The predictive validity of the test would be the correlation between the test results and the ratings of their language ability in class.
2 Concurrent Validity
Concurrent validity is the comparison of the test scores with some other measure for the same candidates taken at roughly the same time as the test
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. Concurrent validity applies if data on the two measures
– test and criterion – are collected at or about the same time.
M. Ngalim Purwanto also said that if a test result has high correlation with the results of other measuring devices on the same field at the same time, it is said
that tests had concurrent validity.
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The other measure may be scores from a parallel version of the same test or from some other test; the candidates’ self-assessment of their language abilities;
or ratings of the candidate on relevant dimension by teachers, subject specialists or other informants.
A mechanism for ascertaining concurrent validity could follow a pattern such as the following: a new language test is administered to students in the
course for which the test is developed, and scores are recorded for each student. These scores are then compared to the criterion test grades or to teachers’ ratings.
If the individuals with the highest criterion test grades or teachers’ rating score
highest on the new test, and those with the lowest grades andor ratings on the test have also been rated lowest by the teachers, then it is highly probable that the new
test measures what it is designed to measure. The relationship of the two is a measure of concurrent validity.
d. Construct Validity
The difficulties of the students and also the test must be qualified in construct validity. Arthur Hughes states that a test, part of a test, or a testing
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William Wiersma Stephen G. Jurs, Educational Measurement …, p. 191.
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J. Charles, et.al, Language Test Construction …, p. 177.
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M. Ngalim Purwanto, Prinsip-prinsip dan Teknik Evaluasi Pengajaran, Bandung: PT. Remaja Rosdakarya, 2010, p. 138.
technique is said to have construct validity if it can be demonstrated that it measures just the ability or trait, which it is supposed to measure.
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The word „construct’ above refers to any underlying ability or traits, which is hypothesized
in a theory of language ability. One might hypothesize, for example, that the ability to read includes a number of sub-abilities, such as the ability to find out the
main idea of a text. Determining construct validity involves both logical and mathematical
operations. There are several steps in determining it. The first step is to decide what traits or abilities are being tested and then to deduce what sorts of behaviors,
abilities, or achievements would be typical of people who possess a lot of the traits but would be unusual among people with little of trait.
The next step is to decide on some behavior, ability or achievement that would be unrelated to the trait one is trying to measure. The mathematical
operation is to correlate test scores with the hypothetically related behavior and the hypothetically unrelated behavior. Construct validation is demonstrated when
the hypothetical relationships are shown by the correlations; that is, the correlation between the test and the related behavior is high, but the correlation between the
test and the unrelated behavior is low.
C. Curriculum
1. The understanding of Curriculum
The understanding of curriculum in narrower sense: curriculum is one of those terms, like communicative, authentic and many others in teaching, that are
used in a confusing variety of senses.
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Arthur Hughes, Testing for …, p. 31.
