cOmpuTeriZed tEsTinG aNd oNLinE LaNguAge ProFiciEnCy aSsesSmeNt..

According to the article of ‘Computer Assistant Language Testing: Present research and some future directions', it is begins with exploring recent developments in the use of computers in language testing in four areas which are item banking, computer assistant language testing, computerized adaptive language testing and research on the effectiveness of computers in language testing. The aim of this article is to examine recent development in language testing that directly involves computer use including what we have learned in the process. It also examine the dominant issue of computers adaptive testing in the educational measurement literature in an attempt to forecast some of the directions future research on computers in language testing might take.

The first thing that has been discussed in this article is all about the item banking. Item banking covers any procedures that are used to create, pilot, analyze, store, manage and select test items so that multiple test forms can be created from the subsets of the total bank of items. With a large item bank available, new forms of tests can be created whenever they are needed. Naturally, a personal computer can make item banking and item analysis procedures much easier and much faster.

The other thing that also been discussed is about the Computer Assisted Language Testing (CALT) which is administered at computer terminal or on personal computer which is calling CALT. The response has comes through multiple-choice, true-false, matching items, which are easy to adapt to the computer-assisted testing medium. Testmaster which is a kind of software are used to create such test. However, the more interesting types of language task prove much more difficult to develop for computer-assisted testing. Though like that, they also provide us two primary benefits to us

Besides that, this article also state about Computer-adaptive language tests which are a subtype of computer-assisted language tests because they are administered at computer terminals or on personal computers. It has 3 additional characteristics that are; the test items are selected and fitted to the individual students involved; the test is ended when the student's ability level is located, and, as a consequence and computer-adaptive tests are usually relatively short in terms of the number of items involved and the time needed. The result is a test that is more precise and generally much shorter than conventional paper-and-pencil tests.

The last thing that has been exploring is the research on the effectiveness on computers in the language testing. They also discovered some of the advantages that have gained by using computers assisted language testing which can be further subdivided into two categories that are testing considerations and human considerations. Apart of it is advantages are the computers are much more accurate at scoring and reporting scores than human beings are and give immediate feedback in the form of a report of test scores, complete with a printout of basic testing statistics. Besides The use of different tests for each student should minimize any practice effects, studying for the test, and cheating. It allows students to work at their own pace and CALTs generally take less time to finish more efficient and many students like computers and even enjoy the testing process.

In spite of advantages of it, there are also disadvantages of using computers in language testing which can also be further subdivided into two categories physical considerations and performance considerations. The presentation of a test on a computer may lead to different results from those that would be obtained if the same test were administered in a paper-and-pencil format. Some limited research indicates that there is little difference for math or verbal items presented on computer as compared with pencil-and-paper version. Electricity failure, limited of capabilities of the computer especially the old one also technofear that are facing in some of students.

Furthermore, according to the article of “Online Language Proficiency Assessment”, English language being used as a medium of instruction for science, mathematic and technology related to the education system in Malaysia around year 2001. Because of that, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) has now given emphasize to use English for academic professional purposes. Then, the online test are provided for the UKM academicians so that profiling of their language proficiency can be conducted for the purpose of placement of English training modules. To support teaching and learning online, the web-based system LearningCare is the platform which is accessible via the University Information System (UIS) is an ideal test bed to develop the online test for the UKM academician.

LearningCare is a web-based fully integrated e-learning solution, which provides UKM community a tool to develop, implement and share effectively the use of web-based technology. UKM community can manage the portfolios available from anywhere in the world. Therefore, the placement test was constructed by used the LearningCare web-based system. The test takers would take about 30 minutes to complete the cloze-type test and all the questions and results of test takers are kept in online database, which linked to the lecturers’ personal files.

As a conclusion, to ensuring the validity of the online test, the test needs to be administered in a controlled environment within a specified time frame. The UKM community also needs to be informed about the test so that all the lecturers will come forward and self-rate their proficiency level online. The UKM community will be given exposure and training in taking the online test. It can be an excellent trial version for all prior to the actual test administration.