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tenses , quantity, connective etc
Pragmatic knowledge
Functional and sociolinguistic knowledge
write their idea into a growing range of sentences and passages
with appropriate meanings
2. Framework of Development of the Testing Instrument
The testing instrument being developed is the one to measure the written English competence of elementary school students of Indonesia.
Elementary school students, as it has been mentioned in the previous chapter, are considered
as young learners. There are two crucial aspects should be concerned deeply in
developing testing instrument for young learners: first, reading and writing are complicated language skills for young learners. Second, testing is kind of activity
which causes anxiety and nervousness to young learners. Therefore, the development of the testing instrument should be done to prioritize “motivation in
successful reading and writing”. A deep concern on the selection of the testing materials such as: topic test, design and layout of the testing instrument, time
allocation should be taken in accordance to the characteristics and needs of young learners.
It is discussed in the previous part that the researcher picks Post Modernism as the philosophy underlying the development of the testing which is intended to
make Indonesian young English learners more productive. Hence, the testing instrument to be developed should be the one which is suitable for Indonesian
young learners’ capacity. Therefore, the framework of development of the testing instrument will be as follows:
81 Formulating task characterization will underlie the development of testing
instrument which will be started with the selection of test materials, continued to the selection of test items typesformat, layout and design and ended up with the
selection of scoring system. Tasks’ characterization is formulated from the children’s characteristics and
needs. First, the cognitive characteristics and needs for children of age 10-12 are
ability to use simple logical systematic text paragraph of concrete subject or topic and ability to predict, hypothesize and classify. In relation to those characteristics
and needs, the tasks characterization is formulated as using concrete subject or topics and simple grammar. It is shown by the diagram bellow:
Figure 2.23. Framework of development of the testing instrument
Children’s characteristics and needs
1. Cognitive 2. Physical
3. Social-emotional: 4. Vulnerability:
5. Literacy:
Adjustment
Framework of development of testing instrument
1. Selecting test materials 2. Selecting test items types
format 3. Design and layout
4. Selecting scoring system
Tasks’ characterization
Language ability
Needs Non- language
ability
82
Second, the physical characteristics and needs of children of age 10-12 are
ability to circling, pointing and coloring pictures and ready for texts,. In relation to those characteristics and needs, the tasks characterization is formulated as using
colorful pictures and fun subjects or topics. It is shown by the diagram bellow:
Third, the social-emotional characteristics and needs of children of age 10-
12 are that they are sociable, sensitive and unstable, relatively calm, early independent but they have short span of attention. In relation to those
characteristics and needs, the tasks characterization is formulated as using colorful pictures and fun subjects or topics. It is shown by the diagram bellow:
Physical:
Ability to circling, pointing, and coloring pictures.
Ready for texts
Children’s characteristics and needs
Using colorful pictures fun subjects or topics
Task’s characterization
adjusted to
children’s characteristic and needs
Figure 2.24. Adjustment tasks’ characterization to children’s characteristics and needs:
cognitive aspect
Figure 2.25. Adjustment tasks’ characterization to children’s characteristics and needs:
physical aspect
Cognitive:
Ability to use simple logical systematic text paragraph of concrete
subject or topic.
Ability to predict, hypothesize and classify.
Ability to use simple grammar
Children’s characteristics and needs
Concrete subjects or
topics
Simple grammar
Task’s characterization
adjusted to
children’s characteristic and needs
83
Fourth, the Vulnerability characteristics of children of age 10-12 are that
they are sensitive, fragile, and dynamic. In relation to those characteristics and needs, the tasks characterization is formulated as using colorful pictures and fun
subjects or topics. It is shown by the diagram bellow:
Fifth, the characteristics and needs of children of age 10-12 in the aspect of
Literacy are that they are sensitive, fragile, and dynamic. In relation to those
characteristics and needs, the tasks characterization is formulated as using simple structured texts, colorful pictures and fun subjects or topics. It is shown by the
diagram bellow:
Social-Emotional:
Sociable, sensitive and unstable Relatively calm
Short span of attention Early independent
Children’s characteristics and needs
Figure 2.26. Adjustment tasks’ characterization to children’s characteristics and needs:
social-emotional aspect
Figure 2.27. Adjustment tasks’ characterization to children’s characteristics and needs:
vulnerability aspect
Using colorful pictures Using entertaining or fun
subjects or topics
Task’s characterization
adjusted to
children’s characteristic and needs
Using entertaining or fun subjects or topics
Using colorful pictures
Vulnerability:
Sensitive, fragile, and dynamic.
Children’s characteristics and needs Task’s
characterization adjusted
to children’s
characteristic and needs
84 The task characterization adjusted to the respective aspects of the children’s
characteristics and needs are summarized into two general aspects of the testing
area: the children’s ability and the children’s need. The children’s ability will
determine the selecting test materials, test items format and scoring system while the children’s needs will determine the layout and design. The diagram below
shows the tasks mapping that have been adjusted to the children’s characteristics and needs:
Literacy:
Ability to grab meanings of words and sentences
Ability to understand fiction and
non- fiction Early ability to express idea and
feeling into words and sentences Using simple structured
texts. Entertaining or fun and
familiar texts or topics.
Children’s characteristics and needs Task’s
characterization adjusted
to children’s
characteristic and needs
Figure 2.28. Adjustment tasks’ characterization to children’s characteristics and needs:
literacy aspect
84
ABILITY
1. Ability to use simple logical systematic text paragraph of concrete subject or
topic 2. Ability to use simple grammar
Ability to circling, pointing, and coloring
pictures
Ability to manage anxiety Using entertaining or
fun subjects or topics 1. Ability to grab meanings of words and
sentence 2. Ability to understand simple paragraph
3. Express idea and feeling into words and sentences
Ability to gain self confidence in learning
Using colorful pictures
TASK MAPPING adjusted to Elementary school Students’ Characteristics and Needs age 10-12
NEEDS LANGUAGE
NON- LANGUAGE
Ability to predict, hypothesize and classify
Figure 2.29. Tasks’ mapping adjusted to children’s characteristics and needs
85
2. The Development of the Preliminary Product
