The Influence of Test Forms on Enhancing General Knowledge in the Iranian High School Context: Do They Reflect Real Differences among Learners?

ABSTRACTThis study attempted to explore the influence of test forms on enhancing general knowledge of Iranian high school students. The question this study tried to answer was whether or not there was any difference among the means of the OPT, teacher - made test and school final exam. To answer the question, 60 junior high school students participated in the three target tests: first, they were given an OPT test as the criterion test .Then, school final exam and teacher-made test were given to the students. Each of these tests was administrated after two weeks interval from the previous one. The contents of the three tests, in which vocabulary, grammar and reading comprehension were examined, were the same. The data was analysed through One-way ANOVA. The results indicated that there was significant difference between the means of the three tests.Key Words: Test forms, general knowledge, OPT, final exam, teacher-made test.1. IntroductionTesting is an important part of every teaching and learning experience. Well-made tests of English can be helpful for the students in at least two ways. First, English tests can create positive attitudes toward the class. Second, they can help students to master the language and where several tests are given, learning can be enhanced by students' growing awareness of the objectives and the areas of emphasis in the course (Madsen 1983). The form of a test refers to its physical appearance. Considering the nature and varieties of attributes, language testers should utilize the most appropriate form of the test which would correspond to the nature of the attribute be measured. Therefore, to decide on the form of a test, certain parameters such as the nature of the attribute and the function of the test should be taken into account. Most assessments administered in school are criterion - referenced. Teachers create these tests based on the school's curriculum and learning expectations in a given subject area. Although personal experience is a good criterion, it is not a sufficient one for criticizing tests. Language tests play an important role in the investigation of effects of different instructional setting and techniques on language acquisition (Farhady et al, 1994). According to Heaton (1975), well-constructed classroom test will provide the students with an opportunity to show their ability o perform certain tasks in the language. Provided that details of their performance are given as soon as possible after the test, the students should be able to learn from their weaknesses. In this way a good test can be used as a valuable teaching device.2. Literature ReviewA brief review of the related literature would seem necessary to support the claims for the implementation of this study. According to Buck (1988), there is a nature tendency for both teachers and students to tailor their classroom activities to the demands of the test, especially when the test is very important to the future of the students, and pass rates are used as a measure of teacher success. According to Farhady et al (1994), language tests play an important role in the investigation of effects of different instructional setting and techniques on language acquisition. Mehrens (1984) found that achievement testing served to broaden the curriculum; that is, testing encouraged teachers to add to, rather than replace existing instructional topics. AcSchwartz and Tiedeman (1957) cited in Farhady et al ,(1994) state that teacher - made tests are valuable because they measure students' progress based on the classroom activities , motivate students , provide an opportunity for the teacher to diagnose students' weaknesses concerning a given subject matter , and help the teacher make plans for remedial instruction , if needed . In spite of the usefulness of teacher - made tests, they have always been faced with students' complaints. These complaints have originated from the ambiguity of the content of the test and sometimes the irrelevance of such tests to instructional materials. …