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

The Mechanics of Test

Construction
• 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.

What are Test Items?

• 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

The Skill Tested and the

Intellectual Skills Needed
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.

Phases of Evaluation
1) Planning
Essentials:
a. Goal
b. Format
c. Tasks

Stages of Test Construction

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

Planning
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.

Stages of Test Construction

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.

Design
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.
Stages of Test Construction