Utilizing test items analysis to examine the level of difficulty and discriminating power in a teacher-made test

Sayit Abdul Karim,Syarifah Sakinah,Suryo Sudiro

doi:10.30659/e.6.2.256-269

Sayit Abdul Karim, Syarifah Sakinah + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.30659/e.6.2.256-269

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Abstract

Apart from teaching, English language teachers need to assess their students by giving a test to know the students� achievements. In general, teachers are barely conducting item analysis on their tests. As a result, they have no idea about the quality of their test distributed to the students. The present study attempts to figure out the levels of difficulty (LD) and the discriminating power (DP) of the multiple-choice (MC) test item constructed by an English teacher in the reading comprehension test utilizing test item analysis. This study employs a qualitative approach. For this purpose, a test of 50-MC test items of reading comprehension was obtained from the students� test results. Thirty-five students of grade eight took part in the MC test try-out. They are both male (15) and female (20) students of junior high school 2 Kempo, in West Nusa Tenggara Province. The findings revealed that16 items out of 50 test items were rejected due to the poor and worst quality level of difficulty and discriminating index. Meanwhile, 12 items need to be reviewed due to their mediocre quality, and 11 items are claimed to have good quality items. Besides, 11 items out of 50 test items were considered as the excellent quality as their DP scores reached around 0.44 through 0.78. The implications of the present study will shed light on the quality of teacher-made test items, especially for the MC test.

Highlights

Language assessment holds a pivotal role in the field of education
Results To figure out the level of difficulty (LD) and the discriminating power (DP) of the reading comprehension test constructed by the English teacher, a try-out of 50 multiple choice test items was given to thirty-five grade eight students of junior high school 2 Kempo
The present study tries to examine the level of difficulty (LD) and discriminating power (DP) of MC test items constructed by an English teacher in the English reading comprehension test for junior high school 2 Kempo, in West Nusa Tenggara Province

Summary

Introduction

Teachers must assess their students at the end of learning and teaching process to know their students’ learning progress and learning outcomes (Luthfiyyah et al, 2021; Hartati & Yogi, 2019). In the Indonesian context, teachers use tests to assess students at the end of the learning process what a so-called summative test (Maharani & Putro, 2020). On this ground, assessment is needed to find out students’ achievement in a given. The result of a test provides stakeholders with education on various aspects of assessment. By using a well-constructed item, teachers can assess students' competencies in the given domain

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Discussion

Conclusion