The prediction of item difficulty in a listening test

The present study examined the construct validity of emphasis items in the listening section of Michigan English Language Assessment Battery by assessing the extent to which relevant factors were responsible for test takers' performance on the items. Three relevant variables were identified, and the item difficulties were regressed on these variables. The results showed that prosodic prominence was the only significant predictor of item difficulty, thereby supporting the interpretation that these items measure test takers' ability to process the meaning conveyed by prosodic aspects of test input. Alternative approaches to examining construct validity issues are briefly described

An exploratory study of the usefulness of foreign language tests in Korea

This paper examined the usefulness of widely used foreign language tests in Korea, focusing on their purposes. The analyses of secondary data showed that the tests are used for purposes for which they have not been validated, which call into question the appropriateness of interpretations test users make of test scores. The results also indicated that the reliability of test scores could be undermined because of test security violations. Finally, the lack of correspondence of test tasks and real life tasks also question the meaningfulness of the interpretations that test users make on the basis of test scores. Even though the present study was only exploratory in nature, its findings are hoped to contribute to an understanding of the usefulness of language tests for a given purpose

영어능숙도 평가도구로서의 규칙단어완성시험에 관한 연구

학위논문(석사)--서울대학교 대학원 :외국어교육과 영어교육전공,1997.Maste