Validating Sukhothai Thammathirat Open University’s Computer-Based English Proficiency Test (STOU-EPT) Under the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR)

Abstract

The purposes of this research study is validating Sukhothai Thammathirat Open University’s English Proficiency Test or STOU-EPT (E-testing) under the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) in the terms of (1) test development (2) test structure according to the CEFR’s test level criteria and (3) item difficulty analysis (4) reliability coefficient of each part of the test. The sources of data consisted of the primary sources including four experts with the experiences in English tests under the CEFR, a voluntary test development committee as well as the secondary sources including the answers from the forms of the STOU-EPT (e-testing) given by 800 examinees. The findings were as follows: (1) The test development began with a team of STOU test development committee members participating in the standard English test development training in the United Kingdom, which led to the development of the test specifications using the CEFR criteria under the guidance of an expert in English language testing, also a training leader, who checked test accuracy and congruence with university operation, the test specifications were approved. (2) A world-renowned scholar in the fields of language testing and evaluation was also involved in judging the consistency of the test items with the CEFR criteria.  Then the Lexitutor program was used for checking the appropriateness of the language level, and the AWL list was used for checking the appropriateness of the academic words.  Most of the test had higher level of items than the CEFR’s criteria.. (3) Regarding the item difficulty of the test, it was found that item difficulty had ranging from 88.00% to 100.00% (4) It was found that the KR-20 reliability coefficient of Part 3 of Reading had the highest reliability ranging from .853 to .893.