Can the C-test be improved with classical item analysis?

Abstract

The application of the rule-of ‘two’ for constructing C-tests produces two sorts of test items. Many items delineate acceptable facility and discrimination values, but a sizeable number of them are either extremely easy or extremely difficult to fill in. To investigate whether this defect can be avoided, a C-test with 5 texts and 126 items was constructed and tried with 146 Iranian English majors. On the basis of an item analysis, a tailored C-test with 100 items was developed and tried with 60 other subjects. The results of the study showed that no gains were made with the classical item analysis.