Validity Issues in the Information-detection Test Taken from CILS Certification

Journal title RIV Rassegna Italiana di Valutazione
Author/s Paolo Torresan
Publishing Year 2015 Issue 2014/59
Language Italian Pages 20 P. 104-123 File size 146 KB
DOI 10.3280/RIV2014-059006
DOI is like a bar code for intellectual property: to have more infomation click here

Below, you can see the article first page

If you want to buy this article in PDF format, you can do it, following the instructions to buy download credits

Article preview

FrancoAngeli is member of Publishers International Linking Association, Inc (PILA), a not-for-profit association which run the CrossRef service enabling links to and from online scholarly content.

In this article, we consider a reading test developed by the Centro di Certificazione CILS (CILS Certification Centre) of the Università per Stranieri di Siena, designed for students of Italian as a foreign language. The so-called “information-detection test” is a variant of a true/false test. We have studied the design of the test, examined its goals, studied its scoring systems, collected data based on samples tested on foreigners and natives, analyzed all of the items and considered the structure of the text on which the test is based. Numerous critical issues are identified making the tests poorly suited to the certifying body’s purposes.

Keywords: Language Assessment, Validity, Reading, Teaching Italian as a FL, Proficiency Tests, Item Writing.

  1. Alderson, J. C.; Clapham, C.; Wall, D. (1995). Language Test Construction and Evaluation. Cambridge: CUP.
  2. Barni, M.; Bandini, A.; Sprugnoli, L.; Lucarelli, S., Scaglioso A. M.; Strambi, B., Fusi, C.; Arruffoli A. M. (2009). Linee guida CILS. Certificazione di italiano come LS Università per stranieri di Siena. Perugia: Guerra.
  3. Cangelosi, J. S. (1990). Designing Tests for Evaluating Student Achievement. New York: Longman.
  4. Council of Europe (2001). The Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, Teaching, Assessment, CUP, Cambridge (edizione italiana: Quadro comune europeo di riferimento per le lingue: apprendimento, insegnamento, valutazione, La Nuova Italia, Firenze).
  5. Spinelli, B.; Parizzi, F. (2010). Profilo della lingua italiana. Firenze: La Nuova Italia.
  6. Thorndike, R. L.; Hagen, E. (19693). Measurement and Evaluation in Psychology and Education. New York: John Wiley and Sons.

Paolo Torresan, Test a individuazione di informazioni della certificazione di italiano per stranieri CILS: aspetti crititci in "RIV Rassegna Italiana di Valutazione" 59/2014, pp 104-123, DOI: 10.3280/RIV2014-059006