Therefore, in making a test the teacher should have some criteria of good test. It means that, all good tests must have three qualities: validity, reliability, and
practicality.
6
Besides the three qualities, the test must also has a good difficulty level and
an effective discriminating power because the difficulty level will give the information about the percentages of easy, moderate, and difficult items whereas
discriminating power also will give the information about the effectiveness of each item whether the test item is able to differentiate the high students performance and
the low students performance. Therefore, both of them can be analyzed by using item analysis.
According to J. Stanley Ahmann and Marvin D. Glock in their book about item analysis:
“Item analysis usually concentrates on two vital features; level of difficulty and discriminating power. The former means the percentage
of pupils who answer correctly each item; the latter the ability of the test item to differentiate between pupils who have done well and those
who have done poorly.”
7
Based on the statements above, the writer would like to explain her problem while she was following the teaching practicePPKT in the first grade of SMP Negeri
3 Tangerang Selatan she found that there were some test items which had not been taught by the teacher in the English summative of the final test which had been given
on Wednesday, December 11
th
, 2013 at odd semester 20132014 academic year. According to one of the English teachers at SMP Negeri 3 Tangerang Selatan,
it is not important that in making test items the teacher tested the same materials which is given to the students, because he believed that it was similar to English
National Examination test in term giving the test items.
6
David P. Harris, Testing English as a Second language, New Delhi: Tat Mc Graw-Hill Publishing Company, Ltd, p. 13.
7
J.StanleyAhmann and Marvin D. Glock, Evaluating Pupil Growth, Principles of Tests and Measurements, Boston: Allyn and Bason, INC, 1967, p. 184.
At one side, the materials taught by the teacher cannot be answered by the students well especially for the materials that have not been taught, it will be more
difficult. Based on the fact above, the writer would like to analyze the test by using the
item analysis which is focused only on the difficulty level and the discriminating power of the English summative test of the first grade in SMP Negeri 3 Tangerang
Selatan. So, the writer will conduct the study under the title
“AN ITEM ANALYSIS OF ENGLISH SUMMATIVE TEST ON DIFFICULTY LEVEL AND
DISCRIMINATING POWER A Case Study of the First Grade Students of 3 State Junior High School of Tangerang Selatan”.
B. Identification of the Problem
Based on the background of the study, the writer identifies in some problems: 1. The teacher of the first grade at SMPN 3 Tangerang Selatan believed
that it is not important in making test items used the same materials given to the students.
2. There are some test items which have not been taught by the teacher in the English summative test at the final test of odd semester 20132014
academic year. 3. The upper group of students cannot answer some items well because
they had not learned the material and the lower group of students can answer some items only by guessing the answers.
C. Limitation of the Problem
To make clear, the writer limits the problem based on some statements in the identification that the study is focused only on the difficulty level and the
discriminating power of the English summative test of the first grade students at SMPN 3 Tangerang Selatan to find out the difficulty level from easy, moderate, and
difficult item of the English summative test and the discriminating power to analyze whether the test items can differentiate the upper and lower of students.
D. Formulation of the Problem
Based on identification and limitation of the problems, the writer conducts an item analysis to find out the percentages of difficulty level then whether the test items
can differentiate the upper and lower of students. So, the writer formulates the problem as follow: “Does the English summative test for the first grade students at
SMP Negeri 3 Tangerang Selatan have a good quality of the difficulty level and the discriminating power?”
E. Objective of the Study
The objective of the study is to find out the difficulty level from easy, moderate, and difficult items and the discriminating power of the English summative
test whether each item can differentiate the upper and lower group of students which is tested of the first grade at SMPN 3 Tangerang Selatan in the first semester
20132014 academic year.
F. Significance of the Study
The first of all, the result of the study to give clear description to the reader about the quality of the English summative test of the first grade at SMPN 3
Tangerang Selatan, especially in the percentages the easy, moderate, and difficult test items then to analyze whether the test items can differentiate the upper and the lower
of students. The second, the writer hopes that the result of the item analysis can be benefit
for English teachers or the test makers to improve their competences to make a good test items and also to improve their teaching and learning in the classroom.
Finally, the study can be used to previous study of an analysis of difficulty level and discriminating power to give easier to the other researchers.
6
CHAPTER II THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
In this chapter, the writer tries to give the clear description of theoretical framework which explains the definition of summative test, categories of good
summative test, types of the test item in summative test, the definition of item analysis, kinds of the item analysis, and the importance of the item analysis.
A. Summative Test
1. The Definition of Summative Test
Before talking about summative test, the writer wants to elaborate first the meaning of the test. Many experts have stated about some definitions of the test,
according to Antony J. Nitko in his book, Educational Tests and Measurement: An Introduction
, he writes test is defined as “a systematic procedure for observing and describing one or more characteristics of a person with the aid of either a numerical
scale or category system.”
1
Another opinion, test is a technique or way consisting of some questions, statements, or tasks that are delivered to students in term of measuring their
performance or behavior.
2
To support, Wilmar Tinambunan, said that “a test is a set
of questions, each of which has a correct answer, that examinees usually answer orally or in writing.”
3
Based on the definitions above it can be concluded that, test is a utility to collect the in
formation about students’ performances in term of a set of some items
1
Antony J. Nitko, Educational Tests and Measurement: An Introduction, New York: Marcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc, 1983, p.6.
2
Zainal Arifin, Evaluasi Pembelajaran, Bandung: PT. Remaja Rosda karya, 2009, p. 118.
3
WilmarTinambunan, Evaluation of Student Achievement, Jakarta: Departemen Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan, 1988, p. 3.
