Publications & Resources

Using Standards and Empirical Evidence to Develop Academic English Proficiency Test Items in Reading

Dec 2005

Alison L. Bailey, Robin Stevens, Frances A. Butler, Becky Huang, and Judy N. Miyoshi

The work we report focuses on utilizing linguistic profiles of mathematics, science and social studies textbook selections for the creation of reading test specifications. Once we determined that a text and associated tasks fit within the parameters established in Butler et al. (2004), they underwent both internal and external review by language experts and content-area teachers. The external review provided data based on background questionnaires, text and item reviews used to judge representative aspects of topics and linguistic characteristics, and group interviews. Based on this information, the texts were either retained or rejected and items were retained, rejected or reserved for future modification. In the future, retained texts and items can be further analyzed for fit with empirically established text profiles.

Bailey, A. L., Stevens, R., Butler, F. A., Huang, B., & Miyoshi, J. N. (2005). Using standards and empirical evidence to develop academic English proficiency test items in reading (CSE Report 664). Los Angeles: University of California, Los Angeles, National Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards, and Student Testing (CRESST).