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subjects of study which are examined. National Examination is annually administered to students in the highest grade of an educational level in order to
pass a certain level of education and then to continue their study to the higher level of education. In senior high schools, National Examination is administered
to each majors; natural science, social science, and linguistics. National Examination is prepared by Department of Education which instructs groups of
teachers MGMP to make the test items. The test items for each region are different in order to avoid fraudulence which is carried out by the students.
Therefore, there are five types of National Examination year in 2012 administered to senior high schools in Yogyakarta and the types will be explained in chapter
four. This study deals with the five versions of English items of National
Examination year 2012 for senior high schools which were used in Yogyakarta. The test versions are A57, B69, C71, D32, and E45. The five test versions refers
to the reading section since the listening section of the National Examination year 2012 is available only in one version. This study is focused on the test items
which are administered to natural science and social science students.
4. Senior High Schools
There are two types of high schools in Indonesia, SMA senior high schools and SMK vocational high schools and the difference of both schools
lies in the school objectives. The school objectives of both high schools are different. SMA or senior high schools prepare students to study in universities
while SMK or vocational high schools prepare students to work on some certain
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jobs. Indonesian Government Regulation No. 291990 on secondary education asserts that students of secondary schools are prepared to
continue their education to the higher educational level. Then, the senior high schools are divided into three general levels namely first level class
10
th
, middle class 11
th
, and the last level class 12
th
. After senior high school students enter the 11
th
grade, they have to choose one of three majors, namely Natural Science, Social Science, and Linguistics. In the
relation to the Competence Standard and Basic Competence of natural science, social science, and linguistics; natural science and social science
have the same contents of Competence Standard and Basic Competence while linguistics
’ are different. Therefore, the tests for natural and social science are the same while the test items for linguistics are different.
According to the background of this study, the researcher only deals with senior high schools. The test items with which the researcher deals are the
test items for Natural Science and Social Science students in senior high schools.
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CHAPTER 2 REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
This chapter presents review of theoretical writings and research related to the study matter. Furthermore, this chapter helps the researcher to answer two
research questions. This part contains two major parts of the review of related literature namely theoretical description and theoretical framework.
A. Theoretical Description
1. Language Testing
Testing refers to the activity of testing individuals or things in order to reveal certain information. Besides revealing certain information, testing is
conducted to measuring one’s capability, knowledge or performance in a certain domain. It has an essential role in social lives and its function is to measure ability
in general or in specific objectives of a person McNamara, 2000. Furthermore, a test becomes an entrance at essential intercessor moment in education, for
instance if students are going to continue their study into a university, they have to pass certain tests like an achievement test and a university selection test. Since it
is a language test, the test is related to one’s skills in language use or to perform
language. Brown 2004 explains that performing language skills is able to be administered in form of speaking, writing, reading, or listening p.3. In its
development, the language test now simulates the real-life situations.
