TABLE OF CONTENT

CANDIDATES STATEMENT i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ii

ABSTRACT iii

LIST OF ABBREVIATION iv

LIST OF TABLES AND CHARTS v

TABLE OF CONTENT vi

Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION 1

1.1. Rationale for the study 1

1.2. Aims and research questions 2

1.3. Theoretical and practical significance of the study 2

1.4. Scope of the study 2

1.5. Method of the study 2

1.6. Organization of the paper 3

Chapter 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 4

2.1. Language testing 4

2.1.1. What is a language test? 4

2.1.2. The purposes of language tests 4

2.1.3. Types of language tests 5

2.1.4. Criteria of a good language test 5

2.2. Achievement test 6

2.2.1. Definition 6

2.2.2. Types of achievement test 6

2.2.3. Considerations in final achievement test construction 7

2.3. MCQs test 7

2.3.1. Definition 7

2.3.2. Benefits of MCQs test 8

2.3.3. Limitations of MCQs test 10

2.3.4. Principles on designing a good MCQs test 11

2.4. Reliability of a test 11

2.4.1. Definition 11

2.4.2. Methods for test reliability estimate 12

2.4.3. Measures to improve test reliability 15

2.5. Summary 15

Chapter 3: The Context of the Study 16

3.1. The current English learning, teaching and testing situation at HUBT 16

3.2. The course objectives, syllabus and materials used for the second non-majors of English in Semester 4. 17

3.2.1. The course objectives 17

3.2.2. Business English syllabus 17

3.2.3. The course book 19

3.2.4. Specification grid for the final achievement Computer-based MCQs test in Semester 4. 19

Chapter 4: Methodology 21

4.1. Participants 21

4.2. Data collection instruments 21

4.3. Data collection procedure 21

4.4. Data analysis procedure 22

Chapter 5: RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS 23

5.1. The compatibility of the objectives, content and skill weight format of the final achievement computer-based MCQ test 1 for 4th semester with the course objectives and the syllabus 23

5.1.1 The test objectives and the course objectives 23

5.1.2. The test item content in four sections and the syllabus content 24

5.1.3. The skill weight format in the test and the syllabus 26

5.2. The reliability of the final achievement test 27

5.2.1. Reliability coefficient 27

5.2.2. Item difficulty and discrimination value 27

5.3. The attitude of students towards the MCQs test 1 29

5.4. Pedagogical implications and suggestions on improvements of the existing final achievement computer-based MCQs test 1 for the non-English majors at HUBT. 34

5.5. Summary 38

Chapter 6: CONCLUSION 39

6.1. Summary of the findings 39

6.2. Limitations of the study 40

6.3. Suggestions for further study 40

REFERENCES 41

APPENDICES I

APPENDIX 1

Grammar, Reading, Vocabulary and Functional language check list II

APPENDIX 2

Survey questionnaire (for students at HUBT) IV

APPENDIX 3

Students test scores VII

APPENDIX 4

Item analysis of the final achievement computer-based MCQs test 1- 150 items, 349 examinees XII

APPENDIX 5

Item indices of the final achievement computer-based MCQs test 1 XVII