3 credits

In this course, students are introduced to the world of language assessment, where they learn about contemporary issues. The curriculum covers key concepts in language assessment, including construct validity, reliability, authenticity, washback, and ethics. Moreover, students gain practical experience in critiquing and crafting various types of test tasks, such as selected response item types (e.g., multiple-choice and true-false questions) and constructed response item types (including summary writing tasks and group oral discussion speaking tasks).

The course equips students with the essential skills to analyze the psychometric qualities of assessment instruments, employing classical test theory statistics. They’ll become proficient in evaluating both norm-referenced and criterion-referenced tests. To facilitate this analysis, students will be utilizing tools like, SPSS and Excel, ensuring they are well-versed in assessing the strengths and weaknesses of various assessment instruments.

The course material is structured to provide a comprehensive understanding of language assessment. It begins by exploring educational evaluation and the steps in the evaluation process. Students will learn various approaches to language testing and gain insight into the characteristics of well-designed tests. They will learn about the distinction between objective and essay tests, as well as explore different types of language tests. 

By the end of this course, students will hopefully meet the targeted Program Learning Outcomes (PLO), such as being able to show religious, responsible, and academic attitudes and behaviours that can contribute to improving the quality of life in society, nation and state; being able to master the theories, concepts, and principles of English learning pedagogy; being able to choose various alternative solutions independently and in groups in solving the learning problems they face in accordance with the context to obtain the best learning outcomes and optimal student development ; and being able to apply theories, concepts, and principles of English pedagogy well in planning, implementing, and evaluating English learning .

Finally, seeing the PLOs, the students are expected to be able to: 

• master the principles of educational evaluation and English tests, skills tests and aspects of English, components of objective tests and essay tests, both in separate (discrete point) and combined (integrative), test making, test execution, and interpretation of test results.
• apply the principles of making test items and administering tests.
• formulate the test results interpretation well.