The Background of Study

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CHAPTER II THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

A. Test

1. The Understanding of Test

Assessment is an activity done by teachers to obtain information about the knowledge, skills and attitude of students. This action can involve the collection of formal assessment data as an objective test or informal assessment data as observation checklist. 1 In doing the assessment, there is a long process in collecting, synthesizing and interpreting the information in which testing, measurement and evaluation take parts. A test is a method to measure the ability of a person in knowledge or performance in a given program. 2 A test is a formal, systematic procedure for gathering information. 3 A test also created as a device to monitor the development of the program, to diagnose the difficulties in the program and to measure the performance of the test taker in and at the end of the program. 4 Based on those opinion above, the writer conclude the test as a method to monitor the development of the program in teaching-learning process, diagnose the difficulties during and at the end of the program by measuring the ability of test taker intelligence both in knowledge and or performance. Test also helps the teacher to notice which students have the same level ability in some subject.

2. Kinds of Test

There are many kinds of test ranging from a diagnostic test, achievement test, proficiency test to aptitude test. The test that mainly directed with teaching 1 Colin Marsh, Becoming a Teacher: Knowledge, Skills and Issues, Frenchs Forest: Pearson, 2010, 5 th edition, p. 311 . 2 H. Douglas Brown, Language Assessment: Principle and Classroom Practice, San Francisco: Longman, 2003, p. 3. 3 Peter W. Airasian and Michael K. Russel, Classroom Assessment, New York: McGrawHill, 2008, 6 th edition, p. 9. 4 Sudaryono, Dasar-dasar Evaluasi Pembelajaran, Tangerang: Graha Ilmu, 2012, p. 102. material in the classroom called as an achievement test. Achievement tests have been created primarily to help teachers answer questions regarding the present status of pupils. 5 There are two categories of achievement test; formative and summative test. Formative evaluation takes place when the program is still in progress that implies that the students being taught could have benefits from insights gained. 6 Formative test is important since it can provide data so; the changing are possible to be made. Whereas, a summative test which at the same time is also called as terminal evaluation occurs at the end of the program when all of the experiences are being summed up. 7 A test like summative test, which is used in a larger group of students, is suitable for use norm-referenced test because the main purpose for this measurement is to compare the ability of each student with his or her classmates. 8 B . Item Analysis

1. The Understanding of Item Analysis

In teaching-learning process, teachers often refer on textbooks to make the information relevant and meaningful to their students. Instead of reading from the textbook provided by school, a teacher might use non-fiction books, movie, experiments, field trips and demonstrations to teach course content. It also goes when it comes to testing; tests that mainly taken from the textbook does not always include the knowledge in which students gain from outside experiences. Therefore, a teacher-made test should be used since it reflect what is taught in the class and fits better with the teaching methods that teacher use. With teacher-made tests, teachers can assess their student comprehension development. As mentioned above, teacher-made tests are intended to measure students mastery of subject matters that have been taught. The teacher-made test is a 5 John W. Wick, and Donald L. Beggs, Evaluation for Decision-Making in the Schools, Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1971, p. 79. 6 Desmond Allison. Language Testing and Evaluation: An Introductory Course. Singapore: Singapore University Press, 1999, p. 65. 7 Ibid. 8 Wick, op. cit., pp. 80-81. temporary test, means that it only applies to certain situations because it is likely that the items or the capacity of the students will change. 9 When a teacher creates his or her tests, she or he has a complete control over the format. However, it does not mean that a teacher made test is always perfect. In fact, teacher made test still needs to be revised. According to Dasar-dasar Evaluasi Pendidikan The Principles Basics for Evaluation in Education by Suharsimi Arikunto, there are four ways to check the quality of the test items, they are; by checking the clarity of questions, by doing item analysis, by checking the validity and the last is by checking reliability of the test. It is also written there “Item analysis is a systematic process, which provides specific information to the item test that teacher has constructed ”. 10 Meanwhile Ahmann and Glock states “Item analysis is reexamining each item test to discover its strength hand flaws. ” 11 From those two opinions, the writer concludes that item analysis is a systematic process in order to get specific information about the strength and flaws of the test item. An item analysis tells about three things; first is to know how difficult each item is, the next is to know whether or not the test items have ability to discriminate higher and lower students, and the last is to know whether or not the distracters have functions as they should. An analysis like this is used with any important exam – for example, review test and test given at the end of the school term or program. 12 Throughout item analysis, the teacher will get specific data about item flaws and provide information to improve the test item.

2. The Construction of Multiple-Choice Test Item

Multiple-choice test items are commonly used to review students learning. However, not all of the teacher in high school are know how to make a good 9 Zainal Arifin, Evaluasi pembelajaran: Prinsip, Teknik dan Prosedur, Bandung : PT. Remaja Rosdakarya, 2011, p. 120. 10 Suharsimi Arikunto, Dasar-dasar Evaluasi Pendidikan, Jakarta: Bumi Aksara, 1999, Edisi Revisi, p. 205. 11 J. Stanley Ahmann and Marvin D. Glock, Evaluating Pupil Growth, Boston: Allyn and Bacon, Inc. ,1967, 4 th edition, p. 184. 12 Harold S. Madsen, Techniques in Testing, Hongkong: Oxford University Press, 1983, p. 180.