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Date Posted: 17:07:37 04/17/07 Tue
Author: Thaís
Subject: Task One

Testing the Test

Are students being properly tested? And if they are, are they being correctly and justly scored? These are a couple of issues concerning the evaluation system nowadays, since most teachers are still attached to common examination practices. The proposal of testing the test before testing the students tries to solve this puzzle.

Translations, grammatical analysis, dictations, written compositions and objective tests are a few of these ‘antique’ and arguable techniques that put us on the verge of doubting and rethinking the main criteria of test judgment: validity and reliability.

According to Robert Lado, these two aspects can actually evaluate the evaluation based on its result, its performance. ‘Validity is the degree to which a test measures what it claims to measure’ (Lado, 169). For instance, a biology test is valid as long as it measures student’s proficiency on biology and not on Italian and vice versa. Thus, a dictation would not be valid as an oral test although it would show proficiency on spelling. Reliability, on the other hand, deals with even more direct results: the actual grades. ‘No matter how convincing a test may appear, if the scores obtained vary greatly without apparent reason, the test is unreliable’ (Lado, 169). For a test to gain the ‘reliability stamp’ it should result in a steady average of grades and not fluctuate much.

Not exclusively these two aspects should be taken into consideration, however. There are several different variables (much more subjective than the ones already presented, which makes them a lot harder to analyze) that can also influence results and performances – going from the test length to the student’s mood at the examination time.

With that said, it is conclusive that a test, just for being a test, is worthless. We should focus on the content instead of on the form, prioritizing ‘what’ in the place of ‘how’. That is why the application of these judgmental concepts, along with the analysis of other uncountable variables, is of extreme importance so that students really get what they truly deserve.

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