语言测试学资料 2.doc

PAGE PAGE 12 Chapter 2 (第二章) The Validity of Language Testing (语言测试的效度) What is validity? A test is said to be valid if it measures accurately what it is intended to measure. Validity has a number of aspects: Content validity内容效度 Criterion-related validity标准相关效度 Construct validity 编制效度 Face validity表面效度 The use of validity效度的用途 Content Validity: A test is said to have content validity if its content constitutes a representative sample of the language skills, structures, etc. with which it is meant to be concerned. e.g. A grammar test must be made up of items testing knowledge or control of grammar. But this in itself does not ensure content validity. The test would have content validity only if it included a proper sample of the relevant structures. What are the relevant structures will depend upon the purpose of the test. In order to judge whether or not a test has content validity, we need a specification of the skills or structures etc. that it is meant to cover. Such a specification should be made at a very early stage in test construction. It isn’t to be expected that everything in the specification will always appear in the test; there may simply be too many things for all of them to appear in s single test. But it will provide the test constructor with the basis for making a principled selection of elements for inclusion in the test. A comparison of test specification and test content is the basis for judgments as to content validity. Ideally these judgments should be made by people who are familiar with language teaching and testing but who are not directly concerned with the production of the test in question. What is the importance of content validity? First, the greater a test’s content validity, the more likely it is to be an accurate measure of what it is supposed to measure. A test in which major areas identified in the specification are under-represented or not represented at all is unlikely to be accurate. Secondly, such a