Proposal for Thesis Research in Partial

Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of

Doctor of Philosophy
Title: The Problem of Standardised Tests in Education.
Submitted by: Amina Berghout

Introduction

There are various assessment methods to assume students' learning styles; however, the
written examination is the only standard method utilised by any higher educational institution
for students' assessment. Exams and tests represent a crucial part of the educational system.
Students are judged based on their performance in exams and tests, determining their fate and
career. Zollar and Bed-Chain (1990) stated that the age is an age of test consciousness. “We
live in a test conscious, test-giving culture in which the lives of people are in part determined
by their test performance” (Sarason, 1959, p. 26).
For this reason, exams play a significant role in students' lives. They test how well learners
have understood key concepts, themes, and topics covered in their courses. They are also used
to assist teachers in comprehending the mental capacity of their students and rectifying their
shortcomings. Therefore, questions must be provided in accordance with the subject content
learned by students to fulfil learning objectives. However, designing questions is a challenging
step for the lecturer. Thus, Bloom's Taxonomy has become a standard reference for the
teaching and learning process used as a guide for producing exam questions. The types of
common questions encountered in exams are categorized into written questions, multiple
choice questions, open-ended questions, gap-filling questions, matching, evaluation, truefalse,
and short-answer questions. Students with different learning styles have different views on
such types of questions.

Literature Review
Researchers have studied evidence of bias in standardized tests only to conclude that tests
which are well designed and appropriately formed show no bias (Sattler, 1992: Valdes and
Figueroa, 1996). After extensive examination of factors such as item content, sequence,
structure, difficulty, factor solutions and predictions, researchers could not find a reason to
deem such tests as unreliable (Niesser et al., 1996; Sattler, 1992). However, this section
reviews literature, which questions the validity of standardized tests. Equal opportunities in
the classroom is crucial (Cummins, Brown, & Sayers, 2007). As classrooms become more
diverse, testing bias is becoming a bigger and bigger issue (Cummins et al., 2007). All
students should have equal opportunities to get remarkable scores on tests and to succeed. All
students have the right to equal opportunity so that they can prove what materials they can
surpass. However, it has been challenging to combat this issue in the education system
(Washington, 2001). Non-standardized assessment approaches are gaining acceptance but are
still used much less frequently than standardized measures (Washington, 2001).
 This literature section reviews the academic achievement gap when implementing
standardized tests. Testing and assessments play a significant role in most students’
educational careers as most students in the public school system take state-mandated
standardized tests. These tests serve as an overall academic assessment of the student,
teachers, school district, and curriculum (Simpson, 2016). Students appear to understand the
consequences of standardized testing for their schools, teachers, and administrators and often
feel pressure to perform well, likely due to the perceived importance and high-stakes nature of
standardized testing (Dutro & Selland, 2012; Harlen & Deakin Crick, 2003). There is much
emphasis placed on these tests for these students, and a lot depends on the scores students
receive (Simpson, 2016).
Research Questions
In the light of current literature, the study at hand seeks to answer the following questions:
What are the criteria that are taken into account when designing standardised tests?
What are the effects of standardised tests on students’ academic careers?
Do Standardised tests assess students’ higher-level thinking skills?
Research Hypotheses
The criteria taken into account when designing standardised tests are based on the lowest level
of thinking.
The effects of standardised testing on students are adverse.
Standardised tests do not assess students’ higher-level thinking skills.
The main concepts intended to examine
The concepts intended to examine in this study are the issue of assessment and standardised
testing in education.
Research Methodology
The method opted for to undertake this study is holistic in the sense that it describes the way
standardised tests affect students’ academic achievement and explores the methods that can
solve this problem, and for the data gathering tools, the case is to be administered
questionnaires. The sampling technique that is relevant to the case is a non-randomisation
purposive technique (only students with low marks are concerned).
Population and Sample
The study concerns students whose marks in standardised testing are below average.
Therefore, the sampling technique relevant to the case at hand is a non-randomisation
purposive technique (only students with low marks are concerned).
Data Gathering Tools
Since the case concerns only students whose marks are below average in standardised tests,
the case is to be administered questionnaires.
Expected Outcomes
The expected outcomes of this work will state that standardised tests are not the appropriate
method that can determine students’ accurate levels. Therefore, all teachers need to know how
to design appropriate tests that suit different types of learning. Hence, these outcomes will
assist instructors interested in the field of education develop suitable tests for different
learning styles.
References
Ebrahimi, M. R., & Khoshsima, H. (2014). On the association (s) between test anxiety and
emotional intelligence, considering demographic information; A case of Iranian EFL
University students. International Journal on Studies in English Language and Literature,
2(7), 147-157.
Turhan, N. S. (2020). Why Do Students Prefer Different Question Types?. International
Journal of Progressive Education, 16(3), 132-141.
Anderson, T. (2004). Towards a theory of online learning. Theory and practice of online
learning, 2, 109-119.
Davis, B. G. (2002). Quizzes, tests, and exams. University of California, Berkeley.
https://teaching. berkeley. edu/bgd/quizzes. html.
Kelly, M. (2019). School Testing Assesses Knowledge Gains and Gaps. ThoughtCo.
https://www. thoughtco. com/the-purpose-of-tests-7688.
Gard, K. (2020). Students' Attitudes Towards Standardized Testing: A Literature Review.