Perizat Nurken

1. How would they affect Validity, Reliability, and Practicality?

First, a standard route with a standard series of maneuvers will positively affect the

practicality of the test. The current version of the test is not practical. Considering the number of

students who take the Driving test, they will lose much more time because there is no specific

route and no specific time when the test finishes. Moreover, since the test takes place on real routes,

sudden stopping or parking decisions instructed by the examinee will make other drivers’ traffic

harder or even may lead to dangerous situations. For that reason, having a standard route and

practicing manoeuvers like parking and emergency stop at the practice ground will improve the

practicality of the test (Brown, 2018).

Since the current test does not have a specific route and time, the students under the test

may experience different levels of difficulty. For that reason, having a standard route in the

changed version impacts positively on reliability. This is mainly because the road is the same for

every student under the exam, and if students of similar skill levels take an assessment, they will

receive the same grade (Brown, 2018; Josh, 2020).

Even though the above changes will improve the practicality and reliability part of the test,

the changes will negatively affect the validity part. The concept behind the validity is the

relationship between what the assessment is measuring and how this measurement reflects the

student’s ability to drive a car in a real situation (Josh, 2020). Having a standard route will be not

viable, especially for those who have failed several times. Such students may simply memorize

the route as well as manoeuvers and successfully pass the test. Consequently, such students may

make errors in other routes in the actual traffic. In addition, 5 minutes of grace for students to calm

down makes the test even less valid. The errors committed in the first 5 minutes are not ignored in
real life. The proposed changes make the driving test predictable, and the students’ success in the

test may not mean that they can drive appropriately in the real life (Brown, 2018). Because the

difference between actual driving and test-driving is huge.

Overall, from the analysis, we can notice that the proposed changes to the driving test

improve the practicality and reliability of the test, but impairs reliability (Brown, 2018).

2. How would you change the Spanish Practical Driving Test? Decide on your own proposed

change to the test. How would this affect validity, reliability, and practicality?

My proposed changes to the current Spanish Practical Driving Test include the following:

● The exam will be conducted on different routes that have almost the same difficulty.

● The students will have a time limit during which they should finish the test.

● The students will be called in advance based on the schedule so that they will not wait.

● Manoeuvres like parking and emergency stop will take place in the practice ground.

In my opinion, the above changes are better than the current version of the test. This is

mainly because it keeps the balance between validity, reliability, and practicality. Whereas, in the

current version, even though the validity of the test is high, the remaining two parts are poor.

Regarding the changes, the first adjustment positively affects the validity and reliability of

the test. Because the students will experience different routes and all of them have the same chance

to pass. The second and third changes will make the test more practical and reliable since the

students will not wait for each other and have the same mental state. Finally, the last amendment

makes the test more practical, avoiding any suffering of real traffic during the test.
 References

Brown, H. D. (2018). Language assessment: Principles and classroom practices (3rd ed.). Pearson

Education.

Josh. (2020, July 19). Practicality, reliability, and validity - three things all good tests must have.

Linguistics Study Guide. Retrieved July 24, 2022, from

https://linguisticsstudyguide.com/practicality-reliability-validity/