Examining the social consequences of a locally-developed placement test using test takers’ attitudes

Abstract

Drawing on test takers’ attitudes to evaluate social consequences of testing is a widely recognized practice in the language testing literature. Yet studies using such approaches at the local placement level are few. To address this gap, 92 students from a large midwestern university were surveyed and 26 of these students participated in a follow-up interview. While survey results showed that students were more negative than positive towards the test, students’ accounts revealed a more complex picture. First, regardless of one’s attitudes toward the test, students experienced some lack of test preparation. Second, test-taking experiences were divergent even among students sharing similar perceptions about the test. Third, students sharing more positive views of the test tended to focus on ways that the test tasks represented the target domain, whereas students sharing less favorable views focused on the opposite. While there was no strong evidence of test invalidity, a need to review current test administration practices and ways of communicating test information and preparation materials is recommended. This study demonstrates that studying the attitudes of test takers and the factors contributing to such attitudes is useful not only for test validation purposes but also for establishing positive test quality. • Students did not engage in quality test preparation for the placement test. • Keyboarding and timing issues and test anxiety were variably experienced. • Perceived test task representation varied with students’ attitudes toward the test. • Appraisal analysis is a useful way to evaluate students’ attitudes.