ABSTRACT
This
research was carried out to assess chemistry teachers’ knowledge of test construction
procedures in chemistry objective test at senior secondary school level in Edo
Central Senatorial district of Edo
State.
The test
construction procedures the researcher assessed were the basic steps in test
construction which were agreed upon by world known psychometricians. They are as follows:
1.
Defining instructional objectives
2.
Specifying content to be covered
3.
Developing a table of specification or
test blue print
4.
Determining the types of items to be used.
5.
Determining the item analysis of the test.
The study
used a correlation research design for which three hypotheses were
generated. The first hypothesis sought
to find out the relationship between male and female chemistry teachers as
regard their knowledge of test construction procedure in chemistry objective
test. The second hypothesis was to find
out if there is difference in knowledge of test construction procedure between
experience and inexperience chemistry teachers.
The third hypothesis was to establish the difference in knowledge of
test construction procedure between qualified and unqualified chemistry
teachers. T-test was used to test the
different hypotheses. All statistical
analysis was carried out at α = 0.05.
Results of data analysis showed that:
i.
Knowledge of test construction procedure
do not differ significantly between male and female chemistry teachers.
ii.
Experience chemistry teachers are more
knowledgeable in test construction procedure than the inexperienced chemistry
teachers.
iii.
Professionally qualified chemistry
teachers are more knowledgeable in test construction procedure than the
unqualified chemistry teachers.
Based on
the findings and conclusions reached in this study, it was recommended that,
teachers should be instructed on the proper techniques of test construction
through seminars and workshops. Finally,
unqualified chemistry teachers should be encouraged to go for post-graduate
diploma in education.
TABLE
OF CONTENT
Pages
Title Page i
Certification ii
Dedication iii
Acknowledgement iv
Abstract v
CHAPTER
ONE: INTRODUCTION
Background to Study 1
Statement of Problem 7
Purpose of Study 9
Research Questions 10
Hypotheses 11
Major Assumptions of the Study 12
Significant of the Study 13
Scope/Delimitation of the Study 15
Limitation of the Study 15
Operational Definition of Terms 16
CHAPTER
TWO: REVIEW OF LITERATURE
What is a Test? 19
Types of Tests and Classification 23
Achievement Test 26
Basic Steps in Test Construction 42
Psychometric Properties of Good Test 63
Effects of
Teacher’s Qualification on Students’ Academic
Achievements 82
Teachers’
Experience 84
Summary 87
CHAPTER
THREE: METHODOLOGY
Design of the Study 89
Population of the
Study 89
Population and Sample 90
Instrument s Used
for the Study 91
Validation and Reliability of the Instrument 93
Method of Data Collection 94
Method of Data Analysis 96
CHAPTER FOUR: PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS
OF RESULTS
Hypothesis One 97
Hypothesis Two 99
Hypothesis Three 101
Discussion of Results 102
CHAPTER
FIVE: DISCUSSIONS, SUMMARY
AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Summary 107
Conclusions 108
Recommendations 110
Suggestions
for Further Research 111
References 112
Appendix I 117
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background of Study
Testing
has always been an integral part of the educational system since its
inception. The concept (testing) can be
viewed as a set of tasks presented to a person, the performance of which
depends on the possession of a particular body of knowledge and skill. The emphasis being laid on continuous
assessment in Nigeria’s
educational system has therefore given a boost to the testing system in our
educational institutions. The National
Policy on Education (2004) emphasizes the importance of continuous assessment
by stating that “Educational Assessment and Evaluation will be liberalized by
basing them in whole or in part on continuous assessment of the progress of the
individual”. This implies that teachers
should assess both the entry and terminal behaviour of the students in the
subject being taught as this will reveal the progress made by the individual
student during the course.
Continuous
assessment has been presented as a revolutionary approach to assessment
(Yoloye, 1984), (Firth and Macintosh, 1984) and (Ughanadu, 1994). They claim that, continuous assessment is a
more valid form of assessment than conventional examination or traditional
assessment method. The superiority of
continuous assessment is based on the fact that, continuous assessment can
sample a much wider range of skills and abilities inherent in a course of
study. Continuous assessment in many
respects offers a challenge to both the learner and the teacher of science.
A
Federal Ministry of Education Handbook (1980) portrays continuous assessment as
a method of finding out what the students have gained from the learning
experiences with respect to knowledge, thinking, reasoning, character
development, industry, etc. Science
subjects and chemistry in particular, like many of the educational disciplines,
provide unique opportunities for the application of continuous assessment. There are three major areas (components) of
any science subject which lend themselves to assessment: cognitive (theoretical)
aspects; psychomotor (manipulative) aspects and affective (attitude) aspects.
With
the advent of continuous assessment, there has been an increasing need of
classroom teachers to prepare and administer tests in order to obtain certain
vital information about what has been done during the teaching – learning
process. In this regard therefore,
testing can be used as a teaching instrument and as an instrument of
assessment. These purposes are essential
in the teaching of chemistry. When used
as a teaching instrument, the outcome of a testing exercise provides a quick
feedback on what learning has taken place in the classroom. As an aid to teaching, testing finds out
problems with teaching strategies adopted, or detects weaknesses and strengths
of the students taught. In this
instance, testing serves a diagnostic function.
As an
instrument of assessment, a test measures achievement, predicts performances
and aids in selection exercises. Testing
therefore, provides useful information for decision making about students,
teachers and the programme.
For
ascertaining the gains of the instruction process, achievement tests are
administered by teachers. These
according to Ughamadu, Onwuegbu and Osunde (1991) are tests that measure the
extent to which a person has acquired certain information, mastered certain
skills, usually as a result of specific instruction. In most of our schools, teachers set and
administer most of these tests in the bid to find out how much their students
have gained in the course of their instructions. These tests are in most cases not scrutinized
for validity and reliability which are the most incompromisable requirements
for a good test. According to Osunde
(2000) “Teacher – made tests are generally deficient in numerous ways. The most common fault is related to ineffective
communication”.
Another
observation of interest concerning the characteristics of test and classroom
questions asked by science teachers were revealed by some studies. Studies like those of Odor, Solanke and Azeke
(1986); Williams and Buseri (1986) and Mani (1981) reveal that teacher-made
tests or questions are heavily loaded with items in the lower levels of Bloom’s
cognitive domain of educational objectives.
These observed deficiencies in test construction among science teachers
are a source of concern. It is
imperative therefore, to remedy the situation by making available to chemistry
teachers a guide for the construction of a good chemistry achievement
test. This remedial help is a necessity
as the existence of these deficiencies will greatly affect students’
performance and the vital function of a test as a teaching instrument as
identified by Abodurin (1999) would not be realized.
Although,
there is a high expectation from Nigerian teachers by the public, the poor
condition of service and poor resource materials do not allow for an adequate
realization of the aims of continuous assessment in the educational
system. The continuous assessment places
extra burden on the already poorly qualified teachers with regards to test
construction. With no provision to help
the teacher, he is likely to continue with his poorly constructed test.
Invariably,
this will culminate in poor assessment of pupils’ learning because test
functions as a measuring instrument and their measuring ability is limited to
the objectives they are set to test.
Thus, tests which are structured to assess achievement at the knowledge
level will be limited to their function at this level but will not measure
achievement at the higher levels.
Therefore, the provision of appropriate test instruments in chemistry
deserves some attention as such instruments will assist the teacher in a more
effective assessment of his pupils.
The
testing of pupils’ achievement in chemistry becomes much more susceptible to
these inadequacies when one brings to mind the abstract and difficult nature of
most chemistry topics. The condition
becomes increasingly disturbing when one considers the advanced nature of the
current senior secondary school curriculum in chemistry. This therefore, necessitates the assessment
of teachers’ skill in test construction of teacher-made objective test in
chemistry.
Statement of Problem
Over
the years, there have been consistent complain by Government authorities and
parents alike about the poor performance of students in both internal and
external examination in Chemistry.
Consequently, students’ enrolment in Chemistry in the West African
Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) conducted by West African
Examination Council (WAEC) and Senior School Certificate Examination (SSCE)
conducted by National Examination Council (NECO) has been on the decline.
According
to Akinyemi (1997) “over the years there has been consistent awareness on the
alarming declining rate of enrolment in chemistry as a subject”. In the same vein, Adeyegbe (1998) opined that
examiners of nationally conducted examination like West African Examination
Council (WAEC) and National Examination Council (NECO) and locally conducted
examination like terminal and sectional examinations in our various secondary
schools have been witnessing a consistent poor performance in chemistry.
Many
reasons have been attributed to the low enrolment and poor performance in
chemistry examinations. One of the major
reasons being the unseasoned nature of test instruments employed by
teachers. If the continuous assessment
programme is to succeed, practicing teachers must improve on their skills in
construction of achievement objective, chemistry test instruments they are currently
making use of. In other words, there is
the need to show practicing chemistry teachers the way out of the woods in the
interest of the students and the success of the continuous assessment
programme. This realization, inevitably
calls for an improvement in teachers’ skills in the construction of teachers’
made objective chemistry achievement test.
It is
an observed fact that in the construction of test items (be it objective or
essay) there are guidelines to be followed in order to come out with reasonable
test items. Do teachers follow these
guidelines? Thus, what we find is the
usual practice of teachers leafing through pages of note or textbooks and set
questions as they come to mind.
The
continuous assessment (CA) system which is currently being used in schools
requires valid and or reliable test instruments to make the exercise
worthwhile. Therefore, this study
intends to find out the teachers’ skill in the construction of teachers made
chemistry objective test in Edo Central Senatorial District.
Purpose of the Study
The
purpose of the study is as follows:
1.
To determine the level of competence of chemistry teachers
as regards their knowledge and skills and constant utilization of sequential
stages of test construction of teacher made achievement test.
2.
To find out if the teacher made tests constructed by the
chemistry teachers in Edo Central Senatorial District of Edo State
as a tool for assessing students’ level of achievement, possess the basic
psychometric properties.
3.
Find out if gender difference in teacher has any
significant relationship with their knowledge of test construction.
4.
To ascertain if the educational qualification and
experience of chemistry teachers has any significant relationship with their
test construction skills.
Research
Questions
This
study intends assessing teachers’ knowledge of test construction procedure as
an instrument of evaluating students’ performance. Thus, the following research questions were
posed:
1.
Is there any
difference between male and female chemistry teachers in terms of their
knowledge in test construction procedures?
2.
Are the
experienced chemistry teachers more knowledgeable in test construction
procedure than the inexperienced teachers?
3.
Does the
professional qualification of chemistry teachers have any influence on their
knowledge of test construction procedures?
4.
Do chemistry
teachers consider the preparation of test blue print important during test
construction?
Hypotheses
In
order to advance statistically accepted answers to the research questions, the
following null hypotheses were tested:
1.
There is no
significant difference in knowledge of test construction procedure exhibited by
male and female chemistry teachers in teacher-made objective chemistry
achievement test.
2.
There is no
significant difference between experience and inexperience chemistry teachers
in knowledge of test construction procedure.
3.
There is no
significant difference between qualified and unqualified chemistry teachers in knowledge
of test construction procedure of teacher made objective chemistry test.
Major
Assumptions of the Study
In
carrying out this study, the following assumptions have been made:
1.
that male and
female chemistry teachers are equally knowledgeable in skills in test
construction.
2.
that
professionally qualified chemistry teachers are more sound and knowledgeable in
test construction.
3.
all the
chemistry teachers used in the research work use teachers-made objective
chemistry test as an instrument of assessing the level of their students’
performance.
4.
chemistry
teachers in Edo Central Senatorial District are using the same chemistry
syllabus and operate the same school calendar year.
Significance of
the Study
This
research is undertaken with the intention that the data and information
gathered will be added to the pool of knowledge already available in the area
of achievement testing in the sciences (especially chemistry). Its finding is expected to be of immense help
to practicing teachers, measurement and evaluation lecturers in Colleges of
Education and Faculty of Education in the universities.
Science
teachers, especially chemistry teachers are expected to borrow a leaf from the
steps involved in test construction to improve the methods, procedures and
techniques in their mode of test construction.
This study highlights the need to draw up a table of specification for
any test in order for the teacher to ensure a judicious covering of the content
of the subject matter that is to be examined.
This study is therefore, to provoke the minds of our teachers towards
the use of recommended and set down guidelines and strategies for test
construction, especially in the writing of multiple choice items.
This
study also intends to bring to focus the need for measurement and evaluation
lecturers in our tertiary institutions to inculcate in their students
appropriate test construction methods as this is the bedrock of an effective
evaluation of students’ achievement by practicing teachers.
Summarily,
it is hoped that the finding of this work will be useful for decision making by
teachers, curriculum developers, educational administrators and guidance
counselors. The chemistry teacher
requires the use of skill fully constructed test to enable him offer diagnostic
functions on his students, while curriculum designer use the test to assess the
effectiveness of the curriculum.
Furthermore, educational administrators use their results for
placement. While test results will aid
the counsellor in identifying students with strength and weakness in chemistry
thereby offering appropriate and adequate guidance services for their present
and future endeavours.
Scope/Delimitation
of the Study
This
study is focused on all chemistry teachers in all the government owned
secondary schools in Edo Central Senatorial District, consisting of Esan South-East,
Esan North-East, Esan Central, Esan West and Igueben Local Government Areas.
The scope of the study is on all the 28
(twenty-eight) chemistry teachers throughout the above mentioned Local
Government Areas. The chemistry teachers
will respond to a questionnaire titled “Chemistry Teachers Questionnaire”. This questionnaire will primarily elicit
demographic information from the respondents.
Limitations of
the Study
This
study was carried out amidst some constraining circumstances such as the remote
nature of some of the schools that would have been used for the study. Some of such schools are not easily
assessable during rainy season. A lot of
money will be required to administer questionnaire to the teachers in such
rural settlement.
Other
factors that could militate against the study may include time and poor
responses to the questionnaire administered and absence of co-operation from
teachers in the selected schools.
However,
it is worth noting that the result of the study depends on the frank and honest
response given by the teachers.
As
posited by Abirl (1966), “the procedure of questionnairing tends to be
unreliable for it depends too much on the honest cooperation of the respondents
who may just endorse opinions which they consider to be most acceptable in the
society or may even take their response in other ways”.
Operational
Definition of Terms
The
following operational definitions are used in the work:
Achievement Test: This comprises of a set of questions
(multiple choice items) based on the teaching syllabus for which the students
are expected to respond to.
Professionally Qualified Teachers: Chemistry
teacher holding a teaching qualification not less than NCE with chemistry as a
subject area of specialization (B.Ed), B.Sc. Ed, P.G.D.E.).
Professionally Unqualified Teachers: Chemistry
teachers without teaching qualifications minimum of NCE (HND, B.Sc, B.A.)
Experience Teacher: Any teacher who has taught chemistry for ten years
and above.
Inexperience Teacher: Any teacher who has taught chemistry for less
than ten years.
Public School: Schools
owned by the government.
Senior Secondary Schools (SSS): These are schools with students
undergoing studies in the second tier of the 3 – 3 secondary school programme.
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