Abstract
This study used the Linear Logistic Test Model to predict item difficulty in a French imparfait / passé composé test taken by 146 second-semester students of French at several mid-western universities. The study showed that the complexity component action in progress interrupted by a one-time event was the strongest contributor to the difficulty. In reverse, achievement was the strongest contributor to the easiness of the test items. Knowledge about the nature of complexity components in tests and their weights in a model for item difficulty prediction allows test developers and teachers in any given discipline to construct items with difficulties known prior to administering the test. It can also help match item difficulty to student ability levels, develop teaching strategies that target specific cognitive and processing characteristics of the students' response style, and improve the validity of assessing the correct use of the construct being taught.
Location
Concourse
Recommended Citation
Nikolova, Ofelia, "Difficulty Components in French Verb Tenses Imparfait and Passé Composé for Anglophone Learners" (2009). SoTL Commons Conference. 124.
https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/sotlcommons/SoTL/2009/124
Handout
Difficulty Components in French Verb Tenses Imparfait and Passé Composé for Anglophone Learners
Concourse
This study used the Linear Logistic Test Model to predict item difficulty in a French imparfait / passé composé test taken by 146 second-semester students of French at several mid-western universities. The study showed that the complexity component action in progress interrupted by a one-time event was the strongest contributor to the difficulty. In reverse, achievement was the strongest contributor to the easiness of the test items. Knowledge about the nature of complexity components in tests and their weights in a model for item difficulty prediction allows test developers and teachers in any given discipline to construct items with difficulties known prior to administering the test. It can also help match item difficulty to student ability levels, develop teaching strategies that target specific cognitive and processing characteristics of the students' response style, and improve the validity of assessing the correct use of the construct being taught.
