The present study examined the effects of lingual background and item format on the scores of students whose vernacular is not English (i.e. secondary-English speakers) within the context of a 24-item verbal ability test written in English. Two forms of the test were developed to contain 12 multiple-choice items and 12 constructed response items each; the sequence was alternated across forms. The construction items were developed by deleting the options of 12 multiple-choice items. A two-way mixed ANOVA, with format as the within subjects factor and lingual background as the between subjects factor, was used to determine whether or not a significant interactive effect exists between students' lingual background and item format. A confirmatory factor analysis was used to determine whether or not secondary-English speakers interpret multiple-choice and construction questions the same way. A two-group, three-factor confirmatory factor analysis was used to determine whether or not secondary-English speakers interpret construction items the same way that primary-English speakers do. Conventional wisdom suggests that the combined intellectual and language skills required to comprehend and work constructed- response items under time pressure may impact the scores of secondary-English speakers to a larger extent than the combined intellectual and language skills required to comprehend and work multiple-choice items under the same time constraints. Contrary to what was expected, lingual background and format did not collectively affect the performance of secondary-English speakers. Item format had no significant effect on the test performance of secondary-English speakers; only lingual background was found to impact the performance of these students on both formats. The majority of the secondary-English speakers used in this study were students born and schooled in Puerto Rico, where the constructed-response format is traditionally used to test students throughout their schooling. This study confirmed the findings of Cooley & Leinhart (as cited in O'Leary, 2001) and O'Leary (2001), that frequent exposure to a test format will make a difference to performance. / A Dissertation Submitted to the Department of Educational Psychology and Learning Systems in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of
Philosophy. / Summer Semester, 2005. / June 29, 2005. / Measurement, Item Format, Language Testing, Test / Includes bibliographical references. / Albert Oosterhof, Professor Directing Dissertation; Elizabeth Platt, Outside Committee Member; Richard Tate, Committee Member; Akihito Kamata, Committee Member.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_176022 |
| Contributors | Trujillo, Juan L. (authoraut), Oosterhof, Albert (professor directing dissertation), Platt, Elizabeth (outside committee member), Tate, Richard (committee member), Kamata, Akihito (committee member), Department of Educational Psychology and Learning Systems (degree granting department), Florida State University (degree granting institution) |
| Publisher | Florida State University, Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Language | English, English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, text |
| Format | 1 online resource, computer, application/pdf |
| Rights | This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s). The copyright in theses and dissertations completed at Florida State University is held by the students who author them. |
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