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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/125893
Description
Title
In search of folk fairness in language testing
Author(s)
Jang, Eunice Eunhee
Issue Date
2002
Director of Research (if dissertation) or Advisor (if thesis)
Davidson, Fred
Department of Study
Linguistics
Discipline
Teaching English as a Second Language
Degree Granting Institution
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Degree Name
M.A.
Degree Level
Thesis
Keyword(s)
Teaching English as Second Language
Language
eng
Abstract
Fairness is generally defined as a social value that applies in understanding, interpreting social actions, and making decisions over human performance. In the field of testing, the concept of fairness is commonly defined as social justice or equity which is associated with equal opportunity and equitable treatment. The purpose of the present study is to seek to understand the process through which examinees construct and interpret the concept of fairness in the standardized language testing such as the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL).
To investigate three main research questions proposed in this study, I utilized a mixed methods research design comprising both quantitative and qualitative approaches. Reliabilities and exploratory factor analyses were performed to examine the factor structure of the concept of test fairness using large-scale quantitative data. Several Analysis of Variance tests were performed to examine group characteristics effects on conceptions of test fairness. Focus group and individual interviews were conducted to understand test takers' making sense of their test taking experience in relation to test fairness.
Results from analyses of the data from both quantitative and qualitative research methods support the conclusion that the concept of test fairness is multi-faceted, dynamic and both culturally and contextually situated.
The author argues that fairness is not derived from a test itself, but it is constructed interpreted and practiced in different ways by various stakeholders. Therefore, the goal of test fairness studies should not be only to seek for a decisive criterion by which a test is judged as either 'fair' or 'unfair,' but also to represent diverse voices of co-participants in testing practice. The study concludes that social inquiry about test fairness would be enhanced through collaborative dialogic engagement with all testing practice participants.
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