICATIONS: 4.8

A. CONSTRUCTING MULTIPLE CHOICE ITEMS

1. Design each item to measure a specific objective.

• (Direct MCQ) Example:

Q/ Which of these statements correctly summarizes how the author of this passage feels about robots?

a. Robots are old.

b. Robots are confusing.

c. Robots are helpful.

d. Robots are dangerous.

• (MCQ Indirect question) Example:

Q/ What is the main purpose of paragraph 2?

A. to show how easy it is to make a robot.

B. to tell what a robot is .

C. to describe the things a robot can do.

D. to explain the difference between a robot and a machine.

READING TEST SPECIFICATIONS: 4.8

2. State both stem and options as simply and directly

as possible.

We are sometimes tempted to make multiple choice items too

wordy. A good rule is to get directly to the point.

( MCQ cloze) Example:

Q/ Long ago, people ………… robots.

a. played

b. saw

c. imagined

d. broke

READING TEST SPECIFICATIONS: 4.8

3. Make certain that intended answer is clearly the only

correct one.

Q/ According to the passage, when was the first real robot made?

a. 1961

b. 1900

c. 2003

d. 2000 years ago

READING TEST SPECIFICATIONS: 4.8

4. USE ITEM INDICES TO ACCEPT, DISCARD,

OR REVISE ITEMS

Item facility (level of difficulty): Is the extent to which an item is easy or difficult for the proposed group of test-takers. IF shows how easy or difficult the particular item that’s proved in the test.

Item discrimination (discriminating power): Item discrimination is the extent to which an item differentiates between high- and low-ability test-takers. It measures how well the test items are arranged to identify the differences in the students competence.

READING TEST SPECIFICATIONS: 4.8

4. USE ITEM INDICES TO ACCEPT, DISCARD,

OR REVISE ITEMS. Cont.

Distractor efficiency: Distractor efficiency isone more important measure of multiplechoice item’s value in a test. The efficiency ofdistractors is the extent to which: -

a. The distractors “lure” a sufficient number oftestees especially lower-ability ones

b. Those responses are somewhat evenlydistributed across all distractors.

B. TRUE-FALSE ITEMS

The true-false item typically present a declarative statement

that the students must mark as either true or false. Instructors

generally use true-false items to measure the recall of factual

knowledge such as name, events, dates, definitions, etc. But

this format has the potential to measure higher levels of

cognitive ability, such as comprehension of significant ideas

and their application in solving problems.

Examples:

A robot is a special kind of machine. (T or F)

A robot is a human being. (T or F)

READING TEST SPECIFICATIONS: 4.8

c. MATCHING

A matching exercise typically consists of a list

of questions or problems to be answered along

with a list of responses. The examinee is

required to make an association between each

question and a response.

READING TEST SPECIFICATIONS: 4.8

EXAMPLE

BAA. 19611. Something special is NOT

B. Machine2. Robots may be used to

C. Normal3. When was the first real robot made?

D. Make things4. Who is the first one imagined robots?

E. Homer5. Most robots just look like

F. 2000

G. Tired

Match the following items in list (A) to their responses in list (B):

READING TEST SPECIFICATIONS: 4.8

6. CONSIDER THE LAYOUT• The Clarity of the Instruction:

What to do (Objective)

How long to take (Time)

How many items to attempt (Quantity)

What kind of response is required How and where to enter the response (Answer placing)

• The Location and Sequence of Items The progression from the easy to the more difficult items of the test.

• The Visual Layout of the Page Minimize the unnecessary visual material or words.

7. CONSIDER THE TIMING OF THE TEST

• The timing refers to two areas:

1. When the test will take place

2. The time allowances to be given to the test and its component items

8. PLAN THE SCORING OF THE TEST

READING TEST SPECIFICATIONS: 4.8

SCORING SYSTEM DESIGN AND DESCRIPTIONS

Multiple-Choice Item

True and False Item

Matching Item

• 4 answer choices (only one correct answer).

• generic scoring rubric, 1 point for correct answer or 0 point for incorrect (dichotomous).

• Only 2 options (1 correct and 1 incorrect response).

• Scored dichotomously (choose whether the statement is ‘True’ or ‘False’).

• If they choose the correctly - 1 point

• If they don’t - 0 point

• 5 questions and 7 options can be chosen to match with the questions.

• only 1 correct response for every item

• 1 point – if they match correctly

• no point - if they match it incorrectly

Multiple-Choice Item

True and False Item

SCORE CATEGORY AND DESCRIPTIONS

CORRECT ANSWER (A, B, C, D OR E)These responses represent one correct choice (1 point)

INCORRECT ANSWER (A, B, C, D OR E)These responses represent one incorrect choice (0 point)

SCORE CATEGORY AND DESCRIPTIONS

CORRECT ANSWER (TRUE OR FALSE OPTION)These responses represent one correct choice (1 point)

INCORRECT ANSWER (TRUE OR FALSE OPTION)These responses represent one incorrect choice (0 point)

READING TEST SPECIFICATIONS: 4.8

Matching Item

SCORE CATEGORY AND DESCRIPTIONS

CORRECT MATCHThese responses represent one correct match (1 point)

INCORRECT MATCHThese responses represent one incorrect match (0 point)

READING TEST SPECIFICATIONS: 4.8

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