An Analysis of the English Test Used in Final Examinataion in SMA Pesantren IMMIM Makassar

I. INTRODUCTION

A. Background

English learning and teaching process begins with designing curriculum, determining teaching and learning objectives, need analysis, and preparing materials. The next is the teaching and learning process, including designing lesson plan and teaching practice. The last is the learning and teaching evaluation. Learning and teaching evaluation conducted by the teacher during the learning and teaching process and/or after the whole materials is taught to measure how the achievements of the teaching objectives are. The learning and teaching process can be improved by redesigning the teaching methods and updating the learning materials.

The achievement of English learning and teaching objectives can be measured by considering the competency mastery of the students in the class. If the students achieve most of the materials objectives, the teaching is successful. On the contrary, if the students’ achievements are low, there must be a redesigning on the teaching methods and developing materials.

In measuring the student’s achievements of the teaching materials objectives, the teachers conduct the tests while teaching and/or after teaching the whole materials. The tests must be considered on the curriculum and the learning objectives. The language skills (listening, speaking, reading, and writing) and the language elements (grammar and vocabulary) can be measured separately or integrated in a form of language test.

Jabu (2008:23) stated that there are six purposes of language tests. They are diagnosis and feedback, screening and selection, placement, program evaluation, providing research criteria, and assessment of socio-psychological differences. In this case, considering the material objectives in the curriculum of learning and teaching process the tests are used as a program evaluation and diagnosis.

A good English test should measure the students’ learning achievements based on the curriculum and the material objectives (valid). The test also must be accurate, consistent, and dependable in measuring (reliable). The tests should discriminate among the different learners (discriminable). The last, the test must be practicable, or straightforward to administer (Jabu, 2008:15).

In KTSP implementation, the teachers are led to design their own syllabus and material objectives based on the curriculum provided by the government. In measuring the students’ achievements of the material objectives, the teachers also design their own tests instrument. A teacher in a school may design the tests by him/herself or collectively with the other teachers in that school (Sumardi, 2008). A teacher-made test must be tried out and analyzed in terms of validity, reliability, items difficulty, and items discrimination before it is used.

Essentially, the curriculum designers provide guidelines in designing the tests. Nevertheless, most of the teachers did not consider the guide in designing their tests. Therefore, their tests instrument might be not fulfil the criteria of a good test. They might be not valid, not reliable, and the items are mostly not discriminable. A test that does not fulfil the criteria, of course cannot be used as an instrument in measuring the students’ achievement of the material objectives.

There might be some reasons why the teachers as the designer of the tests did not consider the procedure in the guidebook as Sumardi (2008) stated. The first, the time allotted in designing the tests was inadequate. Usually, the teacher must design the test in short time, because the tests will be used soon. A good test ideally designed in a long time and follows some phases, especially for multiple-choice test. It needs more attention in the construction process than essay form test. The second, the teachers’ competences were still limited in designing a good test. It might be caused by the lack of references about test designing. The teachers need to learn from many English test made before, especially the standardized test. The last, they might have insufficient experiences in designing and constructing the English tests. As they design and construct much more tests, they can learn how to design more valid and reliable tests instrument.

Constructing a good quality English test instrument, especially for multiple-choice test, is definitely not easy. A trial run must be applied on the freshly designed test before the instrument used. Therefore, the analysis will always be needed to evolve the quality of the English test. To review and revise the English tests instrument mostly designed and used by the teachers as stated above, the writer is interested to conduct a research under the title “An Analysis of the English Test Used in Final Examination in SMA Pesantren IMMIM Makassar.”

B. Problem statement

Considering the background above, the researcher states the research question as:
How is the quality of the English test used in final examination in SMA Pesantren IMMIM Makassar considering its validity, reliability, items difficulty and items discrimination?

C. Objective of the Research

The objectives of the research in line with the research problems noted previously are to find out the quality of the English test used in final examination in SMA Pesantren IMMIM Makassar considering its validity, reliability, items difficulty and items discrimination.

D. Significance of the Research

This research is expected to contribute some significance in theoretical, practical, and further research and development as follow:

1. Theoretical significance
   The notions and finding of this research will be a valuable input in education, especially in EFL teaching, English language testing, and educational evaluation in general.
2. Practical Significance
   This research finding should be considered by the government in establishing educational policy and in standard of testing and evaluation in South Sulawesi especially Makassar. To the teachers, this research should be considered in designing, developing, and revising a good quality English tests instrument.
3. Further Research and Development
   The research finding is expected to give some advantages to the further research and development in English language testing and educational evaluation as a reference and empirical data support.
   

E. Scope of the Research

This research will be conducted in SMA Pesantren IMMIM Makassar considering the quality of the school in developing students’ ability in English. The school has also been applying the multiple-choice test in final examination for many years. The test that will be analyzed is the English test used in final examination for the twelfth grade.

Belajar dari Pertandingan Inggris v Jerman

Pendukung kesebelasan Inggris tentu amat kesal dengan keputusan wasit yang tidak mengesahkan gol dari tendangan bebas dari Frank Lampard pada pertandingan babak 16 besar pada World Cup 2010 kemarin. Betapa tidak, rekaman video jelas-jelas memperlihatkan bola yang telah melewati garis pada gawang Jerman yang dikawal Manuel Neuer. Namun apa yang terjadi? Tanpa ada protes yang berarti dari para pemain maupun ofisial tim, pertandingan tetap dilanjutkan. Seakan hanya peluang yang gagal, bola kembali bergulir, kedua kesebelasan saling serang, dan akhirnya Jerman memenangkan pertandingan dengan skor telak 4-1.

Sungguh mental dan cara bersikap yang sangat dewasa ditunjukkan para pemain ini. Keputusan wasit tak diributkan selagi pertandingan berlangsung. Bagaimanapun, kekuasaan wasit sebagai penentu kebijakan tertinggi di lapangan selagi pertandingan berlangsung tetap mereka hargai.

Entah apa yang terjadi jika timnas Indonesia yang berada di posisi Inggris. Saya tak ingin menyebutkannya, tentu kawan dapat menebak sendiri apa yang akan terjadi. Masih teringat ketika sebuah pertandingan antara dua klub besar di Indonesia: Sriwijaya FC v Persipura. Kala itu ofisial tim Persipura menolak untuk bermain karena merasa dicurangi. Ini bukan pemain yang menolak loh, tapi toh perandingan tetap dibatalkan, Sriwijaya FC dimenangkan 3-0 dan Persipura diberi sanksi.

Ketidakdewasaan rupanya memang sangat menjamur dan merusak mental sebagian besar bangsa ini. Korupsi, yang tengah didengung-dengungkan untuk diberantas nyatanya masih sangat banyak dilakukan oleh kita. Boleh lah kita berintrospeksi diri sudah berapa banyak korupsi yang pernah kita lakukan (korupsi uang kecil-kecilan, koruspi waktu, korupsi kepercayaan, dll.). Sepakbola, dengan semangat sportivitas dan fair play-nya merupakan bahan belajar yang sangat menarik ditelusuri. Kasus gol Lampard merupakan satu dari sekian banyak hal yang perlu dikuasai bangsa ini bila ingin tampil di pentas sekelas World Cup.