earticle

영어

“Test analysis of listening and reading item characteristics for the young Learners of English.” Studies in English Language & Literature. 37.2 (2011): 249-74. Currently, high-stake standardized language tests have been designed and administrated for the young learners of English at the elementary and secondary levels in Korea. The purpose of this study is to analyze the item characteristics of two tests which were intended to measure young learners’ English listening and reading ability. In order to identify the quality of test items, the three parameter Item Response Theory (IRT) was employed. Test takers were the young learners of English at the elementary and secondary levels, and they responded 60 items for each test. The quality of individual items was calculated with respect to the item difficulty level, discrimination power, and guessing parameter. The item parameters of sub-parts of tests were compared respectively on the basis of statistical indices. The findings suggest that the means of the difficulty, discrimination, and guessing parameters in two tests were quite similar. This study, however, identified the problematic aspects of item characteristics to be considered for enhancing the quality control of parallel test forms. (Chung-Ang University)