Content Validity of Phonetics and Phonology Exam at M. ED. Level

Abstract

The main purpose of this study was to measure the content validity of phoneticsand phonology exams at M. Ed. Level. For this purpose the researcher hasanalyzed 6 years question papers of Phonetics and Phonology administered inthe annual examinations from 2057 to 2062 at M. Ed. First year. He has usedonly secondary source of data. The question papers of phonetics and phonologyduring six years (i.e. 2057 to 2062) were the main source. The researcher hadbased on mainly two aspects: Coverage and weighting to establish the contentvalidity of the tests. He compared test content coverage with course contentcoverage and test content weighting with course content weighting. Afteranalyzing the question papers as a whole he has found that the Phonetics andPhonology tests during six years have high content validity in terms ofcoverage and low content validity in terms of weighting.This study mainly comprises into four chapters. The first chapter deals with theintroduction which consists of general background, language testing and itstypes, introduction to major English at M. Ed. Level, the syllabus of phoneticsand phonology at M. Ed. First year, content validity, specification of the tests,guidelines for establishing content validity, review of the related literature,objectives of the study, significance of the study and the definition of thespecific terms.Chapter two deals with the methodology which consists of sources of data,process of data collection and limitations of the study.Chapter three deals with the analysis and interpretation of the data. The datahad been analyzed and interpreted in terms of coverage and weighting to findout the content validity of the tests.The final chapter deals with the findings and recommendation of the study. Thefindings and appropriate recommendations have been outlined on the basis ofthe analysis and interpretation of the data.