feedback to pupils and teacher”.
10
However, Hughes says that a formative test is as same as a progress achievement test because they are
administered to measure the students’ progress.
11
Similar with Wiersma and Stephen’s statement which explain that formative test happens in over
period of time and looks the students’ progress.
12
The other expert also defines that a formative test is made for improving instruction of the
course while the course is still in progress.
13
Thus, a formative test is a test which is used to alter or to improve and monitor learning progress toward the goals in the instruction of the course.
c. Diagnostic Test
Diagnostic test is administered for checking the abilit y of the students’
or the students’ difficulties in acquiring materials. As Gronlund defines that a diagnostic test is a test which is made not only for diagnosing
learning difficulty during the implementation of instruction, but also the whole process.
14
The other experts, Arthur defined “Diagnostic tests are used to
identify students’ strengths and weaknesses”.
15
While Brown claims “A diagnostic test is designed to diagnose particular aspects of language”.
16
From the definition above, the writer conclude that a diagnostic test is used for analyzing the difficulties of the students or the strength of the
students in some aspects of language at the starting or during the implementation of instruction.
10
Gronlund, op.cit., p. 125.
11
Arthur Hughes, Testing for Language Teachers, New York: Cambridge University Press, 1989, p.14.
12
William Wiersma and Stephen G. Jurs, Educational Measurement and Testing, Boston: Allyn and Bacon, Inc, 1990, p.19.
13
Airasian and Russell, loc.cit.
14
Gronlund,loc.cit.
15
Hughes,loc.cit., p. 15.
16
H. Douglas Brown, Second Edition, Teaching by Principles An Interactive Approach to Language Pedagogy, New York: Addison Wesley Longman, Inc, 2001, p. 390.
d. Placement Test
Placement test is the test that is arranged for measuring student’s ability in language and assigning
student’s major in an appropriate grade of educational organization. Moreover, Gronlund defines placement tests are
“pretests designed to measure 1 whether pupils possess the perquisite skills need to succeed in a unit or course or 2 to what extent pupils have
already a chieved the objectives of the planned instruction”.
17
Meanwhile, Hughes states “placement tests are intended to provide information that
will help to place students at the stage of the teaching program most appropriate to their abilities”.
18
The writer can conclude that placement test is a test which is held before the teaching program for getting information about students’ need
and placing students’ stage based on their ability.
B. The Criteria of a Good Test
The test that will be administered should have a good quality; it is important because it decides its result. Besides, the test should also well-constructed. A
well-constructed means that the test fulfills the criteria of a good test. If the test is good, its result will reflect the true information about the test-
takers’ achievement. There are three common criteria which always become a consideration to make
a good test for a test-maker based on Farhady in Coombe et al „s book
19
:
1.
Validity
Validity is the essential requirement or characteristic in a test. If the test does not have validity, it is not worth much; even, it has reliability.
20
Validity is also the most complex criterion of a good test which the test usually
17
Gronlund, loc.cit.
18
Hughes, op.cit., p. 16.
19
Christine Coombe, Peter Davidson, et al ed., The Cambridge Guide to Second Language Assessment, New York: Cambridge University Press, 2012, p. 37-43.
20
Ibid., p. 37.
