Screener Tests Need Validation Too: Weighing an Argument for Test Use against Practical Concerns

Autor/inn/en	Schmidgall, Jonathan E.; Getman, Edward P.; Zu, Jiyun
Titel	Screener Tests Need Validation Too: Weighing an Argument for Test Use against Practical Concerns
Quelle	In: Language Testing, 35 (2018) 4, S.583-607 (25 Seiten)Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0265-5322
DOI	10.1177/0265532217718600
Schlagwörter	Test Validity; Test Use; Test Construction; Language Tests; English (Second Language); Second Language Learning; Classification; Foreign Countries; Students; Language Teachers; Testing; Scoring; Reading Tests; Brazil; China; Japan; Kenya; Test of English as a Foreign Language + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Testvalidität; Testanwendung; Testaufbau; Language test; Sprachtest; English as second language; English; Second Language; Englisch als Zweitsprache; Zweitsprachenerwerb; Classification system; Klassifikation; Klassifikationssystem; Ausland; Student; Schüler; Schülerin; Studentin; Language teacher; Sprachunterricht; Testdurchführung; Testen; Bewertung; Lesetest; Brasilien; Kenia
Abstract	In this study, we define the term "screener test," elaborate key considerations in test design, and describe how to incorporate the concepts of practicality and argument-based validation to drive an evaluation of screener tests for language assessment. A screener test is defined as a brief assessment designed to identify an examinee as a member of a particular population or subpopulation. Consequently, its focus of measurement is to provide information that distinguishes the targeted subpopulations. Although the trade-off between measurement quality and practicality is an important consideration for any assessment (Bachman & Palmer, 1996), practicality is a particularly critical feature of low-stakes screener tests in language assessment given their use in routing examinees to other assessments, rather than serving as the basis for higher-stakes decision making. In order to demonstrate how an evaluation may be applied to a screener test, we describe the development and evaluation of a proposed screener test for the TOEFL Primary Reading test. The claims articulated through the development process and evidence collected throughout development and pilot testing enable a wide-ranging, comparative evaluation of five- and 10-item TOEFL Primary Reading screener tests that systematically incorporate the concepts of measurement quality, impact, and practicality. (As Provided).
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Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2020/1/01