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  A STUDY ON CONTENT VALIDITY OF THE ASSESSMENTS PREPARED BY PRACTICE TEACHING STUDENTS A SARJANA PENDIDIKAN THESIS Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements to Obtain the Sarjana Pendidikan Degree in English Language Education

  By Matius Teguh Prasetyo

  Student Number: 061214104

ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM DEPARTMENT OF LANGUAGE AND ARTS EDUCATION FACULTY OF TEACHERS TRAINING AND EDUCATION SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY YOGYAKARTA

  A Sarjana Pendidikan Thesis on

  

A STUDY ON CONTENT VALIDITY OF THE ASSESSMENTS

PREPARED BY PRACTICE TEACHING STUDENTS

  By Matius Teguh Prasetyo

  Student Number: 061214104 Approved by

  Advisor Date

  th

  Made Frida Yulia, S.Pd., M.Pd. January 20 , 2012

  A Thesis on

  

A STUDY ON CONTENT VALIDITY OF THE ASSESSMENTS

PREPARED BY PRACTICE TEACHING STUDENTS

  By Matius Teguh Prasetyo

  Student Number: 061214104 Defended before the Board of Examiners on February 1

  st

  , 2012 and Declared Acceptable

  

Board of Examiners

  Chairperson : Caecilia Tutyandari, S.Pd., M.Pd. __________________ Secretary : Drs. Barli Bram, M.Ed. __________________ Member : Made Frida Yulia, S.Pd., M.Pd. __________________ Member : Agustinus Hardi Prasetyo, S.Pd., M.A. __________________ Member : Caecilia Tutyandari, S.Pd., M.Pd. __________________

  Yogyakarta, Faculty of Teachers Training and Education

  Sanata Dharma University Dean

  

STATEMENT OF WORK’S ORIGINALITY

  I honestly declare that this thesis, which I have written, does not contain the work or parts of the work of other people, except those cited in the quotations and the references, as a scientific paper should.

  st

  Yogyakarta, February 1 , 2012 The Writer

  Matius Teguh Prasetyo 061214104

DEDICATION PAGE

  This thesis is dedicated to Bapak, Ibu, Tyas, Andre, Sr. Natalia, Op., the big Family of Bu Irni, Oyo, and the future before me.

  

LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN

PUBLIKASI KARYA ILMIAH UNTUK KEPENTINGAN AKADEMIS

  Yang bertanda tangan dibawah ini, saya mahasiswa Universitas Sanata Dharma: Nama : Matius Teguh Prasetyo Nomor Mahasiswa : 061214104

  Demi pengembangan ilmu pengetahuan, saya memberikan kepada perpustakaan Universitas Sanata Dharma karya ilmiah saya yang berjudul:

  

A Study on Content Validity of the Assessments

Prepared by Practice Teaching Students

  beserta perangkat yang diperlukan (bila ada). Dengan demikian saya memberikan kepada perpustakaan Universitas Sanata Dharma hak untuk menyimpan, mengalihkan dalam bentuk media lain, mengelolanya dalam bentuk pangkalan data, mendistribusikannya secara terbatas, dan mempublikasikannya di internet atau media lain untuk kepentingan akademis tanpa perlu meminta ijin dari saya maupun memberikan royalti kepada saya selama tetap mencantumkan nama saya sebagai penulis. Demikian pernyataan ini saya buat dengan sebenarnya Dibuat di Yogyakarta Pada tanggal : 20 Januari 2012 Yang menyatakan, Matius Teguh Prasetyo

  

ABSTRACT

  Prasetyo, Matius Teguh. (2012). A Study on Content Validity of the Assessment

Prepared by Practice Teaching Students. Yogyakarta: Sanata Dharma University.

  An assessment in an instruction is purposed to obtain the information about the students’ progress and mastery during or at the end of the instruction. The information should be valid and should represent the true condition of the students. Therefore, the assessment applied by the teachers should be valid and able to represent the intended outcomes the students should perform or master.

  Based on the concept above, the writer was interested to conduct a study about the validity of the assessment, especially the content validity. The writer formulated two research questions, namely 1) how is the content validity established by Practice Teaching students in their assessments? and 2) what are the problems which influence the degree of content validity of the Practice Teaching Students’ assessments?

  In order to answer those questions, the writer conducted a qualitative study, namely document analysis. The documents were the lesson plans along with some assessments prepared for the lesson plan by the Practice Teaching students. The document analysis aimed at showing how the Practice Teaching students established content validity in their assessments, the process was called content validation. The respondents were five randomly chosen Practice Teaching students of ELESP Sanata Dharma University in academic year of 2010/2011. The analysis was done by comparing the instructional content which was specified to some specific objectives with the intended result or the content of assessments. The analysis was also done to obtain the information about the problems which influence the content validity degree of the respondents’ assessments.

  From the analysis, the respondents established some assessments which were valid based on the principle of content validity of assessment but they differed in their degree of content validity. The findings showed that the respondents established high, moderate, and low content validity. The problems which influenced the content validity degree of the respondents’ assessments were 1) the objective formulations were not clear and ambiguous, 2), there were too many objectives in an instruction for a single content, 3) the assessments did not measure all the objectives stated, 4) the assessments’ tasks or procedures did not represent the intended skills, and 5) the intended result of the assessments had little correlation with the content of the instruction. In order to overcome the problems, the writer proposed some possible recommendations, namely 1) producing well planned lesson plan and assessments, 2) stating clear and unambiguous content and objectives, 3) not formulating too many objectives for a lesson, 4) considering the four basic English skills in the assessments, and 5) improving and updating the knowledge about assessment by reading books or any other sources.

  

ABSTRAK

  Prasetyo, Matius Teguh. (2012). A Study on Content Validity of the Assessment

  

Prepared by Practice Teaching Students. Yogyakarta: Universitas Sanata

Dharma.

  Sebuah asesmen dalam proses pembelajaran dimaksudkan untuk mendapatkan informasi tentang kemajuan dan pemahaman siswa selama atau pada akhir proses pembelajaran. Informasi yang didapat dari asesmen tersebut haruslah valid dan dapat mewakili kondisi nyata siswa. Oleh karena itu, asesmen yang diaplikasikan oleh guru harus valid dan dapat merepresentasikan hasil yang seharusnya dicapai atau ditunjukkan oleh siswa.

  Berdasarkan konsep di atas, penulis tertarik untuk melaksanakan sebuah penelitian tentang validitas dari sebuah asesmen, terutama pada validitas isi. Penulis merumuskan dua pertanyaan dalam penelitian ini, yaitu 1) bagaimana validitas isi ditampilkan oleh para mahasiswa yang sedang menjalani Praktik Pengajaran Lapangan (PPL) dalam asesmen mereka? dan 2) apakah masalah yang mempengaruhi tingkat validitas isi dari asesmen para mahasiswa PPL tersebut?

  Untuk menjawab pertanyaan-pertanyaan tersebut, penulis melaksanakan sebuah penelitian kualitatif, yaitu analisis dokumen. Dokumen yang dimaksud adalah beberapa Rencana Pelaksanaan Pembelajaran (RPP) bersama dengan asesmen yang disiapkan untuk RPP tersebut yang dibuat oeh mahasiswa PPL. Analisis dokumen dimaksudkan untuk menunjukkan bagaimana para mahasiswa PPL menampilkan validitas isi dalam asesmen mereka, proses ini disebut dengan validasi isi. Responden dalam penelitian ini adalah lima orang mahasiswa PPL Universitas Sanata Dharma yang dipilih secara acak pada tahun ajaran 2010/2011. Analisis dilakukan dengan cara membandingkan isi pembelajaran yang dibagi dalam beberapa tujuan pembelajaran dengan hasil yang diharapkan atau isi dari asesmen. Analisis juga dilakukan untuk mengetahui tentang masalah-masalah yang mempengaruhi tingkat validitas isi dari asesmen para responden.

  Dari analisis yang dilakukan, para responden membuat beberapa asesmen yang valid berdasarkan prinsip validitas isi dari sebuah asesmen tetapi mereka berbeda dalam tingkatannya. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa para responden menampilkan asesmen yang mempunyai validitas isi tinggi, sedang, dan rendah. Masalah-masalah yang mempengaruhi tingkat validitas isi dari asesmen para responden adalah 1) formulasi tujuan pembelajaran tidak jelas dan ambigu, 2) ada terlalu banyak tujuan pembelajaran untuk sebuah isi dalam sebuah proses pembelajaran, 3) asesmen yang dibuat tidak mengukur semua tujuan pembelajaran, 4) prosedur dari asesmen tidak mewakili keterampilan yang diharapkan, 5) isi dari asesmen hanya memiliki sedikit korelasi dengan isi dari pembelajaran. Untuk mengatasi masalah tersebut, penulis menawarkan beberapa solusi, yaitu 1) membuat RPP dan asesmen yang terencana dengan baik, 2) menuliskan tujuan pembelajaran yang jelas dan tidak ambigu, 3) tidak dan selalu memperbaharui pengetahuan tentang asesmen melaui buku atau sumber-sumber yang lain. Kata kunci: isi, tujuan pembelajaran, validitas isi, dan validasi isi

  

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  My biggest gratefulness and never-ending gratitude go to my faithful companions, Lord Jesus Christ and Mother Mary, for endowing me with splendid blessings and love.

  I would like to express my deepest and sincere appreciation to my sponsor, Made Frida Yulia, S.Pd., M.Pd. Her enduring guidance and valuable suggestions have given influential contributions to this thesis. I am greatly indebted to the lecturers of Language Learning Assessment subject, Agustinus Hardi Prasetyo, S.Pd., M.A., and Veronica Triprihatmini, S.Pd., M.Hum., M.A., who have helped me evaluate my analysis and to all lecturers who have shared their knowledge and advice which were beneficial for me in finishing this thesis. I would like to thank Jatmiko Yuwono, S.Pd, who has read and evaluated my thesis during his busy time.

  Sincere thanks are also expressed to my respondents, five Practice Teaching students of 2010/2011 academic year, who have given me permission to copy and analyze the Lesson Plan and Assessments they made during their Practice Teaching period.

  Profound thankfulness is addressed to my beloved parents, Bapak Florentinus Heriana Sukardi and Ibu Yohana Elisa Suryanti Purwaningsih, for their magnificent love, support, and care; to my sister, Bernadeta Tyas Puji Utami, whose hard work always seems admirable to me; to my little brother, Andreas Sulistyo Nugroho, for always inspire me to be a good example for him; and to all toward Sr. Natalia, OP and the big family of Pak Anwar and Bu Irni; without their help in affording my study, I would never have the chance to study in university.

  My special indebtedness goes to the big family of F. Aldhika Deinza Saputra, who have given me a place to stay and finish my thesis.

  I would like to express my thankfulness to all teachers in SMA and SMK Dominikus Wonosari and SD N Sedono for the beautiful moment and experiences I could get during my work there. The knowledge I get from my study is nothing without some places to apply. I know more about being a teacher from my experiences there. I would like to thank them for their encouragement and motivation for me to finish my thesis.

  I would also like to thank Vincensia Retno Woro Purwaningsih for being my number-one supporter. Her love, patience, support and prayers have poured inspirations upon my days. At last, I would like to thank all friends and people whose names cannot be mentioned one by one. I thank them all for lending me a hand in finishing this thesis.

  Matius Teguh Prasetyo

  

TABLE OF CONTENTS

  TITLE PAGE…… ........................................................................................... i APPROVAL PAGES ....................................................................................... ii STATEMENT OF WORK’S ORIGINALITY ................................................ iv DEDICATION PAGE ...................................................................................... v

  LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI KARYA ILMIAH

UNTUK KEPENTINGAN AKADEMIS ........................................................... vi

  ABSTRACT …….. ......................................................................................... vii

  

ABSTRAK ........................................................................................................ viii

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................. x TABLE OF CONTENTS ................................................................................. xi LIST OF TABLE ............................................................................................ xv LIST OF FIGURES ......................................................................................... xvi LIST OF APPENDICES .................................................................................. xvii

  CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION A. Research Background ........................................................................ 1 B. Problem Formulation ......................................................................... 5 C. Problem Limitation ............................................................................ 5 D. Research Objectives ........................................................................... 7 E. Research Benefits............................................................................... 8 F. Definition of Terms............................................................................ 10 CHAPTER II. REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE A. Theoretical Description ...................................................................... 12

  1. Assessment ................................................................................. 12

  a. The Definition of Assessment ............................................ 12

  b. Types of Assessment .......................................................... 16

  2. Methods of Assessments ............................................................ 19

  2. Documents .................................................................................. 36

  2. Content Validity of the Respondents’ Documents ................... 50

  c. Tense-based Content ........................................................ 49

  b. Expression-based Content ................................................ 48

  a. Text-based Content ........................................................... 47

  1. Determining the Instructional Content .................................... 44

  CHAPTER IV. RESEARCH RESULTS AND DISCUSION ........................ 42 A. Establishing Content Validity in Assessments .................................. 42

  F. Research Procedure ............................................................................ 39

  E. Data Analysis Technique .................................................................. 37

  D. Data Gathering Technique ................................................................. 37

  1. The Researcher as the Research Instrument ............................... 36

  3. Principles of Language Assessment .......................................... 20

  CHAPTER III. METHODOLOGY ................................................................. 34 A. Research Method .............................................................................. 34 B. Research Participants ........................................................................ 35 C. Research Instruments ....................................................................... 36

  B. Theoretical Framework ..................................................................... 31

  b. Instructional Goals and Objectives ...................................... 28

  a. Definition and Process ........................................................ 27

  4. Content Validation ...................................................................... 26

  e. Washback ............................................................................ 26

  d. Authenticity ........................................................................ 26

  c. Validity ............................................................................... 21

  b. Reliability ........................................................................... 21

  a. Practicality .......................................................................... 20

  a. High Content Validity Assessment ................................... 50

  c. Low Content Validity Assessment .................................... 58

  B. Problems in Producing Content Valid Assessment .......................... 64

  1. Problems Influencing the Content Validity Degree of the Assessment .............................................................................. 65

  2. Possible Recommendation to Overcome the Problems ........... 68

  CHAPTER V. CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS ............................... 71 A. Conclusions ....................................................................................... 71 B. Suggestions ....................................................................................... 74 REFERENCES ................................................................................................ 77 APPENDICES ................................................................................................ 79

  LIST OF TABLE

  Table Page

Table 2.1 Norm-referenced and Criterion-referenced Differences ............... 18

  LIST OF FIGURES

  Figure Page

Figure 2.1 Test, Assessment, and Teaching ................................................... 15Figure 2.2 The Purpose of Instructional Goals and Objectives .................... 30

LIST OF APPENDICES

  Appendix A The Sample of Respondents’ Documents ............................................... 80

  Appendix B The Complete Analysis of the Content Validity of the Assessments Prepared by Practice Teaching Students .................................................. 105

  Appendix C H.D. Brown’s Lists of Microskills and Macroskills of the Four Basic Language Skills ........................................................................................ 135

  Appendix D The Categorization of the Degree of Content Validity of Assessment .... 139

CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION This chapter consists of research background, problem formulation, problem limitation, research objectives, research benefits, and definition of terms. A. Research Background Assessment is a part of teaching and learning activity. Teaching and

  learning activity includes not only lecturing, discussing, or explaining, but also it includes the ability to assess students’ progress and achievement in learning activity. According to Wiggins (1998), the main purpose of assessment is to “educate and improve the students’ performance, not merely to audit it.” Therefore, the assessment is prepared to help the teachers educate and improve students’ performance (p. 7). The notion is supported by Siddiek (2010) that “assessment is the responsibility of teachers and administrators not as mere routine of giving marks, but making real evaluation of learners’ achievements (p.

  133).” Cliff (1981, p. 17) as cited by Siddiek (2010) also believed that assessment must be used to help students. The assessment should be operated in two ways, namely first, the teachers know that the assessment will let the students know when the students will study, what they will study, and the effort they put into their work, second, the students can correct or improve their performance based on the result of the assessment given to them.

  Assessment is also used as an aid for the teachers to evaluate their progress in teaching and learning activity. The assessment result can show how far the students can understand the material given. The result becomes the indicator about the success or failure of the students and it helps teachers revise or improve the next teaching and learning activity.

  Nevertheless, producing valid and reliable assessment which can serve those purposes is not easy. Teachers need to have a good ability in assessing students’ performance by making good assessment tools based on the principles of good assessment. Since the assessment is used to obtain the accurate and valid information of students’ proficiency in particular topic or material, the assessment has to be valid and accurate, too.

  Producing valid assessment requires the teachers to pay attention to so many aspects of the assessment. Accuracy and validity are only two aspects from a lot of aspects of the assessment but they become the basic of how a sound assessment should be, since one of the purposes of the assessment is to obtain accurate and valid information about the students’ progress and mastery. Teachers have to plan and prepare their assessments carefully to make their assessment valid and accurate, yet there are some evident that teachers took very little time in preparing their test (Siddiek, 2010). Therefore, the teachers were not able to make simple analysis to provide reports of their students’ achievement and they were not able to interpret the meaning of figures of the test scores because they lacked the basic statistical knowledge. It can be concluded that valid assessment requires the teachers or administrators ability in carefully planning and giving sufficient time in the process of its production.

  The students of English Language Education Study Program (ELESP) Sanata Dharma University are prospective teachers who are prepared to be good quality teachers. They learn about English and how to teach English in their study in university. They are expected to be able to master all teaching skill, which include the mastery of assessing, the knowledge of how to make good assessment, the ability to apply the principles in making assessment as an integral part of teaching and learning activity, and many more. Since producing good assessment is not an easy work and it needs time in learning and producing, they learn from the concept of assessment to the assessment production. Producing good assessment will support their teaching later.

  The students of ELESP learn about the principles of assessment especially in Language Learning Assessment (LLA) subject. The assessment they produce is in connection with language learning since they will teach English language. In LLA, they learn the basic knowledge about assessment and its principles. The students also learn the great importance of assessment in LLA. Here, they have the opportunity to practice producing language assessment, too. Further, they have the opportunity to practice their teaching knowledge in a real school when they take Practice Teaching subject. In this period, the students achieve great opportunities to learn about being a real teacher, in a real school. They obtain the chance to perform their teaching knowledge for real students. their all understanding about teaching, classroom management, assessment application, and many more. At this point, they practice to produce sound assessments, which appropriately apply the principles of assessment. Nevertheless, since they are learning, some of the principles of assessment might be ignored or might not be appropriately obeyed.

  Based on the description above, the writer is interested in conducting a research about one of the principles of assessment, namely the assessment validity. The writer is eager to conduct a research on the validity of the assessment made by the students of English Language Education Study Program (ELESP) Sanata Dharma University, especially the students who had taken Practice Teaching Subject. The writer chose Practice Teaching students as the sample of the research because, as stated above, they are supposed to master teaching and learning skills, which also include the competence in producing good assessment. Before taking the Practice Teaching subject, the students have to pass the previous subjects learning about the theory of English Language and English Language teaching. After three or four semesters obtaining the theory of English language, the students then are prepared to teach English starting from understanding about teacher and teaching, preparing the instructions, learning about approach, method, and technique in teaching, making assessment, and many more.

  The study focuses its attention on the validity of assessment, specifically the content-related evidence or content validity. It has been stated above that the purpose of assessment is to educate and improve the students’ performance by material through the interpretation of the assessment result. Therefore, the assessment tools and procedures have to be valid. The validation aimed at obtaining valid information about the students’ performance in particular topic, skill, or material. In other words, if teachers want to achieve valid information of the students’ performance or progress, the assessment they made should be valid, too.

B. Problem Formulation

  Through this study, the writer formulates the problems which are presented into two questions.

  1. How is the content validity established by the Practice Teaching students in their assessment?

  2. What are the problems which influence the degree of content validity of the Practice Teaching students’ assessment? C.

   Problem Limitation

  The writer limits the problems by focusing on the content validity of the assessment produced by Practice Teaching students of the English Language Education Study Program Sanata Dharma University during their Practice Teaching period. The reason why the writer chose the Practice Teaching students as the respondents of this research is because those students have passed Language Learning Assessment subject in which they have learnt about the are able to produce good and valid assessment. Another reason is that the students have to make assessment for the real students during their Practice Teaching period. The LLA students are not chosen because the assessment they make is not purposed for the real students and they are still practicing. Although in Practice Teaching period the students are also still practicing, they practice for the real students. Therefore, the assessment they produce has to be valid.

  The writer limits the validity by focusing on the content validity of assessment. Although there are more than three evidences in validating an assessment, the writer focuses only on content-related evidence or content validity because this evidence is considered the most important evidence in validating an assessment. It is important for an assessment to be valid in its content because the content is the aspect which becomes the main base for teaching in particular topic.

  Teachers teach materials and behaviors or skills, called as content or the intended skills or performances that the students should know or master. Therefore, the assessment should also assess the content by applying appropriate test specifications or items to be considered valid based on the principles of content validity of an assessment. An example will be good to give more understanding why the writer chooses content validity as the subject of the research. Imagine that there is a teacher who states in his lesson plan that the objectives of the lesson is that at the end of the course, the students are able to produce good and correct recount text using appropriate verb in past form. Nevertheless, in his assessment, he gives the students a recount text completed with ten comprehensive questions stated before because it does not measure what it intends to measure, which is good recount text production. Therefore, content validity in an assessment is very important and needs more attention from those who produce the assessment.

  The assessment of this study is the assessment made by the Practice Teaching students during their practice teaching period. The assessment chosen is the assessment which has been prepared before they conduct their teaching and learning activity in class. The spontaneous assessment is not included. It means that the assessment chosen is planned and prepared in written form so the students can read the instructions and do what they are supposed to do in that assessment.

D. Research Objectives

  Dealing with the questions mentioned, the study is conducted to achieve two objectives, namely:

  1. Figuring out how the Practice Teaching students established the content validity in their assessment. It is expected that the analysis can present the way of the students in preparing and producing the assessment so that it can be considered valid based on the concept of content validity.

  2. Figuring out the problems which influence the content validity degree of Practice Teaching students’ assessments. It is done in order to find possible recommendations to overcome the problems.

E. Research Benefits

  It is expected that this study will be beneficial for the students and lecturers who are involved in ELESP, and future researchers who want to study about assessment.

  For students of ELESP, especially the students who are taking Practice Teaching and preparing sets of instruction in their learning, this study is expected to help them analyze their own assessment based on the theory of content validity.

  It is stated that it is only one source of making good assessment because there are other criteria to produce good assessment. Yet, validity, especially content validity, takes a really important role in an assessment. By understanding the concept of valid assessment, the students are expected to be more prominent in producing an assessment in their practice teaching period as well as in their real teaching later. It is also expected that the students will always keep in mind that their assessment must be valid in order to obtain valid measurement and result from their students. Valid results will serve as a very good aid for the teachers to improve their teaching.

  It is expected also that after reading the result of this study, the students could be more aware of the importance of careful and appropriate planning for their instruction before they conduct teaching and learning activities in the classroom. Formulating appropriate instructional content and its specification in the appropriate objectives formulation will help them conduct teaching and also assessing. Since the study is limited in its content, the students are expected to toward assessment as an integral part of teaching. It is expected that this study could help the students set their thinking that an assessment is not only used for scoring but also it is used for wider purpose of educating the students and develop the teachers.

  For lecturers of ELESP, especially who are involved in teaching evaluation and assessment, this study is expected to serve as a means to obtain depiction of the students’ mastery in producing language assessment. Therefore, the lecturers will be able to plan possible instructions which will enable the students to have a sound assessment which involved some principles of good assessment production, especially the content validity. The lecturers could help their students produce assessment which possesses high validity since the assessment is used to obtain valid information about the students’ progress and mastery on a specific material or content domain.

  For future researchers, this study is expected to be a good source for them who want to learn more about the assessment especially in its content validity. Language assessment, like other parts of teaching and learning, offers the really wide area to be explored. A thousand studies will not be enough to explore this wide area because of the time changing which bring the changes in every aspect in human life. It is expected that there always be the next researchers who will explore the world of assessment.

F. Definition of Terms

  There are some terms mentioned in this study that need to be defined in order to avoid misunderstanding and to lead the readers to a better understanding on the topic being discussed.

1. Assessment

  As stated before, the assessment is an integral part of teaching and learning activity. Assessment can be defined as one or more activities aimed at obtaining the information about the students’ progress or students’ achievement in learning activities. It can be done in several ways namely giving quizzes and tests, paying attention to the students’ performance in the classroom, listening to the student response in teaching and learning activities, and many more (Badder, 2000; Chatterji, 2003; and Brown, 2004).

  In this study, the assessments were prepared by the Practice Teaching students during their Practice Teaching period. In conducting Practice Teaching, the students had to prepare and design the instructional process. The instruction involved the process of planning the lesson and assessing the students’ progress.

  In this study, the assessment analyzed were any various activities conducted by the Practice Teaching students to obtain the information about the students’ performance and progress during the instructional process in their Practice Teaching period. Specifically, the assessments were any assessment documents prepared by the Practice Teaching students purposed to assess the students’ performance and progress during or at the end of the instructional process.

2. Validity

  Validity in this study directly points to the validity of the assessment. In an assessment, validity is one of the criteria for a good test. Brown (2001) stated in his book that validity is “the degree to which the test actually measures what it is intended to measure (p. 378).” Gronlund (1998, p. 226) as cited by Brown (2004) stated that validity is “the extent to which inferences made from assessment results are appropriate, meaningful, and useful in terms of the purpose of the assessment (p. 22).” This study grounds the validity of assessment to the definitions above. The assessment is valid if the results are appropriate, meaningful, and useful based on the purpose of the assessment or based on what is intended to be measured by the assessment.

  In this study, the writer focused on the content validity of assessment. Content validity is one of the assessment principles in which the intended results or the content of an assessment represent what is intended to measure or the instructional content. The content validity of an assessment is presented in the form of degree, namely high, moderate, and poor content validity. An assessment is said having high content validity if the intended result from the assessment can clearly represent what the content of the task or material learnt or what the students should master from teaching and learning activities. In the other hand, if the content of the assessment cannot clearly represent the content of the study, the assessment has poor content validity. The conclusion of the validity is derived from the analysis by comparing the content or the intended result of the

CHAPTER II REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE In this chapter, the writer discusses the related literature which serves as

  the basis to answer the research questions. There are two major parts in this chapter, namely theoretical description and theoretical framework.

A. Theoretical Description

  In this part, the writer provides some descriptions about the theories used to analyze the content validity of Practice Teaching Students’ assessments. The theories become the key for the writer to be able to analyze the assessments.

1. Assessment

  Before going deeper into the discussion of assessment and the principles of language assessment, it is better for the writer to provide a clear definition about the assessment.

a. The Definition of Assessment

  Wiggins (1993), as cited by Earl (2003), stated that the word “assessment” is derived from the Latin assidere, which means “to sit beside or with.” This statement can be understood that the teachers sit together with their students to understand what is happening to them. Yet, assessment actually offers more activities than just sitting down with the students. Assessment can be done in various activities. Badder (2000) stated that assessment is a continuous process ideas, and promoting conceptual understanding by developing questions. Assessment is aimed at receiving information about the students’ progress and the instructional process. Airasian (1991) stated that assessment is a process of gathering, interpreting, and synthesizing information purposed to aid decision making in the classroom. Teachers collect information through assessment to help them make decisions about their students’ learning and the success of their instruction. Again, the information can be concluded from several assessment procedures or methods.

  Dealing with the variety of assessment procedures or methods, Brown (2004) stated the definition of assessment in comparison with the term test. Test, in simple terms, is a “method of measuring a person’s ability, knowledge, or performance in a given domain,” while an assessment is defined as an ongoing process that encompasses a much wider domain (p. 3-4). The notion implies that when the students answer the questions from the teacher spontaneously, offer a comment, or try to give opinion, the teacher subconsciously makes an assessment of the students’ performance. The Glossary of the 1999 Standards for Educational

  

and Psychological Testing , as cited by Chatterji (2003, p. 130), stated that

  assessment is “any systematic method of obtaining information (from test and other sources used) to draw inferences about characteristics of people, objects, or programs.” Miller, Linn, and Norman (2009) and Salvia, Ysseldyke, and Bolt (2001) added that assessment is a systematic process that plays important role in effective teaching. It begins with the identification of learning goals, monitor the the extent to which those goals have been attained (Miller et al., 2009). Teachers use assessment information to make decision about what the students have learned what and where they should be taught, and the kinds of related services (Salvia et al., 2001).

  Assessment, therefore, can be defined as some processes, activities, or systematic methods which are done to obtain information about the students’ progress or performance. The process, activities, or methods are various. Teachers can choose one or more activities to assess the students. Those activities are conducted to obtain information about the students’ progress during teaching and learning process, the students’ mastery of the teaching and learning materials, and the instructional process. It is also important to mention that, according to Siddiek (2010, p. 135), assessment is “an integral part of any effective teaching program, thus it should be subject to planning, designing, modifying, and frequent revision of its validity as tools of quality measurement.” The statement makes the assessment clearer that as a means to obtain valid information about the students and instructional progress, an assessment should be validly planned, designed, modified, and frequently revised.

  The most common activity of an assessment is a test. Test is a part of assessment. It means that it is not the only form of assessment made by the teacher. Tests can be useful devices, but they are only one among many procedures and tasks that teachers can ultimately use to assess students (Brown, 2004, p. 4). Having the same idea that test is only one of several assessment from observations, recollections, test, and professional judgments all come into play.” It can be concluded that the assessment information can be obtained not only from the test but also from other procedures, namely observation, asking spontaneous questions, listening the students’ responses, and many more.

  Nevertheless, it should be noticed that test is often the most visible evidence of student learning for parents to see and make judgment about (Walker et al., 2004).

  The position of a test in an assessment as a part of teaching activities is illustrated in Figure 2.1.

  TEST

ASSESSMENT

TEACHING

Figure 2.1 Test, Assessment, and Teaching

  (Brown, 2004, p. 5)

Figure 2.1 shows that test is a part of assessment while an assessment is a part of teaching. Therefore, test is not the same as assessment but it is only one of

  the assessment procedures or tasks. Meanwhile, an assessment is under the wide area of teaching. It means that teaching involves assessing. Assessment becomes a very important and crucial part in teaching since it helps teachers understand the progress or achievement the students have made and it can also be a useful device to monitor or evaluate the instruction prepared by the teachers, and many more.

b. Types of Assessment

  There are some types of assessment. Brown (2004, p. 5-7) divided the assessment into three divisions namely the informal and formal assessment, formative and summative assessment, and norm-referenced and criterion- referenced tests.

  1) Informal and Formal Assessment

  The first distinction of the types of assessment is informal and formal assessment. Informal assessment can be done in many forms, starting with incidental, unplanned comments and responses, along with coaching and other impromptu feedback to students (Brown, 2004, p. 5). In contrast, he stated that formal assessment is exercises or procedures specifically designed to tap into a storehouse of skills and knowledge. They are systematic, planned sampling techniques constructed to give teacher and students an appraisal of student achievement. In addition, McAlpine (2002, p. 7) stated that “formal assessments are where the students are aware that the task that they are doing is for assessment purposes.” Tests are the example of formal assessment but not all formal assessments are in the form of tests.

  2) Formative and Summative Assessment

  Centre for Learning and Professional Development (CLPD) of The University of Adelaide (2011) stated that formative assessment is where the their level of understanding on their learning in the current course. Formative assessment is used to evaluate students in the process of “forming” their competencies and skills with the goal of helping them to continue that growth process. Practically, the informal assessments are (or should be) formative (Brown, 2004, p. 6).

  Summative assessment aims to measure, or summarize, what a student has grasped, and typically occurs at the end of a course or unit of instruction.

  CLPD of The University of Adelaide (2011) stated that summative assessment is “where assessment task responses are designed to grade and judge a learner's level of understanding and skill development for progression or certification.” Final exam in a course and general proficiency exam are examples of summative assessment.