Background of Study INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION

A. Background of Study

Evaluation is an important part of every teaching and learning experiences. It gives big contribution for the teaching and it provides an information about the students’ progress which can be used by the teachers to manage the learning task and students. As stated by Pauline Rea- Dicksin and Kevin Germain; “Evaluation is important for the teacher because it provides a wealth of information to use for the future direction of classroom practice, for the planning of courses and for the management of learning tasks and students.” 1 Evaluation also can be said as the process to make desirable decision toward teaching and learning based on the information that has been collected, synthesized, and reflected on. Lyle F. Bachman states “Evaluation can be defined as the systematic gathering of information for the purpose of making decision”. 2 Depending upon the decision being made and the information a teacher needs in order to inform that decision, testing often contribute to the process as the implementation of evaluation. Indeed, a test is one kind of evaluation instrument to collect data. “A test is defined as a systematic procedure for observing and describing one or more characteristics of a person with the aid of either a numerical scale or category system”. 3 In other word, a test measures a person’s ability or knowledge with a number of tasks or questions. According to Henning “. . . tests in general is to pinpoint strengths and 1 Pauline Rea and Kevin Germain, Evaluation, New York: Oxford University Press, 1992, p. 3 2 Lyle F. Bachman, Fundamental Considerations in Language Testing, Oxford; oxford University Press, 1990, p. 22 3 Anthony J . Nitko, Educational Test and Measurement, An Introduction, New York: Harcourt Brace Javanovich, Inc, 1983, p.6 1 2 weakness in the learned abilities of students”. 4 Teachers need to do the test because through the test they are able to find out the students’ achievement in mastering the lessons that have been taught and to evaluate the effectiveness of the method used and the teaching material. Rebecca M. Valette states, “…through tests the teacher can evaluate the effectiveness of a new teaching method, of a different approach to a difficult pattern, or of a new materials”. 5 To measure the students’ learning progress at school, a teacher commonly administers two kinds of test; formative test and summative test. The former test is held earlier than latter test which is held at the end of semester. Through both tests, a teacher can measure the students’ achievement level and the degree of how far the instructional objectives of learning be accomplished by them. For this reason, Gronlund states that; “Formative test is used to monitor learning progress during instruction. Its purpose to provide continuous feedback to both pupil and teacher concerning learning successes and failures ………..And summative test typically comes at the end of a course of instruction. It is designed to determine the extent to which the instructional objectives have been achieved and is used primarily for assigning course grades or for certifying pupil mastery of the intended learning outcomes”. 6 For getting accurate measures a test must have a good quality, because a good test doesn’t only influence the students learning, but also influences the teachers to improve teaching and learning process. JB. Heaton supports that “Test may be constructed primary as device to reinforce learning and to motivate the students’ performance in language” 7 . In addition, Lyle F. Bachman states also that “Test are often used for pedagogical purposes, either 4 Grant Henning, A Guide to Language Testing, U.S.A: Newbury House Publishers, 1987, p. 1 5 Rebecca M. Valette, Modern Language Testing, U.S.A; Harcourt Brace Javanovich, 1977, p. 5 6 Norman E. Gronlund, Measurement and Evaluation in Teaching 4 th edition, Macmillan; Publishing Company, 1976, p. 18 7 JB. Heaton, Writing English Language Test, New Delhi; Tata Mc. Graw-Hill Publishing Company, 1998, p.13 3 as a means of motivating students to study or as means of reviewing material taught”. 8 As the accuracy of a test result influences the motivation of students learning, so the test administered must reflect a good test. A good test is a test which has the criteria of validity, reliability, and practically. Beside that, it must has discriminating power and difficulty level. 9 A test can be valid if the test can measure what is supposed to measure. It can be reliable if the result of the test is the same even though the test administered to the same level students in the next time. And it can be practical if it is easy to do and administer. The matter, which is often forgotten by the teacher is the follow up of the test implementation pertaining to the test item it self. In fact, they do not criticize whether or not all items have fulfilled the criteria above. Therefore, it really required an analysis of the test items, that is namely “item analysis”. Through analyzing test item teacher can identify good item and the poor item and to differentiate between student who have done well and poorly. According to J. Stanley Ahmann and Marvin D. Glock, the purpose of doing item analysis is: “Re-examining each test item to discover its strengths and flaws is known as item analysis. Item analysis usually concentrates on two vital features; level of difficulty and discriminating power. The former means the percentage of pupils who answer correctly each item; the latter the ability of the test item to differentiate between pupils who have done well and those who have done poorly”. 10 8 Lyle F. Bachman, Fundamental Consideration in Language Testing, Toronto; Oxford University Press, 1990, p. 22 9 JB. Heaton, Writing English Language Test, New Delhi; Tata Mc. Graw-Hill Publishing Company, 1998, p. 152-156 10 J. Stanley Ahmann and Marvin D. Glock, Evaluating Pupil Growth, Principles of Tests and Measurements, Boston: Allyn and Bason, INC, 1967, p. 184 4 In addition Ngalim Purwanto states; “Tujuan Khusus dari item analisis adalah mencari soal tes mana yang baik dan mana yang tidak baik, dan mengapa item atau soal itu dikatakan baik dan tidak baik.” 11 The latest English summative test at MTs.Darul Ma’arif was held on June 19, 2009. According to pre-survey result during teaching practice at Mts. Darul Ma’arif , the writer was informed that in the occasion of second semester, the English teacher has never analyzed the test items, so that is difficult to say whether it is a good test or not. In addition, the test results show that the scores of the students’ are bad. Considering this fact, the writer is interested in making item analysis through the items of English summative test at MTs. Darul Ma’arif Jakarta, in the second term 20082009 academic year.

B. Limitation of the Problem