32 one another. If we obtain sample test questions from several teachers which the
teachers tell us measure the same thing, and then perform straight RE on the samples, and then compare the resulting specs, we are using RE as a tool to determine
parallelism Nawal Ali, personal communication.
2.10.6. Spec-Driven Test Assembly, Operation and Maintenance
Spec-driven testing lends itself very well to higher-order organizational tools. Specs are, by their very nature, a form of database. We might develop a test of one hundred items, which in
turn is being driven by some ten to twelve specs. Each spec yields several equivalent items in the test booklet. When the time comes to produce a new version of the test, the specs serve
their classic generative role to help item writers write new questions. Over time, each spec may generate many tens of items, and from that generative capacity an item bank can be
built. The items are the records of the bank, and in turn, each item record can be linked to its spec. Over time, also, shared characteristics from one spec to another can be identified and
cross-linked; for example, the spec under production in this chapter uses inferential reading. Over time, the assembly and operation of a lest represents an investment by its
organization. Effort is expended, and there is a risk: that the value of the effort will outweigh the need to change the test. A kind of stasis becomes established - the stable, productive
harmony of an in-place test Davidson, 2004. Stasis yields archetypes, and that is not necessarily a bad thing. Well-established specifications which produce archetypes seem to
produce trust in the entire testing system, and from such trust many difficult decisions can be made. In placement testing for example, stasis helps to predict how many teachers to hire,
how many classrooms will be needed, how many photocopies to budget and a host of other logistical details - because the educators who run the test are so familiar with its typical
results.
www.eprints.undip.ac.id © Master Program in Linguistics, Diponegoro University
33 There may come a time at which members of the organization find themselves
frustrated. This test has been in place for years Why do we have this test? Why cant we change it? Grumbling and hallway complaint may reach a crescendo, and if funding is
available often it is not then finally, we are changing this test.
2.11.Curricullum 2013
Law No. 20 Year 2003 on National Education System states that the curriculum is a set of plans and arrangements regarding the purpose, content, and teaching materials and methods
used to guide the organization of learning activities to achieve specific educational goal. Based on this definition, there are two dimensions of the curriculum, the first is a plan and
setting the objectives, content, and material, while the second is the means used for learning,activities.
2.11.1. CharacteristicsofCurriculum2013
