By Ben Nwanne
An expert in Educational Measurement and Evaluation in the Department of Guidance and Counselling, Delta State University, Abraka, Professor John Odili has emphasized the need for teachers at all levels of our educational sector to administer test items in a way and manner that isolate extraneous errors, and encourage national integration.
He was speaking yesterday at the 94th in the series of Inaugural Lectures of the University entitled ‘’Managing item Bias in Educational Assessment in Pluralistic Society for Testing and National Integration’’.
Professor Odili described testing as an “encounter between the latent trait carried by the test item and that which is possessed by the testee. If the latent trait possessed by the testee is higher than that carried by the test item, the testee will overcome, that is, pass the test item. The reverse is the case if the latent trait of the test item is higher than that possessed by the testee”.
According to him, test items are professionally loaded with learning outcomes such as knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis and evaluation.
Professor Odili who is on sabbatical at the Joint Admissions and Matriculations Board (JAMB) advised that tests should be valid by measuring what they are supposed to measure, that is, they should carry “latent trait only for the latent ability it is supposed to measure’’.
He expressed concern at what he described as high failure rate in public examinations, which he put at about 50 percent.
He argued that high failure rate, had unsalutory effects on society as the drop-outs often ventured into negative activities such as cultism, robbery, prostitution and others.
He explained that the world was looking at the use of test and testing for national integration, noting that experts in the testing profession were concerned with three objectives namely, considering test items that are free from bias, using assessment outcomes to identify strengths and weaknesses of learners and considering minority groups in decisions that are predicated in testing.
Building his lecture on a sound theoretical framework, the bespectacled Professor identified two theories of Measurement, Classical Test Theory (CTT) and Item Response Theory (IRT).
The basic assumption of the CTT, according to Prof. Odili who has been described as a “prolific researcher who could demystify academic puzzles and codify solutions at a glance’’ was that it was possible to develop a parallel test or an alternative test from the same table of specification such that the two tests measure the same thing.
He also stated that IRT was the most significant development in psychometrics, as it postulates that latent trait or mental trait is responsible for an individual’s performance in a given test.
Professor Odili who is a consultant to different corporate bodies, postulated that language could affect test item validity, stressing that a question couched in ‘difficult’ English would negatively affect performance of testees, thereby giving advantage to candidates who were advanced in the language.
According to him, research had shown that persons of higher social economic status (SES), people who live in urban areas and the female gender tended to have a higher competence in English, hence the need to use simpler and more accessible words in framing test items.
His words “the substitution of words in key positions by simpler words brought about an improvement in performance’’.
According to Professor Odili, who, until recently was the University’s Chairman of Business Committee of Senate (BCS), a body which must recommend students results for the University Senate to approve, explained that “modern civilization advocates education for-all, not for the intelligent, not for the physically strong, not for the beautiful or handsome and not for the rich”, adding that the Millennium Development Goals advocated for inclusive and quality education for all.
In order to achieve better testing, Professor Odili, advocated that since teaching and learning were two sides of the same coin, there was need for teachers to be regularly trained in the area of testing and subjecting test items to trial testing before exposing them.
While encouraging test writers to eliminate the sources of extraneous error variables such as language, cultural elements, and others in order to ensure the achievements and mastery of the goal of instruction, he urged that academic policies should have a human face to reduce depression among some categories of students.
Speaking at the occasion, the Vice-Chancellor, an elated Professor Andy Egwunyenga commended the Inaugural Lecturer for his scholarly presentation, describing him as a “calm and effective teacher’’.
Professor Egwunyenga who is giving DELSU an enlightened and committed leadership, explained that the self-effacing Professor had effectively broken down the subject for everyone to understand, adding that he had provided a nexus between the effectiveness at examinations and the needs of the larger society.
He described the occasion as a warm and glorious academic fair and thereafter decorated the Inaugural Lecturer with the University Distinguished Honorary Medal as a Senior Professor of the University.
*Prof. Ben Nwanne is the Director,
Directorate of Ceremonials,
Information and Public Relations,
Delta State University, Abraka.