An Examination of the Content Validity of the Unified School Leaving and University Entrance Examination in English of 2009

Abstract

The purpose of the present study was to investigate and determine whether and to what extent the content of the Unified School Leaving and University Entrance Examination in English (USL & UEEE) of 2009 was consistent with the curriculum (or teaching /learning objectives) of the English language program in secondary schools of Armenia. The instructional materials (the textbooks for Grades 5 to 10) approved of by the Ministry of Education and Science of Armenia and the High School teaching/learning objectives of the English Language set in the curriculum were analyzed to serve as a basis for the research. Two tests (the USL & UEEE and a test designed exclusively for this study on the basis of the instructional materials) were administered to sixty-two school-leavers randomly selected from different secondary schools of Yerevan and the preparatory course of Russian-Armenian (Slavonic) University. The analyses of the results obtained (i.e. the total scores on each test) revealed a strong association between the two tests. However, the analysis of the relationship between the components of the two tests showed a weak or moderate degree of relationship in most cases, and most of the comparisons of the components between the tests displayed statistically significant differences. The analysis of the production section revealed a low correlation between the scores on compositions and those on the tests suggesting that the test scores were not representative of the writing ability.