The design and validation of an achievement test to measure improvements in vocabulary

Introduction Assessment is an important part of any teacher’s job. However many teachers see educational testing as a distraction from teaching and technically difficult (Basanta, 1995; Stevenson & Riewe, 1981). This preconception means that there is a poor understanding among teaching practitioners of the principles of testing. Therefore it is important to make testing theory more accessible to teachers. This means either raising the level of understanding of teachers or lowering the level of the materials. One solution to this problem would be to make training in testing theory a required part of teacher training courses. However, this would require a large investment of time and resources. Another solution would be for assessment and testing practitioners to make the subject more accessible by developing easier testing resources that are based on testing principles and can be readily used and adapted by teachers with minimal training. This paper attempts to do this by showing how a popular vocabulary test was adapted for the specific needs of a course using a simple procedure that anyone with knowledge of spreadsheets can use.