Evaluating the validity of the final achievement test for second-year non-major students at Electronic-Electrical Engineering Department, Namdinh University of Technology Education

Abstract

Teaching English for Specific Purposes (ESP) in technical universities is significant. It assists students to achieve specialized vocabulary and knowledge, which helps them to be prepared primarily for entering the working world. Students’ level of understanding about the specialized knowledge and vocabulary was measured by the final achievement ESP test in semester 3. Considering the significance of the exam in determining the students’ graduation, evaluating its validity is therefore important. Language test validity includes face, content, construct and criterion-references validity. Due to the unavailability of the actual test scores and limited time for the evaluation, only face validity was feasible for this research. There were two questions that the research attempted to answer, namely: 1. What are the teachers’ and test takers’ (students’) perceptions of the final 3rd semester English achievement test at NUTE in terms of its face validity? 2. What are suggestions to improve face validity of the final 3rd semester English achievement test at NUTE? The researcher employed a qualitative inquiry with questionnaire analysis and interview for both teachers and students as its instruments. The interviewees were seven lecturers and students from classes DDT-3A, DDT-3B at Nam Dinh University of Technology Education. Descriptive data gathered from the survey questionnaires and interviews functioned to answer the two research questions. Finally, some suggestions are offered to improve the test validity and boost students’ motivation in doing the test and help to improve teachers’ designing test methods effectively. The researcher expects that this research will provide a meaningful feedback upon the administration of the final ESP tests in semester 3 at Nam Dinh University of Technology Education. The researcher also hopes that this research will be useful for English practitioners and future researchers.