- ITEM ANALYSIS OF ENGLISH FORMATIVE TESTS MADE BY ENGLISH TEACHERS OF SMU NEGERI 1 MAJENANG YEAR 2006/2007

By
Dodi Widodo
04304171

CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION

A. Background of the Problem

At least, there are two reasons conducting this research:

1. The Importance of Tests
Tests are very important for teachers and students as well. Teachers routinely develop classroom tests throughout the academic year to get a quick overview of students mastery of relevant material. Good constructed tests will give teachers feedback about their students as well as about how well they teach.

2. The Quality of Tests
SMU Negeri 1 Majenang is the only State Senior High School in sub-district of Majenang and it, all at once, is a referenced school for both state and private high schools in Majenang and its surroundings. Therefore, to investigate the quality of teacher-made tests of the school seems interesting, for the teachers are always appointed to represent their town to make collective tests for district of Cilacap.

B. Identification of the Problem
Item analysis can be used for investigating the quality of the English formative test made by the English teachers of SMU Negeri 1 Majenang in academic year of 2006/2007.

C. Delimitation of the Problem
For the sake of getting a comprehensive result, both qualitative and quantitative item analysis are covered here. The only limitation is on the discussion of test validity. The researcher will focus on content validity analysis because this analysis is the core of checking validity.

D. Formulation of the Problem
According to identification and limitation of the problem above, the writer has some questions that will be answered throughout the process of writing this thesis. The questions have been formulated as follows:

1. How difficult or easy has each item of the English formative tests made by the English teachers of SMU Negeri 1 Majenang in the academic year of 2006/2007 been for the students who took it?

2. How well can the items of the English formative tests made by the English teachers of SMU Negeri 1 Majenang in the academic year of 2006/2007 discriminate between the good and the poor students?

3. How well is each distracter of the English formative tests made by the English teachers of SMU Negeri 1 Majenang in the academic year of 2006/2007 operating?

4. How is the content validity of the English formative tests made by the English teachers of SMU Negeri 1 Majenang in the academic year of 2006/2007?

5. How is the item validity of the English formative tests made by the English teachers of SMU Negeri 1 Majenang in the academic year of 2006/2007?

6. How high is the reliability of the English formative tests made by the English teachers of SMU Negeri 1 Majenang in the academic year of 2006/2007?

E. Objectives of the Study

Objectives of the study is:

1. To calculate the level of difficulty of the English formative tests made by the English teachers of SMU Negeri 1 Majenang in the academic year of 2006/2007 from which we can then discover items that are too easy, even for the poor students and to discover if any items are too difficult, even for the best student.

2. To calculate the level of discrimination of the English formative tests made by the English teachers of SMU Negeri 1 Majenang in the academic year of 2006/2007 from which we can then determine the items that do not discriminate between the good and the poor students.

3. To discover the effectiveness of each distracter of the English formative tests made by the English teachers of SMU Negeri 1 Majenang in the academic year of 2006/2007 from which we can know how well each distracter is operating.

4. To know the content validity of the English formative tests made by the English teachers of SMU Negeri 1 Majenang in the academic year of 2006/2007.

5. To know the item validity of the English formative tests made by the English teachers of SMU Negeri 1 Majenang in the academic year of 2006/2007.

6. To know the reliability level of the English formative tests made by the English teachers of SMU Negeri 1 Majenang in the academic year of 2006/2007.

F. Significance of the Study

Practically, it is hoped that this research would bring some benefits as follows:

1. This study will give basic understanding to teachers, employers, and others in evaluative positions that judgements cannot be made solely on the basis of intuition, haphazard guessing, or custom and they should make item analysis a part of their jobs and their continuing professionalism developments.

2. This study will provide the English teachers of SMU Negeri 1 Majenang with some meaningful information for efficient class discussion of the test result, remedial work, the general improvement of classroom instruction and also for increased skills in test construction.

3. This study will give the writer both theoretical and practical knowledge about item analysis and its procedures.