Test Construction

by Maria Lavella Torregosa

The Mechanics of Test

Construction

• Requires:

• Decision about the nature of the item or

question to which we ask students to

respond

• How we will score the item

• The skill we purport to test

What are Test Items?

• Is a specific task test takers are asked to

perform

• Can assess one or more points or

objectives and the actual item itself may

take on a different constellation depending

on the context.

The Skill Tested and the

Intellectual Skills Needed

• The language skills that test include the

• more receptive skills on a continuum –

listening and reading, and

• More productive skills – speaking and

writing.

• Nonverbal skills – gesturing ( both receptive

and productive)

The Skill Tested and the

Intellectual Skills Needed

• Require the domains of learning as identified in Bloom’s Revised Cognitive Taxonomy:

• Knowledge

• Comprehension

• Application

• Analysis

• Evaluation

• Synthesis

Phases of Evaluation

Four Phases:

• Preparation Phase

• Assessment Phase

• Evaluation Phase

• Reflection Phase

Phases of Evaluation

Preparation

• Teachers decide what is to be evaluated, the

type of evaluation to be used , the criteria

upon which student learning outcomes will be

judged, and the most appropriate assessment

techniques for gathering information on

student progress.

Phases of Evaluation

Assessment Phase

• Teachers select appropriate tools and

techniques, then collect and collate information

on student progress.

• Teachers must determine where, when, and

how assessments will be conducted, and

students must be consulted and informed.

Phases of Evaluation

Evaluate Phase

• Teachers interpret the assessment

information and make judgments about

student progress.

• Students are encouraged to monitor their

own learning by evaluating their

achievements on a regular basis.

Phases of Evaluation

Reflection Phase

• Allows teachers to consider the extent to

which the previous phases in the

evaluation process have been successful.

• Teachers evaluate the utility, equity, and

appropriateness of the assessment

techniques used.

Stages of Test Construction

1) Planning

Essentials:

a. Goal

b. Format

c. Tasks

Planning

1. Goal

-test’s goal is a vital step in the development process. If

the goal is assigning students to a level before a course

begins, rather than evaluating them afterwards, your

test design will reflect this.

2. Format

- the test developer will have to consider a few

format – related dilemmas, such as paper- based test versus

digital one.

Planning

3. Tasks

there are a myriad of possible test

tasks, all of which can be used in different

formats for different levels

Stages of Test Construction

2. Design

a. Collecting testing material

Collecting material with an appropriate degree of

situational and/ or interactional authenticity.

Appear both meaningful and realistic to each testee

b. Writing a draft version

This draft will often contain more questions and

items than are taken down to the final test version.

Design

c. Evaluating the draft version

- the team members that were not involved in

writing the draft version have a close look at the test

and decide which questions will be omitted, which

items need further clarification

d. Rewriting the draft version

- based on the observations and suggestions

made by the reviewers, the draft version is rewritten

and refined until the whole team is happy with the

test.

Stages of Test Construction

3. Development

a. Piloting

- the test is distributed among a group of representative end users in the same settings and circumstances as the live test.

- by analyzing the results from this piloting quantitatively and/ or qualitatively the validity and reliability of the test can be determined and refined.

a. Revising

- based on the results from the piloting and the test analysis, the final test will be composed.