Standardizing
Language Tests and Item Banking through Item and Test Analysis
Suparmin
Evaluation is an integral part of teaching
and it is usually conducted by way of measurement using a test as its
instrument. As a means of evaluation, a test should be able to serve as a
common yardstick to measure the achievements and abilities of students from
different classrooms or schools. For this purpose, the test should be
standardized.The following paper discusses one method of standardizing tests,
that is through item and test analysis. First, the importance and the need for
standardization are discussed. Then two different techniques of item and test
analysis are presented. They are the “classical” item and test analysis
technique and the more recent item-response or latent-trait theory. After the
presentation, the two techniques are compared to find the advantage of one over
the other. Finally, a discussion of how item and test analysis results can be
used to develop a standardized test and to establish item bank follows.
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Suparmin. (2003, October). Standardizing language
tests and item banking through item and test analysis. Paper presented at
the 51st TEFLIN International Conference,
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