67 The answers to the research questions are in the form of indicators
mentioned in the blue-print for question no 1, and the blue-print of the testing instrument for question no. 2.
1. Elements of the Development
a. The Underlying Philosophy
As it has been mention in the previous chapter that as a building needs a foundation to make it strong and ‘safe’ to live at, a basis theory is also needed to
have an ideal system of education. Testing, as a parts of educational evaluation methods, also need a basis theory which so called philosophy. The philosophy of
education becomes important when educators recognize the need for thinking clearly about what they are doing and to see what they are doing in the larger
context -- how far they contributes to society. Educational philosophy is not only a basis for generating educational ideas, but also a basis for how to provide the
desired instruction, such as: instructional methodology or curricula and the evaluation methods being chosen. Therefore, when we want to formulate a right
testing method, a right educational philosophy as the underlying theory is also crucial.
Among the philosophies delivered by many philosophers, the researcher decides to choose the philosophy of Post modernism and Accountability which
emphazise more on the promoting equity - improving learners’ life quality in terms of both physiological needs and growth needs humanizing needs to help
learners be more productive , self-fulfilling and accountable.
68 The object of the testing instrument or the test takers are Indonesian Young
learner, in this case, is the English learners in the elementary schools starting from grade 4 up to grade 6. Using the theories as the underlying philosophy, the testing
instrument has a goal to guide the Indonesian young English learners to be individuals who are productive, confident and accountable.
It is mentioned in the previous chapter that effective testing instrument Mc Kay , 2007: 20 should be designed to ensure valid and fair information on the
students’ abilities and progress. A testing is valid if it measures what it is supposed to measure and it is fair when it provides meaningful and appropriate
information about students’ language use ability. The cost of making wrong decision as the result of wrong testing can be low stakes or high stakes in which
the former ones are relatively minor and relatively easy to correct, on the other hand, the last ones are likely to affect students’ lives and are difficult to
correct”Mc Kay, 2007: 20 . But most of wrong decisions are more high stakes than we think since many decisions that teachers and schools make have a
cumulative effect on students’ future. Therefore, the development of the testing instrument is done by considering the characteristics of the test takers—
Indonesian elementary school English learners.
b. The Characteristics of Elementary School English Learners.
