Background of the Research

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CHAPTER II THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

This chapter presents some related theories about the topic of this research, including definition of test, definition of item analysis, types of the test item, types of the item analysis, purpose of the item analysis.

A. Test

1. Definition of The Test

There is an instrument which is used by teacher to evaluate the result of the students‘ learning that is a test. Test has important role in teaching, A test can measure what is supposed to measure can be valid. There are many experts state about the definition of the test. According to Rebecca M. Valette write that ―test is announced in advance and cover a specific unit of instruction, be it part of a lesson or several lesson. 1 In addition Norman Gronlund who writes ―test specifications that conclude a general description of the performance measured, a sample test item, the stimulus response attributes of the test items, and any supplementary specifications needed to delimit the eligible test content. ‖ 2 In addition criterion-referenced tests need to be much more detail that 1 item writers can prepare representative pools of congruent item and 2 test users can accurately comprehend the nature of the measure performance. 3 According some on definition above, it can be concluded that a test is procedure design to elicit score from which one can make inference about certain characteristics of individual. Through the score, Teachers get information and to measure the student‘s ability in process of learning and also discover of an individual‘s behavior. 1 Rebecca M. Valette, Modern Language Testing, New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc., 1977, p. 15. 2 N. E. Groundlund, Measurement and Evaluation in Teaching, USA: McMillan Publishing Company, 1985, p. 71. 3 Ibid 7 In addition, test has important role in teaching. Through testing, teachers, are able to discover the effectiveness of the instructional objective.

2. Types of The Language Test

There are four types of test to measure the ability of the student. According to Rebecca M. Valetta, there are four basic types of language tests: achievement test, proficiency test, progress test, and aptitude test. 4 a. Achievement Test Jeremy Harmer said that achievement test only work if they contain type which the students are familiar with. 5 Achievement test is a test which is designed to know how successful students have mastered the previous materials of a long period of course and whether they have achieved the educational objectives. The purpose of achievement test, as its name reflects, is to establish how successful individual students, group of students, or the courses themselves have been in achieving objectives of language courses. 6 In conclusion, Achievement test are much interconnected in what students have learned in classroom and then teachers will get information how well their students have reached instructional objectives determined in particular term or period. According to Anas Sudjiono, there are four types of achievement test: placement, formative, diagnostic, and summative test. 7 b. Placement Test The placement tests which are those constructed for particular situations. They depend on the identification of the key feature at different levels of teaching in the 4 Ibid., p. 5. 5 Jeremy Harmer, The Practice of English Language Teaching, Cambridge: Longman, 2007, p. 380. 6 Arthur Hughes, Testing for language Teachers, Cambridge: University Press, 1995, p. 10. 7 Anas Sudjiono, Pengantar About Language Assesment “Dilemas, Decisions, and Directions. ‖ Boston: ITP. International Thompson Publishing Company, 1998, p. 68. 8 institution. 8 Jeremy Harmer said that placing new student in the class in a school is facilitated by the use of placement test. Placing new student in the class in a school is facilitated by the use of placement test. Usually based n syllabuses and materials the students will follow and use once their level has been decided on, these test and vocabulary knowledge and asses students‘ productive and receptive skills 9 It describes the objective of the placement test is to know the style of the direction and the necessity of the pupil most in studying. The result of the test is able to be used to place the students at appropriate level with their ability. c. Formative Test According to Groundlund that: Tes formative adalah tes hasil belajar yang bertujuan untuk mengetahui, sudah sejauh manakah peserta didik ―telah terbentuk‖ sesuai dengan tujuan pengajaran yang telah ditentukan setelah mereka mengikuti proses pembelajaran dalam jangka waktu tertentu.‖ 10 From the statement above its purpose is to provide continuous feedback to both students and teacher concerning learning success and failure. Feedback to student provides reinforcement of successful learning and identifies the specific learning errors that are in need of correction. Feedback to the teacher provides information for modifying instruction and for prescribing group and individual remedial work. Formative evaluation depends heavily on specially prepared test provide direct measure of all of the intended learning outcomes of the segment. d. Diagnostic Test According to Anas Sudjiono states ―Tes diagnostik adalah tes yang dilaksanakan untuk menentukan secara tepat, jenis kesukaran yang di hadapi oleh para peserta didik dalam suatu mata pelajaran tertentu. ‖ 11 8 Hughes, op. cit., p. 14. 9 Harmer, op. cit., p. 379. 10 Anas Sudjiono, Pengantar About Language A ssesment: “Dilemas, Decisions, and Directions”, Boston: ITP. International Thompson Publishing Company, 1998, p. 71 11 Ibid., p. 70. 9 Diagnostic test can be used to expose learner in relation to a previously expose learner difficulties, gaps in their knowledge and skill deficiencies during a course. Thus, when we know what the problems are, we can do something about them. 12 It means the diagnostic test provide the information about plus and minus of the learners. In addition, Diagnostic test are used to identify students‘ strengths and weakness. 13 Diagnostic test is usually tested in the beginning of lesson, or in the middle of lesson. By using diagnostic test, the teachers are able to identify difficulties or weaknesses that students face in learning process so that they are able to formulate a plan to solve difficulties. e. Summative Test. Summative test is intended to measure s tudents‘ skill after they have finished all subject matter. It is used to administer at the end of a course of study. On his book, The Practice of English Language Teaching, Jeremy Harmer states that, ―Summative test is the kind measurement that takes place to round things off or make a one –off measurement. Such tests include the end-of-year tests that students take or the big public exams which many students enter for. 14 According to Groundlund states ―The last one is Summative Test, which designed to determine the extent to which the instructional objectives have been achieved and is used primarily for assigning course grades or certifying pupil mastery of the intended learning outcomes. 15 Summative tests can use as a problem-solving of the students, and to know how successful students has mastered a wide range of material within a certain period. The statement above means that a summative test is used to given to students after a specific point in instruction to measure their understanding of a subject. Examples of summative test: midterm, final exams and national 12 Harmer. loc. cit., 380. 13 Hughes, op . cit., p. 13. 14 Valette, op. cit., p. 11. 15 Groundlund, op. cit., pp. 12 —13.