English Achievement Test Research Articles

Future Tasks and Challenges of the School-based English Achievement Test Experienced by Elementary Teachers

Future Tasks and Challenges of the School-based English Achievement Test Experienced by Elementary Teachers

Multimedia in Test Items: Animated Questions vs. Static Graphics Questions

There have been extensive studies regarding the use and efficacy of multimedia in education. Although testing and evaluation is another important stage of teaching and learning processes, few studies have been identified in the literature that examine the use of multimedia while measuring students’ achievement. In this study we used two different multimedia in presenting an English achievement test. The question items were either presented with static graphics and text or with animated graphics and text. Two different formats were compared in terms of response time and response accuracy. Findings are addressed and discussions are made in the paper.

The Impact of Cooperative Learning in Comparison to Traditional Learning (Small Groups) on EFL Learners’ Outcomes When Learning English as a Foreign Language

To identify the effect of cooperative learning (CL) on the achievement’s of EFL learners, a 12-week study was conducted in four secondary schools in Saudi Arabia. This study aims to examine the effectiveness of cooperative learning (CL) in developing English as a Foreign Language (EFL) students’ grammatical competence in a relatively under-researched context (i.e., Arabia). In particular, this this study aims to investigate the impact of cooperative learning in comparison to traditional instruction in learning English grammar on the achievement of students. This study contributed to the knowledge about how students learn English grammar as a foreign language when they work cooperatively together in cooperative learning groups in comparison to peers who work in traditional classrooms (small groups). The participants in this study were 139 tenth grade male students, aged 14-15 years, in four boys’ secondary schools in Al-Baha city.The results showed that there are statistically significant differences between the mean scores of the students who were taught English in the cooperative learning environment (the experimental group), and those who were taught the English by using the traditional small group method (the control group) in the post-test. This difference was in favour of the experimental group. However, the results showed that are not statistically significant differences between the students in the experimental classes and the students in the control groups in their English achievement test score at the pre-test.

The Development of Computerized Adaptive Testing with Cognitive Diagnosis for an English Achievement Test in China

The Development of Computerized Adaptive Testing with Cognitive Diagnosis for an English Achievement Test in China

Zależność / niezależność od pola danych a wyniki testów kompetencji z języka angielskiego. Rezultaty pilotażowego badania panelowego

Zależność / niezależność od pola danych a wyniki testów kompetencji z języka angielskiego. Rezultaty pilotażowego badania panelowego

Evaluation of English Achievement Test: A Comparison between High and Low Achievers amongst Selected Elementary School Students of Pakistan.

Validity, reliability and item analysis are critical to the process of evaluating the quality of an educational measurement. The present study evaluates the quality of an assessment constructed to measure elementary school student’s achievement in English. In this study, the survey model of descriptive research was used as a research method. Students of both genders (male/female) constitute the population of the study. To measure the achievement level of students, a test of English language as a subject was administered to the sample of 150 students (75 males and 75 females) of 8th grade. They were selected by convenient sampling method from 10 (5 private sectors and 5 public sectors) schools in Pakistan. English Achievement Test for elementary students comprises of 50 multiple-choice items (developed by the author), was used. The collected data were analyzed through descriptive statistics, Z-test and item analysis. The results of the study indicate that male student’s achievement level in English is better than the female students at elementary level in selected schools.

The Effect of Student Teams Achievement Division Technique on English Achievement of Iranian EFL Learners

An approach called Student Teams Achievement Division (STAD) has been developed based on Cooperative Learning (CL) tenets. STAD emphasizes having team goals and success dependent on the learning of all group members. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the effects of STAD on the English achievement of Iranian third grade junior high school students. 60 third grade junior high school students (consisting of 2 classes, experimental and control) were chosen. Before the intervention took place, they had studied 2 lessons (1 & 2) of third grade junior high school book (English Ш) in one and a half months. For a period of 2 months, in the experimental class the teacher with the help of the researcher implemented STAD technique, and in the control group the teacher used the same traditional method. Two lessons (3 & 4) were taught during these 2 months. The materials of this study consisted of 2 teacher-made English achievement tests, and a questionnaire measuring their learning style preferences. The data was analyzed using paired and independent t tests. The results showed that the difference between the 2 classes was significant, and the experimental group was superior to the control group in terms of English achievement.

General Preference and Senior Secondary Schools Literature-in-English Achievement

This study investigated the extent to which general preference of students would predict their achievement in literature in English in selected senior secondary schools in Ibadan. Five research questions were asked while descriptive survey design was adopted for the study. Simple random sample technique was used to select 500 students offering Literature in English in ten senior secondary schools in Ibadan Metropolis. Two research instruments were used in the study namely general preference questionnaire r = .70 and Literature in English Achievement test r = .81. The data collected were analyzed using frequency count, simple percentages, and regression analysis. The result shows that: the student preferred prose to any other genre (X = 2.57); the preference for prose has significant contribution to the achievement of the students in Literature in English. (b = 0.463; + = 8.472; p < 0.05) and prose literature is the only genre capable of predicting students’ achievement in Literature. Based on the findings, recommendations were made that students’ interests should be developed in other genres not preferred through good instructional strategies for optimal performance. Key words : General preference; Predictor; Achievement; Prose; Poetry; Drama

The Influence Of Teacher’s Performance On The Students’ Achievement

Teacher’s performance is the way a teacher acts, does and performs the lesson during teaching learning process. Performance also consists of facial expression, gesture, body movement, vocal intonation and inflection. Teacher’s performance plays an important role in teaching and learning process because the way a teacher performs a lesson influences the students’ achievement. By showing good preparation and good performance, students will be interested in paying attention to the lesson given. In other words, the better performance a teacher has, the higher achievement students get.&#x0D; The purpose of this study is to know the correlation between teacher’s performance and student’s achievement. This study was conducted at English Department of Teacher Training and Education Faculty, STKIP KUSUMA NEGARA pokjar Gading Serpong. The data were obtained from 40 students by means of giving them questionnaires of teacher’s performance and students’ English achievement test. Both scores were analyzed by using Pearson Product Moment correlation. The result shows that the correlation between teacher’s performance and students’ achievement is r. 0.90. It means that there is a high correlation between teacher’s performance and students’ achievement.

High school students' perceptions of EFL teacher control orientations and their English academic achievement

BACKGROUND. Theories distinguish between student-initiated and teacher-initiated regulation of students' learning activities, or between strong, shared, or loose teacher control during the completion of learning tasks. Empirical validations for such distinctions are scarce, however. AIM. The present study aimed at (a) investigating students' perceptions of control behaviours exhibited by their English teachers; and (b) exploring the contribution of different types of teacher control behaviours to students' cognitive outcomes (English Achievement). SAMPLE. The sample comprised 732 English as a Foreign Language (EFL) students studying in three major fields of high school (Mathematics, Natural Science, and Humanities). The participants (16-17 years of age) were selected from third-grade classes of 27 EFL teachers working in 25 high schools of 6 main different geographical regions in the Isfahan province, Iran. METHOD. To obtain a comprehensive picture of different control types exhibited by Iranian EFL teachers, the control subscales of the two existing questionnaires, i.e., the Questionnaire on Instructional Behaviours (QIB), adapted by Den Brok et al. (2004) and the Questionnaire on Lesson Activities (QLA) used by Den Brok (2001) were merged to form the Questionnaire of Teacher Control (QTC). The development of this Persian instrument involved several steps: translation and back translation by the researchers, one expert translator, and two EFL teachers; piloting; and a final administration of the questionnaire to the student sample. With respect to the second aim of the study, data regarding students' performances on the Standardized National English Achievement Tests were gathered from local educational offices and schools. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION. Statistical analyses supported acceptable reliability and validity of the instrument. A main factor structure with three types of teacher control (strong/high, shared/mid, and loose/low) was found to underlie students' perceptions. The results of multi-level analyses indicated that a relatively large amount of variance was explained by the control variables and student variables, and teacher control had a statistically significant effect on student outcomes. Students' English achievement was lowest when they felt control was their teachers' prerogative, higher when they themselves exerted their own control (low teacher control), and highest under shared (mid) control behaviours.

Research on Improving Rating Reliability for School-based Oral English Achievement Tests: The Design and Development of a Computer-aided Rating System

Low rating reliability has long been the primary concern in school-based oral English achievement tests. In this study, a computer-aided rating system (CARS) was developed to improve inter- and intra-rater reliability through the instantiation of rating criteria, task division and random distribution, on-line training, reliability verification and sound wave “reading” and “writing.” A rating experiment was conducted among six raters to compare intra- and inter-rater reliability between traditional rating and rating with CARS. At the end of each round of rating, a conference was held. Both quantitative and qualitative analyses show that CARS can significantly improve inter- and intra-rater reliability, mainly through helping raters use criteria more accurately and focus more attention on rating. In addition, the research has also shed light upon further study on improving rating reliability.

Emotional intelligence and self-efficacy as determinants of academic achievement in English language among students in Oyo state senior secondary schools

This study investigated the impact of emotional intelligence and self efficacy training on academic achievement in English Language of students in Senior Secondary Schools. The sample consisted of 270 participants drawn from nine co-educational schools across three selected educational zones. Simple random sampling technique was used to select three schools from each zone among those that met the inclusion criteria set for the study. Adopting a pre-test, post-test, control group quasi-experiile mental design, one null hypothesis was tested at 0.05 level of significance. Using Emotional Intelligence Training Package (EIPTA), Self Efficacy Training Package (SEPTA) and English Language Achievement Test (r=0.73), the administration of interventions lasted for eight weeks. Data were analysed using ANCOVA and the Duncan post hoc test to examine the impact of emotional intelligence and self efficacy training on the achievement of senior secondary school students in English language.

Linguistic – Stylistic Technique and the Effective Teaching and Learning of Poetry in Nigerian Senior Secondary Schools

This study investigated the effect of linguistic-stylistic technique on theeffective teaching and learning of poetry in Nigerian senior secondary school.The sample of the study comprised of 310 senior secondary two (SS II)students from six schools randomly selected from Itu Local GovernmentArea of Akwa Ibom State, Nigerian A non-randomized pre-test post testcontrol group design was used for the study. The reliability co efficient ofpoetry in English Achievement Test (PEAT) was 0.75 using Kuder-Richardson formula 21. The student’s t-test was used in the analysis of thedata. The results showed that students taught with linguistic-stylistictechnique achieved and retained better than students taught with traditionalmethod in poetry. The results also showed an insignificant difference existingbetween the achievement of male and female students in poetry taught withlinguistic-stylistic technique. It is recommended that linguistic-stylistictechnique should be used in schools to teach various concepts in poetry.Keywords: Poetry, Literature – in – English, Linguistic-Stylistic technique,Traditional Method.

Comparison of Concurrent Calibration of English Achievement Tests under Dichotomous and Polytomous Item Response Models

Comparison of Concurrent Calibration of English Achievement Tests under Dichotomous and Polytomous Item Response Models

What Two-way Bilingual Programmes Reveal About the Controversy Surrounding Race and Intelligence

One of the most promising ways of developing bilingual skills of students in the United States is through 'two-way immersion' programmes, where 50% of the students are native English speakers and 50% speakers of a minority language and where half the teaching is done by professional teachers who use either English only or the minority language only. In 'two-way immersion' programmes, little attention has been paid to the experiences of African-American students, who, in conventional programmes, persistently perform poorly relative to English native white children, especially on tests of English achievement or on intelligence tests. If the poor performance of African-American youngsters is due to genetically determined deficits, as some specialists argue, we would expectthem to perform poorly on achievement tests in both languages. The present study focuses on African-American students' maths and reading achievement in a Spanish-English two-way immersion programme, from Grade 1 to Grade 4. The results show that the African-American children perform significantly lower than majority white students on English achievement tests at all grades. However, there is no significant difference between the two ethnic groups in Spanish achievement in the early grades. The results of this study point to the primary role of social/environmental factors in the comparatively lower scores of African-American children on standardised English achievement tests.

A COMPARISON OF FREE‐RESPONSE AND MULTIPLE‐CHOICE QUESTIONS IN THE ASSESSMENT OF READING COMPREHENSION

ABSTRACTUndergraduate students completed a Reading Comprehension test in which each of a number of passages served as the basis for four to eight questions, half framed in multiple‐choice format and half requiring that the examinee produce an appropriate answer. Questions within a passage were balanced according to the kind of information processing they were thought to require: Explicit questions dealt with information given explicitly in the passage; Inference questions required inference based on material presented; and Application and Evaluation questions required that the examinee go beyond what was presented to consider applications of ideas presented or evaluation of the logic or the style of the passage. It was hypothesized that questions of the first type would show no systematic differences associated with the format of the question, while those of the second might, and those of the third would, draw on somewhat different cognitive abilities when examinees were required to produce rather than merely to recognize an appropriate answer.Correlational and factor analyses provided only minimal indications of systematic differences associated with the response format. Estimated true correlations across formats averaged .91, a relation of the same magnitude as that found when multiple‐choice Reading Comprehension items differing in their information processing requirements are contrasted with one another. Weak evidence for a factor loaded by scores based on performance on multiple‐choice but not free‐response items was found, but only one score had a loading as great as .3 on this factor.Relations of test scores with other cognitive measures also failed to show systematic differences associated with format. Regardless of differences in item type and response format, all scores based on the Reading Comprehension test showed fairly substantial relations with tests of Reasoning and Vocabulary and with the ACT English achievement test, moderate relations with the ACT mathematics achievement score, and near‐zero relations with a test of Divergent Thinking.Despite this evidence for similarity in performance across formats, however, there is also evidence of systematic differences for individuals. The subjects by format interaction in the analysis of variance, while not of great strength, was significant at the five percent level of confidence. This effect indicates that some students showed larger differences in performance between the two response formats than did others.It was speculated that two changes in test items might be required to elicit the differences in performance associated with response format that have been observed in some other testing situations. Items may need to be structured so that they draw less on information given in or derivable from the test materials and more from information whose relevance is not specified for the examinee; and types of questions with which examinees are not so well practiced may need to be employed.

Fluctuations in Mental Test Scores

Summary Most scholars maintain that cognitive test scores are fairly stable even for children of primary school age. However, it can be shown theoretically that use of the correlation coefficient to describe the extent of individual fluctuations in test scores can give an impression of stability which is misleading. This paper describes the extent of individual fluctuations in intelligence, English and mathematics achievement test scores over a four‐year period for a sample of more than 200 primary school children. The annual fluctuations in test scores are described in terms of standardized scores. The data provide evidence that individual children's test scores varied significantly from year to year during primary school, and demonstrate empirically the extent of the variations, which indicates that stability in cognitive test performance is the exception rather than the rule with children in primary school.

Achievement Test Scores and Scholastic Aptitude Test Scores As Predictors of College Level Examination Program Scores

The purpose of this study was to determine the predictive validity of the College Entrance Examination Board Scholastic Achievement Test (SAT) and the College Entrance Examination Board Achievement Test scores in the prediction of scores earned by 300 students who took various subject area College Level Examination Program (CLEP) tests at Longwood College. Data consisted of SAT-Verbal (V), SAT-Mathematics (M), SAT-Total (T) scores, College Entrance Examination Board Achievement Test scores, and the various subject area CLEP test scores earned by 300 students from 1973 to 1978. The SAT-V scores yielded correlations of (1) .46 with CLEP Subject Area test scores in English Composition, (2) .45 with the CLEP Subject Area test scores in American History, (3) .49 with the CLEP Subject Area test scores in English Literature, and (4) .90 with the CLEP Subject Area test scores in the Analysis and Interpretation of Literature. The SAT-M scores furnished correlations of (1) .79 with the CLEP Subject Area test scores in College-Algebra and Trigonometry (2) .77 with the CLEP Subject Area test scores in the Analysis and Interpretation of Literature. The SAT-T scores afforded correlations of (1) .42 with the CLEP Subject Area test scores in English Composition, (2) .89 with the CLEP Subject Area test scores in the Analysis and Interpretation of Literature. The College Entrance Examination Board English Achievement test scores provided correlations of -.43, -.49, and .90, respectively, with the CLEP Subject Area test scores in American History, English Literature, and the Analysis and Interpretation of Literature. The College Entrance Examination Board Mathematics Achievement scores supplied correlations of -.62, .77, -.78, and .75, respectively, with the CLEP Subject Area test scores in American History, College-Algebra and Trigonometry, English Literature, and the Analysis and Interpretation of Literature. The College Entrance Examination Board American History Achievement test scores showed a substantial correlation of .69 with the CLEP Subject Area test scores in American History.

Bilingual Education at Rock Point: Some Early Results

A basic assumption of the bilingual program at Rock Point is that learning to read in the language one speaks will probably result in better reading skills, which will later result in better reading in the second language (English), as measured by achievement test scores. The authors believe that critical thinking is developed through language, and that cognitive development is fostered by education in the native language. Nevertheless, good English reading is important, and the authors report significant increases in English achievement tests scores of 4th and 5th grade Navajo students who learned to read in Navajo and continued to have content instruction in Navajo while they learned English. The biliterate students at Rock Point scored significantly higher in Total Reading on the Stanford Achievement Test than Navajo students in monolingual BIA schools on the Navajo reservation. The yearly rate of growth of Rock Point students was almost double that of the BIA sample population. Apparently the effects of initial literacy in Navajo are cumulative. Rock Point's bilingual-biliterate program demonstrates that instruction in Navajo is both practical and beneficial for Navajo speaking students.

Comparative effectiveness of three language laboratory methods using a new equipment system

One hundred and forty senior high school students were divided into three matched groups according to the results of intelligence and English achievement tests, and taught English in the same LL with three different methods:IP (instant playback),AA (audio active), andLDP (long-delay playback). To verify the results, all three groups were given the same five Japanese-English translation tests and the same five speaking tests all through the experiment. As a result, theIP group gained higher scores in both tests than theAA group and theLDP group. The limiting values of the logistic curves indicate that theIP group ranks first, and theAA andLDP groups are not much different.