b Types of the Essay Test
Based on the amount of freedom of response, the essay test can be divided into two forms, those are:
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1. Extended Response Type In this type, the students have a freedom to express their argument which
based on their competence, so they can begin from the definition first then the example and the opposite, on the other hand, it can be called deductive and inductive
text. But the teacher also has the criteria of the scoring of the students’ answering
which based on the question. According to Wilmar, “In the Extended Response Type Test, the pupil is
given almost complete freedom in making his response.” For example:
“Describe what you think should be the contribution of „Psycholinguistics’ to the improvement of language testing. Include those examples discussed in class”.
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2. Restricted Response Type In the Restricted Response Type, the test item provides the specific problems
and more structure. Although, they have a freedom to supply their ideas into their writing but the students have to answer systematically based on the question.
In addition, “The restricted response question usually limits both the content and the response. The content is usually restricted by the scope of the topic to be
discussed. Limitations on the form of response are generally indicated in the question”.
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28
Wilmar Tinambunan, op. cit., p. 56.
29
Ibid.
30
Norman. op. cit., p. 212.
B. Item Analysis
1. Definition of Item Analysis
According to Anthony J. Nitko in his book states, “Item analysis refers to the process of collecting, summarizing and using information about individual test items,
especially information about pupils’ responses to items.”
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It can be concluded that analyzing the test item is important because it will give information for teachers, students, on how to process the teaching and learning
well. Besides that, the teacher will know the quality of the test item and the effectiveness of the teaching instruction.
To support, “the feedback on individual items can help the instructor to identify points or concepts that
are in need of review and further instruction.”
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It means that, the teacher will get the feedback of the progressing and revising of the
teaching and learning also the test items itself in order to the teacher can provide a good test items in the next exam.
At one site , “Item analysis usually concentrates three vital features: level of
difficulty, discriminating power, and the effectiveness of each alternatives. Thus, item analysis information can tell us if an item was too difficult or too easy, how well it
discriminated between high and low scores on the test, and whether all the alternatives functioned as intended.”
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In the same way, item analysis tells us basically three things: 1. how difficult each item is,
2. whether or not the question “discriminates” or tells the difference between
high and low students, and
31
Anthony J. Nitko, op. cit., p.284.
32
Kenneth D. Hopkins, Educational and Psychological Measurement and Evaluation eight edition, University of Colorado, Boulder: Allyn Bacon, 1998, p. 254.
33
Wilmar Tinambunan, op. cit., p. 137.
3. which distracters are working as they should.
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An additional, Lyle F. Bachman, states that, “to conduct an item analysis IA by hand, we first arrange the scored test papers or answer sheets in order from the
highest score to the lowest score. Next, we separate the papers into upper and lower groups, according to their total test scores. In order to optimize these two objectives,
for large group i.e. 100 or larger we would choose the upper and lower 27 percent, while for small groups, we would typically choose the upper and lower one-
third.”
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2. Kinds of Item Analysis
a. Level of Difficulty
In this kind of item analysis, level of difficulty have many other names, those are: item facility, item difficulty, item easiness, p-value, or it can be marked by IF.
According to Heaton, “The index of difficulty or facility value of an item simply shows how easy or difficult the particular item proved in the test.”
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In the level of difficulty, there are three kinds of difficulties, it from easy, moderate, and difficult item. Actually, a good test item in summative test should have
a certain level of difficulty it is not too difficult or too easy. If the test item is answered correctly by many students, it means the test item is easy and on the
contrary. Also, the advantage for students to know the level of difficulty in a test is it
can be seen from the psychology of the students because after they know there are three kinds of difficulties from easy, moderate, and difficult the students are
motivated because still there is easy item in the test and for the difficult item the students are going to prepare more intensive to follow the test.
34
Harold S. Madsen, Techniques in testing, New York: Oxford University Press, 1983, p.180.
35
Lyle F. Bachman, Statistical Analyses for Language Assessment, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004, p. 123.
36
J.B. Heaton, op. cit., p. 178.
According to Kathleen M. Bailey, difficulty level is “an index of how easy an individual item was for the people who took it. I.F. is a number, typically printed as a
decimal, ranging from 0.0 to 1.0. It represents the proportion of people who got the item right out of all the people who took the test.”
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The formula of the difficulty level of each item in large group is stated below:
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In which: FV
: The index of difficulty R
: The number of correct answers N
: The number of students taking the test U
: Upper half L
: Lower half n
: Number of candidates in one group
To calculate the difficulty level in short-answer item, ZaenalArifin states as follows:
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37
Kathleen M. Bailey, Learning about Language Assessment: Dilemmas, Decisions, and Directions, New York: Heinle Heinle Publishers, 1998, p. 132.
38
J.B. Heaton, loc. cit.
39
Zainal Arifin, loc. cit.
FV =
or FV =
