CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

A. Background Of Problem

Education is a necessity that can not be separated from everyday life.

each person must have tried to get a good education in the formal and non-
formal institutions. success or failure of a school is often measured by the
results of the assessment at the end of the learning process, although it is not
the sole determinant tool an education, but it is still used in the world of
education.

In education there are a variety of disciplines, including lessons

learned. lessons include the four skills namely listening, speaking, writing and
reading. all it should also be tested to determine the ability of the already
gained during the study through a test or exam. Language skills a person can
be tested with a so called tests of language or language testing, well testing
or language or language assessment.

Questions about the tests to be tested can be made by teachers

themselves or others. not all teachers understand about the creation of good,
quality matter made or things that need to be tested. many do not know how
to test the quality of questions that tested or will be tested. it is also not free
from their ignorance of what is language testing or language tests. language
testing needs to be known because it would provide the basis for language
testing.
Language testing is the practice and study of Evaluating the
proficiency of an individual in a particular language using Effectively. this
evaluation to measure whether students can use the language they have
learned to fluently both in speaking, listening, writing, and reading. This is
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also used as a gauge whether students can receive lessons or material
submitted by the teachers well.
However, there are some problems that the English language teachers
have in testing the students‘ English language achievement. One of the
problems is how to determine and choose appropriate testing techniques
based on what skills and what aspects should be measured. Some
teachers are still confused on what techniques should be applied in
their class. Some teachers only use monotonous or even single
techniques. Moreover, the testing techniques that are commonly used
now give students an opportunity to cheat on and to guess easily, or even to
gamble.
Such problems need careful planning in terms of the alternative
solution. Based on the description above, it can be inferred that it is
important to have a kind of tools to measure the students‘ language
mastery in education. In order to arrive at the best solution for any particular
situation- the most appropriate test or testing system- it is not enough to
have at one‘s disposal a collection of test techniques from which to choose.
It is necessary to understand how they can be applied.
B. Problem Statement
1. Some common misconception about language testing
2. Why is it important to be component it

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 CHAPTER II

THEORY

A. Historical of The Development Language testing

Language testing today reflects current interest in teaching genuine

communication, but it also reflects earlier concerns for scientifically sound
tests. Testing during the last century and early decades of this one was
basically intuitive, or subjective and dependent on the personal impressions
of teachers. After the intuitive stage, testing entered a scientific stage, a time
that stressed objective evaluation by language specialists. We are now in a
communicative stage, a time when we emphasis evaluation of language use
rather than language from.

During the long intuitive era, teachers, untrained in testing, evaluated

students in a variety of ways. Facts about English often weighed as skill in
using the language. As a result, students had to label parts of a sentence and
memorize lists of language patterns (I am, we are, you are, he/she/it is, etc.).

Another characteristic of these rather subjective tests was abundant

writing in various forms including translation, essay, dictation, précis and
open-ended answers based on reading comprehension. Some of this
evaluation was quiet sound, especially for advanced students. There was
also reliance upon knowledge of grammatical information exemplified by
directions such as, "Rewrite the Following sentences substituting the present
perfect continuous Form of the verb. The Scientific are followed the intuitive
stage in testing.

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 During the scientific era many changes occurred. Testing specialists
with linguistic training entered the scene. Careful linguistic description
suggested that language mastery could be evaluated" Scientifically" bit by bit.
Objective tests were devised that measured performance or recognition of
separate sounds, specific grammatical Features or Vocabulary items. These
tests often used long lists of unrelated sentences that were incomplete or
contained errors in grammar or usage. Students completed or corrected
multiple-choice items. Subjective written tests began to be replaced be
objective tests.1

B. Definition of Language Testing

Testing becomes important at every stage of human lives, as well as in

the language learning. McNamara in Razi (2005: 1) argues that there
are some reasons for administering language tests, which play a
powerful role in an individual‘s social and working life. 2 "The activity of
developing and using language tests. As a psychometric activity, language
testing traditionally was more concerned with the production, development
and analysis of tests. Recent critical and ethical approaches to language
testing have placed more emphasis on the uses of language tests. The
purpose of a language test is to determine a person’s knowledge and/or
ability in the language and to discriminate that person’s ability from that of
others. Such ability may be of different kinds, achievement, proficiency or
aptitude. Tests, unlike scales, consist of specified tasks through which
language abilities are elicited. The term language assessment is used in free
variation with language testing although it is also used somewhat more widely

1
Mcnamara & Roever’s,Carsten.Language Testing: The Social Dimension.Hawaii
University(2005).hal.1-4.

2
Ibid,hal.8.
4
to include for example classroom testing for learning and institutional
examinations."Alan Davies, University of Edinburgh. 3

Language teachers work with language tests since they need to

evaluate their students. In language learning, testing is important to find
out where students have difficulties in a language course, to explore
progress or to reflect how well the students in learning a particular subject
(students‘ achievement), and to give a general idea about students‘
proficiency in the target language. It means that a test can be a tool to
measure how successful a language teaching had been held.

Subjective and objective are terms used to refer to the scoring of tests.
The contrast between subjective and objective tests stems from difference
between translation-type tests and multiple-choice tests. This contrast has led
the field to a common misunderstanding. The misconception emanates from
the fact that objectivity or subjectivity refers to the way a test item is scored
and has little or nothing to do with the form of a test. For instance, it would be
a misunderstanding that all composition-type or essay tests are subjective or
all multiple- choice type tests are objective. However, the form of test or how
it is devised doesn’t account for the subjectivity or objectivity.

CHAPTER III
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languagetesting.info/whatis/lt.html
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 BODY

A. Objectives and Expectations

1. Introductions: Some misconception about language testing

Perhaps the most common use of language tests and educational test
in general, is to pinpoint strenghts and the weakness in the learned abilities of
the student. We may discover through testing that a given student has an
excellent pronounciation and fluency of oral production in the language of
interest, but student has a low of reading comprehension. Furthermore, there
is often a belief that ‘language tester’ have some almost procedure and
formulae for creating the ‘best’ test. These misconceptions and unrealistic
expectations, and the mystique associated with language test, constitute
affective barriers to many people who want and need to be able to use
language test in their proffesional work. Breaking down of the affective barrier
by dispelling misconceptions, helping readers develop a sense of what can
reasonably be expected language tests, language testing is thus an
important of this part.

 Conceptual bases of test development

Language and Literature. On the other hand, we had known English as

second/foreign language, and considerable understanding of what was then
known, in terms of teory or research, of second/foreign language teaching. In
addition, we shared a common concern: to develop the ‘best’ test for our
situations.We believed that there was a model language test and a set
straightforward procedure a recipe that we could follow to create a test that
would be the best one for our purposes and situations.

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 In developing tests, we believed that if we followed the model of a test
that was widely recognized and used it,it would automatically be useful for our
particular needs. Language ability was viewed as a set of ‘finite’ components-
grammar, vocabulary, pronounciation, spelling- that we were realized as four
skill- listening, speaking, reading and writing. If we thought or tested these,
we were teaching or testing everything that was needed. Language learners
were viewed as organism who all learned language by essentially the same
process-stimulus and response as described by behaviorist psychology.
Finally, it was assumed that the process involved in language learning were
more or less the same for all learners, for all situations, and for all purposes.
It is not surprising, then, that we believed that a single model would provide
the bet tests for our particular test takers,for our particular uses, and for the
areas of language ability that were in interest of our particular situations.

As it turned out, the two groups of test takers for whom we developed
essentially the same kind of language test were quite different. One group
consisted of first year-students students entering a university in which very
little their academic course work would involve the usee of English. Most of
them would be required to take at least one English course as part of their
degree requirements. Though all of the students had had some exposure to
English in their secondary school education, most have very little control of
the language, and almost none of them had had any exsposure to outside of
the English as Foreign language (EFL) in the classroom. Few had ever
spoken English with native speaker or had any opportunity to use English any
one-instructional purpose.

The other group consisted of a university teachers, many of whom

were quite senior, from many different universities and representing a wide
range academic diciplines, who had been selected as recipient of
scholarships to continu work on advance degrees in countries where English
is the medium construction. They were much more highly specialized in their
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knowledge of their diciplines than were the first-year university students, were
considerably older, on average, and were more experienced.

The program into which these test takers would be different. The
program into which the university student would be placed consisted of four
levels of non-intensive five four per week) English intruction during their first
ad second of university work.

The University teachers, on the other hand would be placed into a ten
week intensive (40 hour per week) course at national english language
institute where they would be required to speak noting but english between
the hours of about eight until five every working day.

The example ilustrates the most common misconception that we find

among those who ask the advice about their specific testing needs. In our
experience,many people believed, as we did, that there is an ideal of what a
‘good’ language test is, and want to know how to create test on this ideal
model for their own testing needs. Our answer is that there is no such thing
as a ‘good’ or ‘bad’ test in the abstract, and that there is no such thing as the
one ‘best’ test, even the specific situation. To understand why this is so, we
must consider some of the problem that result from misconception.

In the example above, the test developed for the university students
might have been appropriate for this group (University teachers), In terms of
the areas language ability measured (grammar, vocabulary and reading
comprehension), and topical content, since this was quite general and not
specific to any particular dicipline. The test developed for the University the
teachers, however, was probably not particulary appropriate for this group,
since it did not include material related to the teachers diffrent diciplin or
different the areas of ESP that were covered in the intensive course. This test
was also of limited appropriateness because it did not include an assesment

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of students ability to perform listening and speaking task, which was heavily
emphasized in the in tensive program.

Misconception Resulting Problems

1. Believing that there is one ‘best’ 1. Tests which are inappropriate for
test for any situations. the test takers

2. Misunderstanding the nature of 2. Test which do not meet the

language testing and language specific needs of the test users.
development.
3. Uninformed use of tests or testing
3. Having unreasonable methods simply because they
expectations about what have become popular.
language test can do and what
4. Becoming frustated when one
they should be.
unable to find or develop the
4. Placing blind faith the perfect test.
technology measurement.
5. Loss of faith in one’s own capacity
for developing and using tests
appropriately, as well as feeling
that language testing is something
that only ‘experts’ can understand
and do.

6. Being placed in a situation of

trying to defend the indefensible,
since many students, as well as
administrators, have
unreasonable expectations.

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Problem that are ilustrated by the above example, which we have found to be
very common among individuals who want to be able to use language tests
but feel that they do not have the knowledge oor competence to do so.

2. Why is important to be competent in language testing

We believe in language testing will help readers to avoid some of the

misconceptions described above and to develop a set of reasonable
expectations for any given language test they may need to use. In addition,
this will give a sense of confidence in one’s own knowlegde and skills in this
endeavor.

Language test can be a valuable tool for providing information that is

relevant to several concern in language teaching. They can provide evidence
of the result of the learning and instruction, and hence feedback on the
effectiveness of the teaching program itself. They can also provide that is
relevant to making decision about individuals, such as determining what
specific kinds of learning materials and activities should be provided to
student, base on diagnosis of their strenght and weakness, deciding wether
individuals or entire class are ready to move on to another unit intructions,
and assigning grades on the basis of student achievment.

Finally, testing can also be used as a tool for clarifying instructional

objectives and, in some case, some for evaluating the relevance of these
objectives and the instructional materials and activities based on them to the
language use need to the students following the program of instruction. For
these reasons, virtually all language teaching programs involve some testing,
and hence language teachers need to be able either to make informed
judgements in selecting appropriate language tests or to plan, construct, and
develop appropriate of their own.4

4
F.Lyle,Bachman & S.Adrian,Palmer.Language Testing In Practice: Designing and Developing Useful
Language Tests. Nwe York:Oxford University Press (1996). Hal.3-14
10
 B. Objective Test VS Subjective test

Subjective and objective are terms used to refer to the scoring of tests.
All test items, no matter how they are devised, require candidates to exercise
a subjective judgment. In an essay test, for example , candidates must think
of what to say and then express their ideas as well as possible; in a multiple-
choice test they have to weigh up carefully all the alternatives and select the
best one.

Furthermore, all tests are constructed subjectively by the tester, who

decides which areas of language to test, how to test those particular areas
and what kind of items to use for this purpose. Since objective tests usually
have only one correct answer, they can be scored mechanically. The fact that
objective tests can be marked by computer is one important reason for their
evident popularity among examining bodies responsible for testing large
numbers of candidates.

Objective tests require far more careful preparation than subjective

tests. Examiners tend to spend a relatively short time on marking. In an
objective test, testers spend a great deal of time constructing each test item
as carefully as possible, attempting to anticipate the various reactions of the
testees at each stage. The effort is rewarded, however, in terms of the
marking.

Objective tests are frequently criticized on the grounds that they are
simpler to answer than subjective tests. Difficulty of the items in an objective
test depends on the constructors’ wishes. That the items of objective tests
look easier is not sign of their simplicity

Another criticism leveled at objective tests of the multiple-choice type

encourages guessing. Anyhow, the possibility of guessing can be reduced by
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assigning four or five alternatives for each item. A much wider sample of
grammar, vocabulary and phonology can generally be included in an
objective test than in a subjective test. It is believed that objective tests
cannot test student’s ability to communicate and purposive use of language.
You must bear in mind that there are occasions when good objective test sof
grammar, vocabulary and phonology maybe useful; particularly in class
progress tests at certain levels.5

That the test objectivity by itself provides no guarantee that a test is

reliable and sound cannot be strongly stressed. An objective test will be a
poor test if:

 the test items are poorly written

 irrelevant areas and skills are emphasized in the test simply they are
testable; and

 it is confined to language-based usage and neglects the

communicative skills involved.

As already stated, the objective tests aren’t to test the ability to

communicate in the target language or evaluate the actual performance.
However, it is useful at this stage to consider multiple-choice items in some
detail, as they are undoubtedly one of the most widely used type of items in
objective tests.

Here are some objective items;

 true/false

5
Henning,Grant.A Guide To Language Testing: Development, Evaluation, and Research.Foreign
Language Teaching and Research Press (2001).Hal.4.
12
  matching

 multiple choice

 short answer

Called "objective" because highly specific, predetermined answers.

Objective in sense that given the same key, 10 different people could mark in
exactly the same way.

CHAPTER IV

CONCLUSION

Language Testing is the practice and study of evaluating the

proficiency of an individual in using a particular language effectively. The
purpose of Language testing to find out where students have difficulties
in a language course, to explore progress or to reflect how well the
13
students in learning a particular subject (students‘ achievement), and to give
a general idea about students‘ proficiency in the target language.

In developing tests, There are some misconception in language testing

Believing that there is one ‘best’ test for any situations, Misunderstanding the
nature of language testing and language development, Having unreasonable
expectations about what language test can do and what they should be, and
Placing blind faith the technology measurement.

The important to be component in Language testing can also be used

as a tool for clarifying instructional objectives and, in some case, some for
evaluating the relevance of these objectives and the instructional materials
and activities based on them to the language use need to the students
following the program of instruction.

REFERENCE

1. F.Lyle,Bachman & S.Adrian,Palmer.1996.Language Testing In

Practice: Designing and Developing Useful Language Tests.

New York:Oxford University Press.

2. Henning,Grant.2001.A Guide To Language Testing: Development,

14
 Evaluation, and Research.Foreign Language Teaching and
Research Press.

3. languagetesting.info/whatis/lt.html

4. Mcnamara & Roever’s,Carsten.2005.Language Testing: The Social

Dimension.Hawaii University.

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