No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

Thèse numérisée par la Direction des bibliothèques de l'Université de Montréal.

Standardized aptitude and achievement tests are often accompanied by directions which recommend skipping items perceived as difficult and returning to answer them if time permits. Prior to the present study, the only empirical research in this area was a single study concerning the effects of examinee decisions to follow or disregard these instructions. It was the conclusion of this research that it was to the advantage of high ability examinees to follow the instructions to skip but that conformity to the instructions was disadvantageous to middle and low ability examinees. The present study, in contrast, was concerned with the effects of differing instructions concerning skipping and was quasi-experimental in design. The sample consisted of 423 eighth through twelfth grade students of algebra and biology. Intact classes representing three ability levels were assigned at random to treatment conditions consisting of instructions to skip, not to skip, and with no advice concerning skipping (only “skip” and “do not skip” instructions for the algebra classes.) Schoolwide tests were administered using special answer sheets designed to identify skipped items even when examinees later returned and answered some or all previously skipped. The scores from these tests were used in determination of end-of-course grades. The primary dependent variables were number-right test scores and the number of items skipped. For each subject area, two, two-way factorial analyses of variance evaluated the effect of the differing instructions across ability levels, one for the number-right scores and one for the number of items skipped. For the algebra test, there was no significant treatment effect for number-right scores. However, there was a significant interaction (p≤.01) between ability level and treatment, with high ability examinees receiving “do not skip” instructions performing significantly worse than their counterparts who received “skip” instructions. For the biology test scores, the main effect for treatment and its interaction with ability were not significant (p>.05). For the number of skips in both algebra and biology, the main effect for treatment was significant (p<.01), with the fewest skips in the “do not skip” groups. In addition, for the number of skips in algebra, the main effect for ability was significant (p<.05) with the fewest skips in the middle ability group. While the instructions apparently had their intended effect, and while the treatment-ability interaction in algebra was consistent with the findings of prior research, the number of items skipped by groups instructed to do so were not large, and groups instructed not to skip had meaningful number of skips nevertheless. Thus it was not surprising that neither the biology scores nor the algebra scores differed significantly according to treatment. Extensive secondary analyses of item and other statistics provided no basis for explaining the interaction between ability and treatment for the algebra scores. It was concluded that instructions to skip items had relatively little effect for tests of the type employed in this study. / Ph. D.

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of race and gender on omissions in multiple choice tests. Modest but significant (p <= .05) correlations were observed between gender and omissions and between race and omissions on the mathematics subtest of the Tests of Achievement and Proficiency, a standardized achievement test administered to all eleventh graders in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Item characteristics (difficulty, discrimination and an index of differential item functioning) were used as independent variables in regression equations for the male/female case and the black/white case. In both cases item difficulty was the only significant (p <= .05) predictor of omissions. Principal components analysis was used to create composite variables characterizing school divisions. These composites together with race (proportion of black students) were used as independent variables in a regression equation with omissions as the dependent variable. Race was the only variable which was a significant predictor of omissions. / Ph. D.

Thesis (M. Tech.) - Central University of Technology, Free State, 2009

This study investigates the effect of testing mode on lower-level Saudi Arabian test-takers’ performance and cognitive processes when taking an L2 reading test on computer compared to its paper-based counterpart from an interface design perspective. An interface was developed and implemented into the computer-based version of the L2 reading test in this study, which was administered to 102 Saudi Arabian University students for quantitative analyses and to an additional eighteen for qualitative analyses. All participants were assessed on the same L2 reading test in two modes on two separate occasions in a within-subject design. Statistical tests such as correlations, group comparisons, and item analyses were employed to investigate test-mode effect on test-takers’ performance whereas test-takers’ concurrent verbalizations were recorded when taking the reading test to investigate their cognitive processes. Strategies found in both modes were compared through their frequency of occurrence. In addition, a qualitative illustration of test-takers cognitive behavior was given to describe the processes when taking a lower-level L2 reading test. A mixed-method approach was adhered to when collecting data consisting of questionnaires think-aloud protocols, and post-experimental interviews as main data collection instruments. Results on test-takers’ performance showed that there was no significant difference between the two modes of testing on overall reading performance, however, item level analyses discovered significant differences on two of the test’s items. Further qualitative investigation into possible interface design related causes for these differences showed no identifiable relationship between test-takers’ performance and the computer-based testing mode. Results of the cognitive processes analyses showed significant differences in three out of the total number of cognitive processes employed by test-takers indicating that test-takers had more difficulties in processing text in the paper-based test than in the computer-based test. Both product and process analyses carried out further provided convincing supporting evidence for the cognitive validity, content validity, and context validity contributing to the construct validity of the computer-based test used in this study.

The main objective of this thesis was to explore issues related to student achievement motivation in the Swedish TIMSS 2003 (Trend in International Mathematics and Science Study) context. The thesis comprises of five empirical papers and a summary. The expectancy-value theory of achievement motivation was used as the general theoretical framework in all empirical papers, and all papers are concerned with construct validation in one form or another. Aspects of student achievement motivation were measured on a task-specific level (motivation to do well on the TIMSS test) and on a domain-specific level (self-concept in and valuing of mathematics and science) and regressed on test performance. The first paper reports the development and validation of scores from an instrument measuring aspects related to student test-taking motivation. It was shown that a number of items in the instrument could be interpreted as a measure of test-taking motivation, and that the test-taking motivation construct was distinct from other related constructs. The second paper related the Swedish students’ ratings of mathematics test-taking motivation to mathematics performance in TIMSS 2003. The students in the sample on average reported that they were well motivated to do their best on the TIMSS mathematics test and their ratings of test-taking motivation were positively but rather weakly related to achievement. In the third and the fourth papers, the internal structure and relation to performance of the mathematics and science self-concept and task value scales used in TIMSS internationally was investigated for the Swedish TIMSS 2003 sample. For mathematics, it was shown that the internationally derived scales were suitable also for the Swedish sample. It was further shown that ratings of self-concept were rather strongly related to mathematics achievement while ratings of mathematics value were basically unrelated to mathematics achievement. For the science subjects, the internal structure of the scales was less simple, and ratings of self-concept and valuing of science were not very strongly related to science achievement. The study presented in the fifth paper used interviews and an open-ended questionnaire item to further investigate student test-taking motivation and perceptions of the TIMSS test. The results mainly corroborated the results from study II. In the introductory part of the thesis, the empirical studies are summarized, contextualized, and discussed. The discussion relates obtained results to theoretical assumptions, applied implications, and to issues of validity in the TIMSS context.

To understand learners’ beliefs about language learning and strategy use in an EFL exit test environment, this study investigated Taiwanese university students’ language learning beliefs; EFL exit test beliefs; language learning, test-preparation, and test-taking strategies; the relationships among their beliefs and strategy use; and the differences in students’ beliefs and strategy use according to their major, gender, grade level, entrance exam English score, and EFL exit test experience. A total of 518 Taiwanese university students participated in the questionnaire study. Two major instruments were developed and used to measure students’ beliefs and strategy use in the Taiwanese EFL exit test context: (1) the Belief about Language Learning in an EFL Exit test Context (BALLIEETC), and (2) the Strategy Inventory for Language Learning in an EFL Exit test Context (SILLEETC). Analysis of the questionnaire data involved descriptive statistics, factor analysis, canonical correlation analysis, and multivariate analysis of variance. The questionnaire results suggested the following: (1) students believed in the importance of speaking English well, repeating and practicing, learning vocabulary words, acquiring excellent pronunciation, and correcting errors; (2) students primarily used memory, cognitive, compensation, metacognitive, test-preparation, and test-taking strategies to learn English, prepare for the EFL exit test, and take the test; (3) students’ beliefs were associated with their strategy use; (4) English majors had stronger beliefs and higher levels of strategy use than non-English majors; (5) students with higher entrance exam English scores had stronger beliefs and higher levels of strategy use than those of lower scores; (6) college seniors believed more in foreign language aptitude and use test-taking strategies more often than freshmen; (7) students who had taken and passed an EFL exit test had stronger beliefs and higher levels of strategy use than those who had not taken a test. The results of this study support an association between learners’ beliefs and strategy use. Understanding students’ beliefs about language learning and the EFL exit test, as well as their use of language-learning, test-preparation, and test-taking strategies, may enable EFL teachers to help students develop effective language learning, test-preparation, and test-taking strategies and improve their English abilities and EFL exit test performance. The field of second language acquisition may also benefit from insights into students’ beliefs and their use of strategies in an EFL exit test environment. The EFL exit test may affect students’ beliefs about language learning and strategy use, such as their having stronger beliefs about the importance of vocabulary and higher levels of memory strategy use. / text