Validating the Construct of the Reading Test of the English National Examination 2014 for the Junior High Schools
| Main Author: | Dina Eka Pertiwi; Mahasiswa |
|---|---|
| Format: | PeerReviewed |
| Bahasa: | ind |
| Terbitan: |
, 2015
|
| Online Access: |
http://karya-ilmiah.um.ac.id/index.php/sastra-inggris/article/view/42098 |
Daftar Isi:
- ABSTRAK Pertiwi, Dina Eka. 2015. Validating the Construct of the Reading Test of the English National Examination 2014 for the Junior High Schools. Thesis, English Department, Faculty of Letters, State University of Malang. Advisor: (1) Prof. Dr. Gunadi Harry Sulistyo, M.A., (II) Dr. Sintha Tresnadewi, M.Pd. Keywords: construct validity, English National Examination, blueprint, reading test. Validity is one of the characteristic of any good test should fulfill. A test is valid if it measures what it is supposed to measure. Among several types of validity, construct validity becomes the main focus of this research. Specifically, the purpose of this research are to examine the construct validity of the reading test of the English National Examination (ENE) 2014 for the junior high schools by analyzing the elaboration process from graduate competence standards (SKL) to the blueprint and reading test items as well as investigating the construct validity based on the empirical result and to inspect the theta reliability of the test. There were 223 third grade students of SMP Negeri 1 Sumberpucung recruited as the accessible population in the re-administering process of the ENE 2014 for the junior high schools. The data used to evaluate the elaboration process from SKL to the blueprint and the reading test items were collected from Permendiknas and Badan Standar NasionalPendidikan (BSNP) as the institution dealing with the planning, implementing and monitoring processes of education in Indonesia and Research and Development Board-KEMDIKBUD as the institution implementing the research and development of the education. The data used to analyze the construct validity and theta reliability of the test were collected from the result of re-administering test to the accessible population. To assess the construct validity, Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) was used to determine the items that consistently load to their factors by comparing the items load to the factor based on the underlying theories in the blueprint with the items load to the factor after the extraction and rotation process. The theta reliability which indicates the consistency of the test was calculated manually by using Carmines and Zeller’s formula. The elaboration process of graduate competence standards (SKL) into the blueprint and reading test items revealed that there were 9 factors created by examining the compatibility between the indicators in the blueprint with the reading test items. The factors created are implicit information (informasi tersirat), communicative purpose (tujuan komunikatif), specific information (informasi tertentu), detail information (informasi rinci), word reference (rujukan kata), word meaning (makna kata), topic (gambaran umum), main idea (pikiran utama) and moral message for narrative text (pesan moral untuk teks naratif). The 39 reading test items were distributed to those 9 factors based on their compatibility. However, the elaboration process also reveals that the SKL does not fit perfectly with the blueprint since there is a material of ‘short functional text’ which did not included in the blueprint. There is also a mismatch between the blueprints and reading test items because the ‘recount text’ material in the blueprint does not turn into a single reading test item. Empirically, based on the factor analysis results, there were 14 items out of 39 items that consistently load to their factors which indicate that there are 64% items being reduced. The theta reliability computation showed the higher coefficient than the alpha reliability (.723 >.631) meaning that the test will likely produce 72.3% same result on the repeated trials. The conclusion drawn from the findings of the research is that the reading test of ENE 2014 for junior high schools is lack in the construct validity by the proof that there is incompatibility between the SKL, blueprint, and reading test items. The empirical research shows that there are more than a half of the reading test items being are not able in measuring the students’ reading ability as stated in the indicators of blueprint which means that the test is low of construct validity. The theta reliability of the test (.723) which is far from the high-stakes testing reliability standard (at least .90), indicates that the test will merely yields 72.3% the same result on the repeated trials. As the high-stakes testing, the reading test of ENE 2014 for the junior high schools has to reach the level of good quality since the result of the test affects many aspects and educational stakeholders involved. Therefore, the test should be reviewed in depth to increase the validity and reliability of the test by doing some alternatives which one of them is through improving the item quality by ensuring that the test items are related with the indicators of reading ability which is aimed to be measured by the test.