<p>The test context is of paramount importance in language testing as it provides an understanding of the kind of tasks to be included in the test, how these tasks are executed by the test takers and how they can be efficiently administered. The objective of this study was to investigate the extent to which the context of the DR Congo English state examination (ESE) is valid and to come out with some useful suggestions that are likely to improve its validity. Two basic theories, the modern validity theory and the schema theory, informed this study. Weir‟s (2005) socio-cognitive framework was used to build the validity argument for the evaluation of the English state examination.</p> <p>A mixed method was used where the research design consisted of the combination of both qualitative and quantitative data during the collection and analysis stages. The content document analysis method was used to examine the content of the different state examination papers so as to identify the main features of the test, and the statistic (descriptive) method was used to quantify observations identified in the state examination papers and to evaluate the context validity of the ESE. Three techniques were used to collect the research data: the questionnaire, the<br /> test, and the interview.</p> <p>Three main findings of this study were reported: (1) the conditions under which the ESE tasks are performed and the relevance of these tasks to the test domain and characteristics are still far to contribute to the quality of evaluation of high school finalist students / (2) the extent to which the ESE includes tasks that take into consideration the nature of information in the text as well as the knowledge required for completing the task is globally good / (3) the conditions under which the test takes place are poor and these conditions affect the validity of test scores. The study recommends the test developers to approximate test tasks to those students have been exposed to in classroom situations and those they are likely to encounter in real life. It also recommends all the people involved in the administration of the test to adhere to high ethical standards.</p>

<p>The test context is of paramount importance in language testing as it provides an understanding of the kind of tasks to be included in the test, how these tasks are executed by the test takers and how they can be efficiently administered. The objective of this study was to investigate the extent to which the context of the DR Congo English state examination (ESE) is valid and to come out with some useful suggestions that are likely to improve its validity. Two basic theories, the modern validity theory and the schema theory, informed this study. Weir‟s (2005) socio-cognitive framework was used to build the validity argument for the evaluation of the English state examination.</p> <p>A mixed method was used where the research design consisted of the combination of both qualitative and quantitative data during the collection and analysis stages. The content document analysis method was used to examine the content of the different state examination papers so as to identify the main features of the test, and the statistic (descriptive) method was used to quantify observations identified in the state examination papers and to evaluate the context validity of the ESE. Three techniques were used to collect the research data: the questionnaire, the<br /> test, and the interview.</p> <p>Three main findings of this study were reported: (1) the conditions under which the ESE tasks are performed and the relevance of these tasks to the test domain and characteristics are still far to contribute to the quality of evaluation of high school finalist students / (2) the extent to which the ESE includes tasks that take into consideration the nature of information in the text as well as the knowledge required for completing the task is globally good / (3) the conditions under which the test takes place are poor and these conditions affect the validity of test scores. The study recommends the test developers to approximate test tasks to those students have been exposed to in classroom situations and those they are likely to encounter in real life. It also recommends all the people involved in the administration of the test to adhere to high ethical standards.</p>

Magister Educationis - MEd / The test context is of paramount importance in language testing as it provides an understanding of the kind of tasks to be included in the test, how these tasks are executed by the test takers and how they can be efficiently administered. The objective of this study was to investigate the extent to which the context of the DR Congo English state examination (ESE) is valid and to come out with some useful suggestions that are likely to improve its validity. Two basic theories, the modern validity theory and the schema theory, informed this study. Weir's (2005) socio-cognitive framework was used to build the validity argument for the evaluation of the English state examination. A mixed method was used where the research design consisted of the combination of both qualitative and quantitative data during the collection and analysis stages. The content document analysis method was used to examine the content of the different state examination papers so as to identify the main features of the test, and the statistic (descriptive) method was used to quantify observations identified in the state examination papers and to evaluate the context validity of the ESE. Three techniques were used to collect the research data: the questionnaire, the test, and the interview. Three main findings of this study were reported: (1) the conditions under which the ESE tasks are performed and the relevance of these tasks to the test domain and characteristics are still far to contribute to the quality of evaluation of high school finalist students; (2) the extent to which the ESE includes tasks that take into consideration the nature of information in the text as well as the knowledge required for completing the task is globally good; (3) the conditions under which the test takes place are poor and these conditions affect the validity of test scores. The study recommends the test developers to approximate test tasks to those students have been exposed to in classroom situations and those they are likely to encounter in real life. It also recommends all the people involved in the administration of the test to adhere to high ethical standards. / South Africa

BACKGROUND: Practitioners of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) therapies are an important and growing presence in health care systems worldwide. A central question is whether evidence-based behavior change interventions routinely employed in conventional health care could also be integrated into CAM practice to address public health priorities. Essential for successful integration are intervention approaches deemed acceptable and consistent with practice patterns and treatment approaches of different types of CAM practitioners - that is, they have context validity. Intervention development to ensure context validity was integral to Project CAM Reach (CAMR), a project examining the public health potential of tobacco cessation training for chiropractors, acupuncturists and massage therapists (CAM practitioners). This paper describes formative research conducted to achieve this goal. METHODS: Intervention development, undertaken in three CAM disciplines (chiropractic, acupuncture, massage therapy), consisted of six iterative steps: 1) exploratory key informant interviews; 2) local CAM practitioner community survey; 3) existing tobacco cessation curriculum demonstration with CAM practitioners; 4) adapting/tailoring of existing curriculum; 5) external review of adaptations; 6) delivery of tailored curriculum to CAM practitioners with follow-up curriculum evaluation. RESULTS: CAM practitioners identified barriers and facilitators to addressing tobacco use with patients/clients and saw the relevance and acceptability of the intervention content. The intervention development process was attentive to their real world intervention concerns. Extensive intervention tailoring to the context of each CAM discipline was found unnecessary. Participants and advisors from all CAM disciplines embraced training content, deeming it to have broad relevance and application across the three CAM disciplines. All findings informed the final intervention. CONCLUSIONS: The participatory and iterative formative research process yielded an intervention with context validity in real-world CAM practices as it: 1) is patient/client-centered, emphasizing the practitioner's role in a healing relationship; 2) is responsive to the different contexts of CAM practitioners' work and patient/client relationships; 3) integrates relevant best practices from US Public Health Service Clinical Practice Guidelines on treating tobacco dependence; and 4) is suited to the range of healing philosophies, scopes of practice and practice patterns found in participating CAM practitioners. The full CAMR study to evaluate the impact of the CAMR intervention on CAM practitioners' clinical behavior is underway.

Students entering academic programmes are frequently overwhelmed by the demand for extensive reading and comprehension of information derived from multiple and contrasting sources. This entails both careful and expeditious reading. The latter has been generally neglected in research and has not been the focus of many tests. Both types of reading were investigated in this study through a validation process of the summative English reading test for academic purposes taken at the end of the Foundation Programme in Oman. In particular, context validity was established through focusing on the interaction between the linguistic demands and task setting parameters and also the cognitive processes through which the students engaged with the test tasks. To establish the context validity of the test, this study adopted Khalifa and Weir’s (2009) model which not only embraced the complex and multi-componential nature of reading but also provided a workable validation framework. A multi-strategy approach was adopted. A natural experiment utilising Verbal Protocol Analysis captured the cognitive processes through which students engaged in reading. Automated analysis software and opinions of expert judges were used to compare test passages with text extracts drawn from first year academic courses. Correlation tests and factor analysis revealed these cognitive processes and established the robustness of the Khalifa and Weir (2009) model, which was thus validated in a second language context. Passages in the foundation tests were found to be generally representative of academic texts although certain features such as abstractness were under-represented.

Students entering academic programmes are frequently overwhelmed by the demand for extensive reading and comprehension of information derived from multiple and contrasting sources. This entails both careful and expeditious reading. The latter has been generally neglected in research and has not been the focus of many tests. Both types of reading were investigated in this study through a validation process of the summative English reading test for academic purposes taken at the end of the Foundation Programme in Oman. In particular, context validity was established through focusing on the interaction between the linguistic demands and task setting parameters and also the cognitive processes through which the students engaged with the test tasks. To establish the context validity of the test, this study adopted Khalifa and Weir’s (2009) model which not only embraced the complex and multi-componential nature of reading but also provided a workable validation framework. A multi-strategy approach was adopted. A natural experiment utilising Verbal Protocol Analysis captured the cognitive processes through which students engaged in reading. Automated analysis software and opinions of expert judges were used to compare test passages with text extracts drawn from first year academic courses. Correlation tests and factor analysis revealed these cognitive processes and established the robustness of the Khalifa and Weir (2009) model, which was thus validated in a second language context. Passages in the foundation tests were found to be generally representative of academic texts although certain features such as abstractness were under-represented. / Government of the Sultanate of Oman, represented by the Ministry of Manpower