9 2004. It means that tests should elicit complex cognitive thinking Lane, 2004.
Briefly, tests have to prompt various levels of thinking skills in order to reach the validity.
2. Ujian Nasional UN
UN, abbreviated from Ujian Nasional, is a high-stakes test which is administered in Indonesia. Stated in Permendikbud No. 97 tahun 2013, UN is an
instrument to measure and assess the standard competencies nationally in particular subjects. Moreover, UN is administered mainly by National Education
Standards Board BNSP. Based on POS Penyelenggaraan UN 2015, UN is annual program which is administered on the second semester every year; it is
about April to May. Considering UN is administered nationwide, it is exactly directed to students in Indonesia including Elementary School, Junior High
School, Senior High School, and Vocational School. The subjects which are tested in each level are different. For Junior High School students, there are four subjects
which are tested. They are Indonesian, Mathematics, Science, and English Bonawati, personal communication, October 21
st
, 2014. Thus, UN is an Education Department
’s program which is administered nationally to test students’ proficiencies of particular subjects they have taken in schools.
Regarding UN is a high-stakes test, it must be trustworthy in term of the validity. It means that the results of UN must be appropriate, meaningful and
useful in terms of the purpose Gronlund, 1998 as cited in Brown, 2004. The validity requires UN to prompt cognitively rich assessments which employs
various levels of thinking skills Lane, 2004.
10 After talking about UN, the next sub-point reviews the theories about
English language testing. In reviewing the theories, this research uses language testing theories by Brown 2004. Besides, this research involves other experts in
order to support Brown’s theories. To be more precise, the review is in the next sub-point.
3. English Language Testing
According to Brown 2004, pp. 3-4, a test is a method of measuring an individual
’s ability, knowledge or performance in a given domain. It means that a test represents how good someone’s ability, knowledge or performance in a
particular subject. For example, English is one of the subjects which are tested. English language tests measure
test takers’ abilities to perform English language skills, which are to read, listen, write or speak Brown, 2004, p. 3. Besides, an
English language tests measure test takers’ English language knowledge about
vocabulary items, grammatical rules, and rhetorical features in written discourse Brown, 2004, p. 3. Thus, English language tests
measures test takers’ English language abilities, knowledge or performances.
According to Brown 2004, p. 185, reading is a process of conveying meanings from the written words in order to gain information. Brown states,
“The written word continues in its function to convey information, to assume and
entertain us, to codify our social, economic and legal conventions…” 2004, p. 185. Moreover, there are four types of reading based on the tasks given namely
perceptive, selective, interactive and extensive reading Brown, 2004, p. 189.
