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committee should also plan the types of tests, devising test item pools, pilot testing, details of the assessment implementation, recruiting and training the assessors, scoring
and data processing, and reporting protocols. If necessary, delegates from the assessment committee may visit potential test
sites in advance. They need to contact local community leaders as well as regional education officers to explain to them the purpose, procedures, and benefits of the
assessment. In this way, the delegates can gain their cooperation for the assessment. They may also want to contact central andor regional government agencies interested in
developing assessment instruments for the indigenous people groups of Nepal. Hopefully, they will be able to arrange for collaboration from these institutions as well. This kind of
collaboration could be the first significant step toward developing a national assessment instrument for the indigenous languages of Nepal.
5.2 Development of Language Specific Instruments
To facilitate literacy assessment for the Eastern Tamang Language Team, I have constructed an instrument, as presented in chapter 4, mainly in English mixed with
Eastern Tamang language in several sections. All the test items and instructions written in English will be rendered into the Eastern Tamang language and revised by the assessment
committee. Then the revised instrument will be printed for pilot testing. Hopefully, the instrument I have designed will serve as a model for the
development of similar literacy assessments in other indigenous languages of Nepal. However, this particular instrument is based on linguistic features of Eastern Tamang as
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well as the goals of the Eastern Tamang literacy program. For this reason, the instrument should not be merely translated but adapted to be linguistically and culturally appropriate
to each language context.
5.3 Piloting
Before the actual assessment is administered, some pilot testing needs to be planned and conducted to test the instrument and the assessment procedures. The pilot
test can be conducted in two villages with 20 – 40 participants at the end of the advanced
course. Any Eastern Tamang adults who want to take the assessment and check their literacy level can be included in the assessment population for the pilot testing as well as
the actual assessment implementation. This pilot test has the following objectives:
1 Test the validity of the assessment – how effectively does the assessment
measure the literacy skills that it intends to measure? Are there any test items too difficult or too easy?
2 Establish the appropriateness of the procedure of test administration – Is
the length of the tests proper or too long? Are the instructions of each test clear enough?
3 Test logistical issues –Does the facility provided for the assessment have
enough space and light? Are there enough desks and chairs for the test takers? Will the environment of the facility protect test takers from
disturbances? Are all test materials prepared well before the test, distributed at the right time during the test, and properly collected after the
test?
5.4 Finalization of Instrument
