this article reports on the findings of a study that investigated the impact of manipulating task performance conditions on listening task performance by learners of english as a foreign language (efl). the study was designed to explore the effects of changing complexity dimensions on listening task performance and to achieve two aims: to see how listening comprehension task performance was aff...

OBJECTIVE To test the validity and reliability of latent trait measures estimated from ratings by low-vision patients of the importance and difficulty of selected activity goals. DESIGN Validation of a telephone-administered functional assessment instrument using Rasch analysis of self-assessment ratings. SETTING Telephone interviews of respondents in their homes. Participants Consecutive s...

PURPOSE To investigate, using Rasch analysis, whether the 15-item Glaucoma Quality of Life-15 (GQL-15) forms a valid scale and to optimize its psychometric properties. METHODS One hundred eighteen glaucoma patients (mean age, 65.7 years) completed the German-version of the GQL-15. Rasch analysis was performed to assess category function (how respondents differentiated between the response opt...

Cheating is a common phenomenon in high stakes admission, licensing and university exams and threatens their validity. To detect if some exam questions had been affected by cheating, we simulated how data would look like if some test takers possessed item preknowledge: Responses to a small number of items were set to correct for 1-10% of test takers. Item difficulty, item discrimination, item f...

Item parameter invariance is one of the properties of item response theory (IRT) that enables computerized adaptive testing (CAT) for test administration. The possible influence of item position on test performance is one of the severe threats to the property of item parameter invariance within IRT. This study examines how different impact how the relationship between item position and item dif...

This article offers a 3-parameter model of testing, with 1) the difference between the ability level of the examinee and item difficulty; 2) the examinee discrimination and 3) the item discrimination as model parameters.

When a person confronts the task of memorizing a collection of facts some questions have to be answered about how to optimize their learning. Perhaps the most important of these questions is how the practices for each item should be scheduled. The most basic suggestion from psychology is that the practices should be spaced as widely as possible. Since Bahrick (1979) it has been clear that wide ...

most universities across iran tend to develop english tests for placement, exit, achievement, and other purposes. examining the various features of such tests is imperative for making informed decisions about learners’ achievement level. the present study examined the features of a university-wide administered english language achievement test at iran university of science and technology (iust)...