Is The International English Language Testing System Reliable and Fair?

|assessment as a process of making judgments of learners’ knowledge, skills and competence against set criteria |

Hargreaves (2007) as well as Quinn and Hughes (2007, p270) propose that assessment tool should be both valid (assess what it claims to assess) and reliable (perform in a consistent and stable manner). It is of the opinion now following the assessment that our assessment tool cannot be considered valid and reliable for the following reasons. Learning outcome was not part of the criteria so it was impossible to make a judgement about the quality of the students' presentation and thus could not be penalized. Hinchliff (1999) suggests that learning outcomes should be Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Timed (SMART). It should include an indication of the evidence required to demonstrate that learning has been achieved (Dix and Hughes, 2004), but Welsh and Swann (2002) caution that too many may create unreasonable expectations. Moreover, the ambiguity of the tool and individuals' subjectivity in terms of attitudes, beliefs and values (the ‘halo’ effect) resulted in perceived bias which affected the reliability. Bias however, remains an issue to overcome and as such I felt

Assessment plays a significant role in the learning experience of students. It determines their progression through their programmes and enables them to demonstrate that they have achieved the intended learning outcomes. It is assessment that provides the main basis for public recognition of achievement, through the awarding of qualifications and/or credit.

In the wake of educational initiatives such as No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top, standardized tests have become a central part of elementary and secondary school instruction in the United States. Students in New York have been affected by high-stakes tests that are increasingly the primary method by which the performances of programs, schools, and teachers are evaluated and ranked. Unfortunately, these test scores carry considerable weight in day-to-day school decision making with administrators, teachers and students. In order to ensure academic progress of English Language Learners through the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), Title III funding has been tied to English language proficiency measures. New policies enacted at the national level have resulted in the mandatory implementation of language proficiency testing protocols in all states.

Assessors need to determine a learner's knowledge and performance against a set of pre-defined criteria. These criteria may be set up to assess learning for an eventual formal qualification in a particular topic or job role.

Pragmaticism, indeed, will dictate that schools, assessments, and organizations long-established will not be altered for light and short-lived causes. Hence, a gradual shift in culture and method must occur which reforms the quantitative nature of grading systems. However, let the negative effects of the current grading system be known in a direct way:

• Assessment as a process of making judgments of learners’ knowledge, skills and competence against set criteria

After they submitted the essay, teacher revises the essay, evaluate according to rubric, gives written feedback and students are asked to write second draft. Therefore, it makes the task a formative test. Because they are expected to write second and final drafts, this task can be considered as a process assessment. This task provides the opportunity to observe the development of students. In addition, the task has objective testing features. As the task has a rubric, which guides the students how they have to write and how their papers are scored. Moreover, our aim to give that homework is not compare the students to one another but to see whether they accomplish to write a successful essay regarding the rubric one by one. We try to have information about what the student can actually do in the language. Tests that are designed to provide this kind of information directly are said to be criterion-referenced (Hughes, 2003, p. 20). The course name is Advanced Reading and Writing Skills and the task is directly measure what the course aims. As Hughes (2003, p. 17) states that Testing is said to be direct when it requires the candidate to perform precisely the skill that we wish to

A comparison of norm-referencing and criterion-referencing methods for determining student grades in higher education. (n.d.). Retrieved February 3, 2015, from http://www.cshe.unimelb.edu.au/assessinglearning/06/normvcrit6.html

Ch. 2 – Who are the various users of assessment and its results? What specific instructional decisions can be made based on assessment results? Why must we build balanced assessment systems to support the instructional programs we offer students? This chapter nails down the purpose of assessing, which is gathering information to inform teachers of students of their instruction and learning, respectively. In this way, assessment is individualized to each student and classroom, and because all students/classes are different, it should inform the teachers of what is working or not working in the classroom, which should then influence some sort of change to instruction. This chapter also talks about the different levels of assessment – from the individuals

Assessment is all about making judgements. A major argument for involving students in self and peer-assessment is that it helps them to develop the ability to make judgements, in particular about themselves and their work. This is an important life skill as well as an academic one.

Standardized tests can be found at any level of a student’s academic career, but are they accurate indicators of a student’s academic abilities? Standardized tests are used to measure a student 's academic abilities, and overall knowledge. In theory, a student 's skills can be determined by examining the limited data collected from the test. However, standardized test do not fully represent a student 's abilities, and cumulative knowledge. Many factors may affect the validity of the scores, and the accuracy of the assessment. Instructor’s teaching directly for the test, being able to guess on multiple choice questions, examining only test scores, and ignoring other academic factors contribute to the biased representation of students’ academic abilities.

Valid – The test must be shown to measure what it is intended to measure. Unbiased – The test should not place students at a disadvantage because of gender, ethnicity, language, or disability.” Yet, all three requirements for a test to be viable do not apply to standardized testing. Results produced are not consistent, as the day to day lives of students are constantly changing; Issues in the students’ lives may affect their thoughts, emotions, and health that would affect the results of their tests, providing a variety of test scores for one person alone. The validity of the test is also in question as it does not account for differences in students’ backgrounds and personal life so test scores do not accurately measure student’s abilities, but rather, it measures their ability to memorize information and test taking skills. Standardized testing holds a very large amount of bias, as the students of different ethnicities, cultures, and languages, have to confront many biased questions that are present in standardized tests. Therefore, standardized testing, according to Zucker’s analysis of an effective test, should not be used as an effective measure for testing students’ intelligence as it breaks the three requirements that make

According to Mc Loughlin and Lewis, (2009), “standardized test are great sources of information when assessing a child”. However, there is no one to one determination between performance on an intelligence test and performance in school. Other aspects for consideration, includes motivation, life experiences, one’s health and emotional state and the individual’s talents and interests. Methods of Assessment Formative assessment techniques monitor student learning during the learning process. The feedback gathered is used to identify areas where students are struggling so that instructors can adjust their teaching and students can adjust their studying, (Wechsler 4th ed., 2003).

Assessment enables educators to provide feedback to their learners, this in turn promotes self-evaluation by the learner, as they use the assessment feedback to scrutinise and make judgements about the quality of their work (Spiller, 2009:6 & 7).