A human factor in exams – whether it is a particular disability, coping with nerves or a lack of motivation – can make a huge difference to the performance of candidates.
Recent research from Dr Hanan Khalifa from Cambridge ESOL’s Research & Validation Group, explores the practical efforts made to ensure ability is what matters in testing.
The article – published as part of the regular Research Notes series – looks at how the issue is addressed in the Reading papers of the Main Suite examinations: CPE (Certificate of Proficiency in English), CAE (Certificate in Advanced English), FCE (First Certificate in English), PET (Preliminary English Test) and KET (Key English Test).
Special Arrangements are used to remove, as far as possible, the effects of a disability on the candidate’s ability to demonstrate their true level of achievement. At the same time, the arrangements are carefully assessed and implemented to make sure candidates with disabilities are not given an unfair advantage over others, and to avoid misleading potential employers or institutions who refer to the certificate about the candidate’s attainment. More than 6,000 candidates took advantage of the Special Arrangements offered for people with disabilities between 2000 and 2004 across all papers. For the Reading paper the great majority used the option of additional time and supervised breaks, but candidates also used modified papers, enlarged print, and in a small number of cases, a reader.
The less obvious factors affecting performance involve candidates’ attitudes, beliefs, self-esteem, motivation, interest and anxiety. For several years, Cambridge ESOL has been working with researchers in the United Kingdom and North America to develop research instruments that will enable the development of a better understanding of the effects of the psychological, social and cultural contexts in which assessment takes place. The research paper goes on to outline the steps taken by Cambridge ESOL to take into account different test taker characteristics in pretesting of examinations, in the content of materials and in the analysis of test results.
A copy of the study is available at www.CambridgeESOL.org/researchnotes