In order to evaluate this test, we should first look at the basic principles of

language assessment which includes practicality, authenticity, validity and also

reliability. These are all the criteria that need to be fulfilled in order to have a good

test items. The first principle is practicality. Practicality refers to the logistical,

down-to-earth, administrative issues involved in making, giving and scoring an

assessment instrument. (Brown, 2010, p.26) In regard to practicality, at least we

should think about time, place, people, equipment, cost, scoring and giving

feedback. We need to ask ourselves a series of questions, like how long the test

will last, where the test will be held, how many human recourses is needed,

whether the test needs extra equipment (LCD projector, sound system, etc.), how

much it will cost, how to evaluate students’ performance, how long and how

much students can get feedback. In terms of practicality, the test has fulfilled all

these criteria.

Brown also maintained that an authentic test should contain language that is

as natural as possible and have items that are contextualized rather than isolated

(Brown, 2010, p.36). To make a test authentic, first, we can use a story line,

situation or episode as the thematic organization. From my observation, the test

is authentic in a way that the knowledge assessed is contextualized in such a

meaningful context, enabling students to find the topic and content engaging and

interesting.

Then, Brown stated that a valid test should measure what it proposes to

measure (Brown, 2004, p.30). A test is criterion-related validity if it has

demonstrated its effectiveness in predicting criterion or indicators of a construct.

In terms of validity, I could say that the test is valid because it is correlated to the

theories in the SLA domain. Furthermore, we can relate to the teaching

objectives and the teaching content.

The fourth principle is reliability. A reliable test should ensure pupils could

conduct consistent performance among several testing administrations. The

physical and psychological condition of the pupils during the test are all the same

and shows that they can all perform normally in the test. The external factors,

like the time chosen, the place where the test is held, and the quality of the test

paper and equipment are all under control. This shows that the test is reliable.

Strengths

First of all, the test has fulfilled all the criteria and the principles of language

assessment. This shows that it is a good test. The place chosen, which is the

classroom, is conducive and suitable to conduct a test. The lighting was good.

The test is quite interesting because the teacher includes pictures in the test.

Therefore, the pupils not only see words but also pictures that can help them

answer the test. Then, the part where the pupils have to refer to a text, pupils can

get extra knowledge by reading the text. We can test their performance, at the

same time giving extra information to them.

Weakness and suggestion for improvement

After the test, we find out that the test items is a little bit difficult for some the

pupils. It is more suitable to a high level of learners. For the weak pupils, the

difficulty of the test item should be decreased a little bit so that it suits the

learners. There are only few pupils that can answer this test item. Therefore, to

improve the test items, first we must find out the level of the pupils. After that, we

can create a test item that suits the pupils. However, we cant make it easy

because it will make the pupils feel boring. If they can answer it easily, then they

didnt learn anything from the test. In a class with mixed ability pupils like this,

average difficulty is just nice because both low and high achievers can answer it.

There wont be a big gap between their results.