2. • Standardized tests have their
origin in China in 1880 to their use
in the First World War in the United
States.
• It emphasizes that these tests
have evolved to assess various
areas, from driver's licenses to
academic admissions.
2
Standardized Tests Designing
3. 3
Advantages Disadvantages
Homogenization through Standardized Testing:
Standardized tests aim to establish a comprehensive and
consistent assessment of students' knowledge.
Student-Related Reliability in Standardized Testing: The
reliability of standardized tests is significantly influenced by
student-related factors such as anxiety, test-taking skills, and
fatigue.
Facilitating Comparability and Accountability: Standardized tests
provide a unified perspective on students' abilities, allowing
educators to reliably assess and compare their performance.
Washback Effect on Academic Programs: The concept of the
washback effect is introduced, emphasizing its impact on
academic programs.
Mapping Differences Among Individuals: Standardized testing
also serves to identify and map variations among tested
individuals. Statistical tendencies derived from the data can be
analyzed in terms of diverse social factors.
Concerns About Standardized Test Conduct: This alignment is
seen as a source of discrimination, evident in statistical scales that
differentiate students based on percentiles. The passage suggests
a bias in the design of questions, raising questions about the
fairness of subject tests.
Addressing Inconsistencies and Irregularities: The data collected
from standardized tests highlight inconsistencies in students'
performance.
4. PURPOSEOFOBJECTIVEOF
STANDARDIZEDTESTS
The main objective of the standardized testing
movement has been to facilitate the comparison of
competencies and aptitudes among individuals with
diverse educational backgrounds. standardized tests
provide reliable and valid information, allowing for
benchmarkdiscussionsthattranscendtestlocations.this
enables comparisons among institutions and, notably,
amongstudentsinvariousknowledgeareas.teachersuse
this data to implement strategies for enhancing student
achievement.
4
5. Prompt attribute
(PA)
A detailed description of
what is to be tested, to
convey the purpose and
motivation of the test
Response
attribute (RA)
This describes what the
test taker will do; this
may be a selected (e.g.,
multiple-choice selection
of an option or
constructed response
(elaborate writing
assignment).
Sample item (SI)
This provides a
manifest example of
the three previous
sections and “brings
to life” (Davidson &
Lynch, 2000, p.26) the
three previous
components.
TestSpecifications
5
The author emphasizes three key bases for consideration in creating standardized tests: accurate representation
of a specific knowledge domain, essential benchmarks in the format and scoring mechanisms, and consistent
testing conditions for fair and comparable results.
General
description (GD)
It is this ”stimulus” that
triggers the response
that is to be measured
(also titled prompt
stimulus)
Specification
supplement (SS)
This may require extra
information about the types
of text that are to be
selected, or other
information which would
make other sections too
bloated.
6. Multiplechoiceexams
• While item-based tests, such as multiple-choice
exams and essay questions, may be perceived
as somewhat shallow and lacking in depth to
assess students' mastery of content, they offer
advantages in terms of ease of grading.
• The choice of using multiple-choice exams
should be justified by specific reasons,
particularly when assessing the recall of
information or facts that constitute the core of
the content studied.
EssayQuestions
• Essay questions, in contrast to multiple-
choice exams, are designed to showcase a
comprehensive understanding of a specific
topic and to evaluate students' critical
thinking skills, including organization,
creativity, and information management.
Design,selectandarrangetestitems
We must recognize the importance of the arrangement, design, and selection of test items in the development
of classroom examinations. This phase is emphasized for its crucial role, not only in shaping the test but also in
providing students with insights into its design, allowing them to strategize their approach to the overall test.
6
7. When reporting Z-scores it is
considered a scale ranging from -
4 to 4. The more-closed scores to
4 entails above average and the
more-closed scores to -4
represent below average. Zero
plays as the core average
(Logsdon, 2020)..
This sort of scores are ranged
within intervals. The scale for
each intervals goes from 10 up
to 90 points wherein the
average of the scale is placed on
fifty and the average scores are
found usually between 40 and
60 (Logsdon, 2020).
Percentiles in a report format group
students' performance to enable
comparison with others who were tested.
If a student scored at the 50th percentile,
it means their performance is equivalent
to that of 50 percent of students of the
same age.
Percentiles Z-Scores T-Scores
Reportingformats We can define the process of communicating assessment and evaluation
results to various audiences, is a crucial stage in standardized testing. The
importance of reporting lies in its role as the final step in the assessment
process, where results need to be communicated formally, clearly, and
objectively to different stakeholders, including students, parents/guardians,
teachers, administrators, and other relevant parties.
7
8. DesignClassroomlanguagetests
• The foundational principles for designing classroom
language tests, as outlined by Brown (2004) and Koç
(2020), can be broken down into five key aspects. These
aspects are crucial as students progress through solving
the test items. Notably, the arrangement of items should
be practical, and the scoring process should provide
minimal feedback to the students.
Among the varying language tests, they fall into five
widespread types:
• Language aptitude tests
• Language proficiency test
• Placement tests
• Diagnostic tests and
• Achievement test
8
9. • The existence of various language reading tests
is acknowledged, and a commonality among
them is highlighted. Firstly, these tests feature
tasks designed with a specific purpose for
reading during assessment. Secondly, the
assessment of reading should consider students'
proficiency levels in conjunction with their age.
These considerations are integrated into different
approaches to assessing reading, including
classroom assessment, informal assessment,
alternative assessment, and standardized
assessments, according to Grabe (2009).
9
ReadingTest
10. Standardized tests like TOEFL or
IELTS, despite their broad scope,
have limitations in assessing
language use, except for the
speaking part to some extent. This
implies that language use tests
should focus more on sociocultural
factors, such as those addressed in
sociopragmatics testing or
pragmalinguisticstesting.
10
USE OFLANGUAGE TEST Two prominent types of listening tests
address this issue. Proficiency tests
evaluate comprehensive listening
competence,guidinglearnerstosuitable
coursesbasedontheirlevels.Large-scale
standardized tests like TOEFL or IELTS
aim to establish a common scale for
result comparison, ensuring uniform
assessment conditions irrespective of
testlocation.
LISTENING TEST
Standardized tests, such as Cambridge
examinations, typically structure the
speaking section into four parts, each
progressively more challenging. Part
one addresses personal information
questions,parttwoinvolvescomparing
random pictures while answering
related questions, part three requires a
collaborative discussion with a partner
candidateonvarioustopics,andinpart
four, candidates tackle more complex
questions, elaborating further on their
arguments.
SPEAKING TEST
WRITING TEST
In the context of L2 writing testing or large-
scale standardized testing, the descriptors
cover a wide range of topics and include
various fixed formats such as essays, reports,
letters,emails,reviews,andproposals.Scoring
benchmarks for each piece of writing are
comprehensive, with a scale going up to
twenty points for each, totaling forty points
assessedduringtheentirewritingpart,atleast
inthecaseofCambridgeexaminations.
