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ELT Journal Advance Access published online on February 23, 2009
ELT Journal, doi:10.1093/elt/ccp001
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© The Author 2009. Published by Oxford University Press; all rights reserved.

How good is your test?

Funda Küçük and JoDee Walters

Funda Küçük graduated from Hacettepe University English Translation and Interpretation Department in 2000. She is also a Bilkent University MA/TEFL graduate. She has been an English instructor for eight years and is currently teaching at Zonguldak Karaelmas University in Turkey. She has published a grammar book with her colleagues from the same university, namely Milestones of English Grammar—Perfecting and Practicing English Structure
JoDee Walters completed her MA/TEFL at the American University in Cairo in 1993, and her PhD in Applied Linguistics at the University of Nottingham, UK, in 2006. She has taught English in university and secondary school settings in Egypt, the US, and the UK, and was involved in teacher training in the US, the UK, and Japan. She joined the MA/TEFL programme at Bilkent University in 2006

Email: fundak79{at}yahoo.com

Email: walters{at}bilkent.edu.tr


  Abstract

This article reports on a study of the validity and reliability of tests administered in an EFL university setting. The study addresses the question of how well face validity reflects more objective measures of the quality of a test, such as predictive validity and reliability. According to some researchers, face validity, defined as the surface credibility or public acceptability of a test, has no theoretical basis since it is based on the subjective perceptions of stakeholders such as teachers and students. However, due to lack of time or resources, or due to a perceived lack of competence, practitioners tend to rely on the ‘appeal’ of language tests, rather than seek empirical evidence. This article describes several ways of evaluating achievement tests, comparing their results in order to shed light on what measures can and should be taken to ensure that achievement tests accomplish their purposes.

Final revised version received July 2008


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