This book, Evaluation and Testing : An Introduction to Terminology is designed to serve as a reference material for the teachers of Indian languages in general and for those who are associated with the language evaluation programmes of the CIIL in particular. Although it is intended primarily for the benefit of language teachers, the coverage has been widened in such a way that the teachers of other subjects can also make use of it for all practical purposes. Teachers involved in evaluation work encounter a series of technical terms at various stages of their work. As many of these terms may not be very familiar to the language teachers, it was felt necessary to bring out a book of this sort explaining the usage of such terms without any ambiguity in their meaning and scope.
The entries included were prepared with learners in mind. Hence, there are some differences in the mode of presentation of various entries, style of language used, examples provided, the degree of emphasis shown to the individual items, classifications, etc., besides a bit of content overlapping. It is because of this reason that this book is brought out as an experimental edition.
The terms which frequently occur in the taxonomy of educational objectives (viz., cognitive, affective and psychomotor domains), tests and examinations of different types (viz., formative and summative), instruments/tools of evaluation applicable for measuring various objectives (viz., scholastic and non-scholastic), methods of various kinds (viz., subjective and objective), designs and principles of item writing, standardization procedures, etc., are incorporated in this volume consisting more than 600 entries.
The details of explanation provided for some of the terms are not exhaustive and fully informative. However, maximum care has been taken to equip each entry with the following aspects :
a) the reasons for inclusion of the term
b) the meaning and scope
c) the contextual examples in order to provide an overall idea.There are some highly technical terms, such as multitrait-multi method validation, heterotrait-heteromethod validity, etc., for which detailed explanations are not given, the inclusion of which is intended here only to show the readers the availability of such advanced methods/techniques for making an effective evaluation. I have included, on the other hand, several apparently and more simple common terms in usage since they need to be explained and differentiated from other synonymous terms for better understanding of various concepts (e.g., item, question, etc.). Another set of terms that are included here is considered more useful only in the programmes of evaluation where a large number of population is involved (e.g., norm, standardization, procedure, etc.)., wherever feasible, they are also contrasted and compared with the other related terms in order to provide to a number of terms for better understanding. In many places, I have quoted from authoritative authors. In such cases, the differences of opinion noticed between authors have also been indicated just below the quotation or by providing the gist of the views expressed by different scholars with a series of additional information, viz., the name(s) of the author(s), the book/work from where the quotations are taken, the year of publication, page number and so on. In case there are more publications by the same authors in the same year their chronological order has been indicated as a, b, c, etc., following the year of publication.
For the convenience of the readers to have a broad outlook of the content and also for cross reference, an alphabetically arranged word list of books and articles which I have referred to from time to time for my knowledge and understanding will help the scholars who want to have further reference. Worked out examples and statistical computations have been provided in the Appendix for the benefit of those who are involved in such work. The Appendix also consists of the pictorial/graphical notations of some of the concepts.
Comprehensive coverage in this type of work is not always possible. As technology grows, the materials, the media, the methods - every thing gets changed. Hence, time and again, it needs to be improved, updated, modified or altered to meet the growing needs. However, the basic principle of testing remains unchanged as whatever is taught has to be tested and whoever is teaching has to test whatever he has taught. It is, in this context, I hope that this volume will find a place in the hands of all those who are involved in the interdependent process of Teaching, Learning and Evaluation, viz., the teachers, question setters, examiners and teacher-learners of the Staff Training Colleges. Besides the above, the Examination Cells of the Universities/Educational Institutions, Boards, Public Service Commissions and similar other Recruiting and Evaluating Agencies can also make use of this book for the benefit of their personnel.
Suggestions if any to improve this volume are always welcome.
Pon Subbiah