Threshold Measurability on the Secondary Level English Proficiency Test : An Analysis from a View Point of the Criterion Validity in Reference to the Pre-2nd Grade STEP Test Score

Tomoki SUZUKI
2005 Journal of The National Institute of Technology, Asahikawa College  
Implementing an appropriate proficiency test fbr learners ofEnglish as a fbreign language has important implications for facilitating the learners' language attainment, reyiewing the curriculum and fbr teaching as a whole, This study reports on the appropriateness ofusing the Secondary Level English Proficiency Test to secendary school students in Japan by analyzing the indices ofreliability, item facility, item discrimination, and the correlation coefTlcients between the SLEP Test score and
more » ... Pre-2nd Grade STEP Test scores. The appropriateness ofthe SLEP Test was supported with (1) the overall high reliability coefficients and the number ofitems with an acceptable item discrimination index both on the listening section and the reading section except for two subsections with insufficient values, (2) the existence ofa high correlation (r -.79) between the SLEP Test scores and the Pre-2nd Grade STEP Test scores, which strongly supported the criterion validity of the SLEP Test scores as a predictor variable fbr its counterpart, Another finding was that the valid threshold proficiency level ofthe SLEP Test coincided with that of the STEP Test, and that the upper threshold was well above the proficiency range that the Pre-2nd Grade STEP Test could cover.
doi:10.24706/asahikawa.42.0_41 fatcat:hlav2g737nh5nc5eog2su7lay4