information for modifying instruction and for prescribing group and individual remedial work.
11
3. Diagnostic Test
Diagnostic test is intended to diagnose learning difficulties during instruction. Thus, it is concerned with the persistent or recurring learning
difficulties that are left unresolved by the standard corrective prescription of formative evaluation.
12
Diagnostic test is used to identify learners‟ strengths and weaknesses. It is intended primarily ascertain what learning
still needs to take place.
13
4. Summative test
Summative test typically comes at the end of a course or unit 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 certifying pupil mastery of the intended learning outcomes.
14
3. The Characteristic of a Good Test
A test can be regarded as a good one, if it has three characteristic; those are validity, reliability, comprehensiveness, and practicality.
15
William said “Validity is the extent to which a test measure what is intended to measure”.
16
Tests and other evaluation instruments serve a variety of uses in the school, but before
teachers use test information, they should be confident that the test actually measure something and what it measures is relevant to the use they intend to make
of the information. To be relevant, a test must first consistently measure something. Therefore, teachers must examine both the consistency and relevancy
11
N.E. Groundlund, Measurement and Evaluation in Teaching, p.18
12
Tinambunan. loc.cit.
13
Athur Hughes, Testing for Language Teacher, Great Britain: Cambridge Univercity Press.,1995, p. 15
14
N.E. Groundlund, Measurement and Evaluation in Teaching, p. 7
15
Mary Finocchiaro and Sydney Sake, Foreign Language Testing, p. 15
16
William Wiersma and Stephent G Juts, Educational Measurement and Testing , Boston:Allyn and Bacon, 1990, p.183
of an instrument before they use the resulting information. A classroom test should be both consistent and relevant.
17
Validity refers to the extent to which the results of an evaluation procedure serve the particular uses for which they are intended. If the results are to be used
to describe pupil achievement, teachers should like them to represent the specific achievement they wish to describe or to represent all aspects of the achievement
they wish to describe. If the results are to be used to predict pupil success in some future activity, they should like them to provide as truthful an indication of future
success as possible.
18
Test validity is the most critical factor to be judged in the total program of foreign language testing. A test is valid when it measures effectively what is
intended to measure. For example, if a test is designed to measure aural comprehension, it must do exactly this and not attempt to measure another skill
such as reading comprehension. There are some different ways, in which validity can be established. Most
writers differ from each other in approaching and classifying validity. For the more detailed explanation of validity, the writer will discuss in the next
subchapter. The second characteristic of a good test is reliability. Reliability or stability of
a language test is concerned with the degree to which it can be trusted to produce the same result upon repeated administration to the same individual or to give
consistent information about the value of a learning variable being measured.
19
Therefore, to be considered reliable, a language test must obtain consistent result and give consistent information.
The third characteristic of a good test is practicality. Practicality means that test should be practical in administrating it. The criteria for practicality normally
17
Wilmar Tinambunan, Evaluation of Student Achievement, p. 11
18
Ibid.
19
Mary Finocchiaro and Sydney Sake, Foreign Language Testing, p. 28
