The Effect of Placing Test Items in Different Positions in Listening Comprehension Tests: The Case of Unity College
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Date
2001-06
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Abstract
An experiment was conducted to explore the effect of placing test items in different
positions in listening comprehension tests. In this experiment three groups were made to
view listening comprehension test items in three different positions. The first group
viewed these items before two listenings while the second one viewed them after two
Iistenings. The third group, on the other hand, viewed the questions between two
listenings.
First, Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) was used to divide the testees in to
three groups which had comparable listening abilities. The data obtained from this
standardized test was analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The result then
showed that the three gro ups were comparable in their listening abilities.
After this was done, a test prepared for College English students by the Department of
Foreign Languages and Literature at Addis Ababa University was administered to
investigate the mentioned treatments.
To accept or reject the null hypothesis which stated that placing test items in different
positions in a listening comprehension test has no effect on the testees' performance, a
one-way ANOVA was employed. The AN OVA, then detected a significant mean ditlerence
in scores across the three approaches. The calculated value of F (F=8-440 with degrees of
freedom 2 and 132) exceeded the value of F tabulated at .05 probability level set for this
study. As a result, the null hypothesis mentioned above was rejected. The Scheffs posthoc
comparison of means also helped to locate the direction of the difference. The result
of this test, thus, showed that the 'Sandwich group' produced significantly higher scores
in the listening comprehension test than did the 'After reading group' and the 'Before
reading group'. On the other hand, these latter groups did not show a significant
difference in their performances.
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Effect of Placing Test Items