This article begins by exploring recent developments in the use of computers in language testing in four areas: (a) item banking, (b) computer-assisted language testing, (c) computerized-adaptive language testing, and (d) research on the effectiveness of computers in language testing.
The article then examines the educational measurement literature in an attempt to forecast the directions future research on computers in language testing might take and suggests addressing the following issues: (a) piloting practices in computer adaptive language tests (CALTs), (b) standardizing or varying CALT lengths, (c) sampling CALT items, (d) changing the difficulty of CALT items, (e) dealing with CALT item sets, (f) scoring CALTS, (g) dealing with CALT item omissions, (h) making decisions about CALT cut-points, (i) avoiding CALT item exposure, (j) providing CALT item review opportunities, and (k) complying with legal disclosure laws when using CALTs.
The literature on computer-assisted language learning indicates that language learners have generally positive attitudes toward using computers in the classroom (Reid, 1986; Neu & Scarcella, 1991; Phinney, 1991), and a fairly large literature has developed examining the effectiveness of computer-assisted language learning (for a review, see Dunkel, 1991). But less is known about the more specific area of computers in language testing. The purpose of this article is to examine recent developments in language testing that directly involve computer use including what we have learned in the process. The article will also examine the dominant issue of computer-adaptive testing in the educational measurement literature in an attempt to forecast some of the directions future research on computers in language testing might take.
CURRENT STATE OF KNOWLEDGE ON COMPUTERS IN LANGUAGE TESTING
In reviewing the literature on computers in language testing, I have found four recurring sets of issues: (a) item banking, (b) computer-assisted language testing, (c) computer-adaptive language testing, and (d) the effectiveness of computers in language testing. The discussion in this section will be organized under those four headings.
Item Banking
Item banking covers any procedures that are used to create, pilot, analyze, store, manage, and select test items so that multiple test forms can be created from subsets of the total "bank" of items. With a large item bank available, new forms of tests can be created whenever they are needed. Henning (1986) provides a description of how item banking was set up for the ESL Placement Examination at UCLA. (For further explanation and examples of item banking in educational testing, see Baker, 1989, pp. 412-414, or Flaugher, 1990.)
While the underlying aims of item banking can be accomplished by using traditional item analysis procedures (usually item facility and item discrimination indexes; for a detailed description of these traditional item analysis procedures, see Brown
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