Testcraft
WARNING
You are viewing an older version of the Yalebooks website. Please visit out new website with more updated information and a better user experience: https://www.yalebooks.com
A Teacher`s Guide to Writing and Using Language Test Specifications
Fred Davidson and Brian K. Lynch
View Inside
Format: PaperPrice: $40.00
Our shopping cart only supports Mozilla Firefox. Please ensure you're using that browser before attempting to purchase.
Also Available in:
e-book
The creation of language tests is—and should be—a craft that is accessible and doable not only by a few language test experts, but also by many others who are involved in second/foreign language education, say the authors of this clear and timely book. Fred Davidson and Brian Lynch offer language educators a how-to guide for creating tests that reliably measure exactly what they are intended to measure. Classroom teachers, language administrators, and professors of language testing courses will find in this book an easy and flexible approach to language testing as well as the tools they need to develop tests appropriate to their individual needs.
Davidson and Lynch explain criterion-related language test development, a process that focuses on the early stages of test development when the criterion to be tested is defined, specifications are established, and items and tasks are written. This process helps clarify the description of what is being measured by a test and enables teachers to give input on test design in any instructional setting. Informed by extensive research in criterion-referenced measurement, this book invites all language educators to participate in the craft of test development and shows them how to go about it.
Davidson and Lynch explain criterion-related language test development, a process that focuses on the early stages of test development when the criterion to be tested is defined, specifications are established, and items and tasks are written. This process helps clarify the description of what is being measured by a test and enables teachers to give input on test design in any instructional setting. Informed by extensive research in criterion-referenced measurement, this book invites all language educators to participate in the craft of test development and shows them how to go about it.
Fred Davidson is associate professor of English as an International Language at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. Brian K. Lynch is associate professor in applied linguistics at Portland State University.
“This is a richly detailed book, with applicability beyond the topic of test specification development. Davidson and Lynch make a strong and ‘thorough’ argument for the primacy of test specifications in language test development, but then build on this to consider issues of how tests are used, advocacy, and the power element in testing. While Testcraft is unlikely to be the only text used in a course on language testing, it deserves to be included among the required readings.”—Nick Elson, The Canadian Modern Language Review
“The authors have succeeded in demystifying the process of test writing, and they persuasively present the case for active involvement in testing by teachers and other stakeholders in the process."—Sara Cushing Weigle, Georgia State University
“This book should be required reading for university faculty in all disciplines who have no formal training in test development. "—Neil Anderson, Brigham Young University
“This important book explains in clear and simple terms how to ensure that a test measures what it purports to measure. No other book addresses the specifications aspect of testing so clearly.”—Deborah Wilburn Robinson, The Ohio State University
“Do you need to have a Ph.D. in Psychometrics and Educational Measurement in order to design tests? Absolutely not, say Davidson and Lynch in this clear and practical guide to developing contextually appropriate tests. According to the authors, tests should be written by a group of invested individuals. . . . According to Davidson and Lynch, test specs and the tests themselves greatly benefit when teachers participate in their development.”—English Teaching Forum
ISBN: 9780300090062
Publication Date: September 10, 2001
Publication Date: September 10, 2001
160 pages, x
15 chart/graphs
15 chart/graphs
ADDITIONAL MATERIALS
Table of Contents (PDF)
