LANGUAGE IN INDIA

Strength for Today and Bright Hope for Tomorrow

Volume 10 : 9 September 2010
ISSN 1930-2940

Managing Editor: M. S. Thirumalai, Ph.D.
Editors: B. Mallikarjun, Ph.D.
         Sam Mohanlal, Ph.D.
         B. A. Sharada, Ph.D.
         A. R. Fatihi, Ph.D.
         Lakhan Gusain, Ph.D.
         K. Karunakaran, Ph.D.
         Jennifer Marie Bayer, Ph.D.
         S. M. Ravichandran, Ph.D.

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Technology Note
Creating Parallel Test Items with Microsoft Excel

Renu Gupta, Ph.D.

Abstract

This note describes how to generate several similar test items (called parallel items) using Microsoft Excel. The simple code can be applied to several items, thereby simplifying the task of creating multiple versions of a test.

Introduction

In certain test situations, multiple versions of a test are required. For instance, one may need a back-up test for candidates who cannot take the test on the assigned date. In order to be fair to the test-takers but prevent cheating, the two tests contain different items but need to test the same construct. Considerable sophisticated work has been done on ensuring that parallel test items are equivalent (Boekkooei-Timminga, 1990; Brummel et al., 2008; Chen et al. 2008), but this note describes an extremely limited case where the test items are known to be parallel but we need to mechanically generate hundreds of parallel items.

The scenario described here is a typical English language proficiency test that examines knowledge of English grammar. Although there are significant problems with such a test (and its relationship to language proficiency), these tests are commonly used in India as a proxy for language proficiency. The test contains discrete items such as tenses, prepositions, and subject-verb agreement, and a typical test item is as under:

Select the correct answer:
Sachin ……. in Delhi now.
(a) live (b) lives (c) lived

It is possible to create a parallel version of this item by altering non-essential words around the target. Possible versions are:

" Rashid ….. in Hubli now
" Mita ….. in Kolkata now.

These are called parallel test items and each student gets only one item from the above.

In such items, the basic construct remains the same; we are testing knowledge of tenses + subject-verb agreement. However, the padding around the item is trivial; it does not matter if the person is Sachin or Rashid or if the place is Delhi or Hubli. Parallel test items allow the tester to use different items with different students to test the same construct.

This is only the beginning part of the article. PLEASE CLICK HERE TO READ THE ARTICLE IN PRINTER-FRIENDLY VERSION.

Right to Education and Languages in India - Part I | An Application of Skills Integration in Language Teaching | Official Ways to Subjugate Languages - School Setting as a Cause of Pahari Dhundi-Kairali Decline | Speech Identification Scores in Children With Bimodal Hearing | Continuous Professional Development - An Issue in Tertiary Education in Bangladesh | Teaching the Extra - Essentiality of Bringing Eclecticism into Classroom | Effective Teaching of English: A CLT Perspective for Haryana | ELT in Libyan Universities - A Pragmatic Approach | Behavioural Problems of Secondary School Students - A Pakistani Scene | Selection Procedure for English Language Teachers' Professional Development Courses of HEC Pakistan - A Case Study | Cohesion and Coherence in the novel The Portrait of a Lady by Henry James | A Review of A. R. Kidwai 2009: Literary Orientalism: a companion | Dravidian Ideologue Kanimozhi and Her Language | Extensive Reading and Reading Strategies: A Try-Out | Trends in Language Shift and Maintenance in the Eranad Dialect of Malayalam | Interdependence of Law and Literature in Shakespeare's and Charles Dickens's Writings - A Reflection | The Interaction between Bilingualism, Educational and Social Factors and Foreign Language Leaning in Iran | Code Switching in Kailasam's Play - Poli Kitty | Morph-Synthesizer for Oriya Language Computational Approach | Question Formation in Pahari | Language in Politics of Recognition: A Case of the Nepali Language in the Creation of Political Identity of the Nepalis in Darjeeling | Technology Note - Creating Parallel Test Items with Microsoft Excel | Politeness Strategies Across Cultures | Bridge between East and West - Iqbal and Goethe | Syntactic Errors Made by Science Students at the Graduate Level in Pakistan - Causes and Remedies | Prospective Teachers of English in India: A Perspective | Reported Perceptions and Practices of English Language Teachers at Secondary Level in Pakistan | A PRINT VERSION OF ALL THE PAPERS OF SEPTEMBER, 2010 ISSUE IN BOOK FORMAT. | HOME PAGE of September 2010 Issue | HOME PAGE | CONTACT EDITOR languageinindiaUSA@gmail.com

Renu Gupta, Ph.D.
4 Cornwell Road
Richmond Town
Bangalore 560025
Karnataka, India
renu@stanfordalumni.org

 
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