This article describes how The Language Center at the Espirito Santo Federal University changed from using traditional pencil-andpaper tests to performance testing, based on authentic tasks. The change was prompted because people thought that their testing did not reflect a communicative approach to language teaching. The Assessment Project lasted…

This article examined two item-writing guidelines: the format of the item stem and homogeneity of the answer set. Answering the call of Haladyna, Downing, and Rodriguez (2002) for empirical tests of item writing guidelines and extending the work of Smith and Smith (1988) on differential use of item characteristics, a mock multiple-choice driver's…

The use of computers to deliver course-related materials is rapidly expanding in most universities. Yet the effects of computer vs. printed delivery modes on students' performance and motivation are not yet fully known. We compared the impacts of Web vs. paper to deliver practice quizzes that require information search in lecture notes. Hundred…

This paper is a polemical discussion of assessment in teacher education. Working from the proposition that assessment serves a number of important purposes for a range of stakeholders (students, employers, quality assurance agencies, government), it argues that there is considerable potential for conflict between the different purposes. In an age…

Many psychology instructors present videotaped examples of behavior at least occasionally during their courses. However, few include video clips during examinations. We provide examples of video-based questions, offer guidelines for their use, and discuss their benefits and drawbacks. In addition, we provide empirical evidence to support the use…

The purpose of this study was to determine whether or not survey medium (electronic versus paper format) has a significant effect on the results achieved. To compare survey media, responses from elementary students to British Columbia's Satisfaction Survey were analyzed. Although this study was not experimental in design, the data set served as a…

Under item response theory (IRT), linking proficiency scales from separate calibrations of multiple forms of a test to achieve a common scale is required in many applications. Four IRT linking methods including the mean/mean, mean/sigma, Haebara, and Stocking-Lord methods have been presented for use with single-format tests. This study extends the…

Phonological awareness (PA) is the ability to analyze spoken language into its component sounds and to manipulate these smaller units. Literature review related to PA shows that a variety of factor groups play a role in PA in Mandarin such as linguistic experience (spoken language, alphabetic literacy, and second language learning), item type,…

Students in an introductory biology course who were given open-book exams during the semester earned significantly higher grades on these exams, but significantly lower grades on the closed-book final exam, than students who took in-class, closed-book exams throughout the semester. Exam format was also associated with changes in academic behavior;…

The feasibility of using linear and equipercentile equating methods (W. H. Angoff, 1984) to equate forms of the Test of Written English (TWE) by using the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) as an anchor was explored. These two equating methods assume that either the TOEFL test and TWE test measure the same skills or that the examinee…

A procedure for checking the score equivalence of nearly identical editions of a test is described. The procedure employs the standard error of equating (SEE) and utilizes graphical representation of score conversion deviation from the identity function in standard error units. Two illustrations of the procedure involving Scholastic Aptitude Test…

Equating a test form to itself through a chain of equatings, commonly referred to as circular equating, has been widely used as a criterion to evaluate the adequacy of equating. This paper uses both analytical methods and simulation methods to show that this criterion is in general invalid in serving this purpose. For the random groups design done…

This paper, presented in an outline format, provides general suggestions for the format of classroom tests and offers guidelines for adapting commercial tests that accompany textbooks for students with disabilities. Suggestions include, for example, using visual prompts to focus attention on important words, symbols, or procedures; and not…

A study examined the results of an administration of a series of theoretically based prototype tests to 857 high school students in California, New York, and Wisconsin. By revising the existing framework of a prior study, tests were devised which attempted to measure three interrelated aspects of school literature: background knowledge, the…

A technique is described for reducing the incidence of cheating on multiple choice exams. One form of the test is used and each item is assigned multiple numbers. Depending upon the instructions given to the class, some students will use the first of each pair of numbers to determine where to place their responses on a separate answer sheet, while…