Volume 4,Issue 5
Construct Validity and Design Optimization of Preschool Math-Language Assessment: A Critical Review of a Unit Test employed in the Riverdeep LMS4 system
This study critically evaluates the Addition unit test within the Riverdeep LMS4 platform for K3 learners (aged 5–6) in RISE Education. According to the language assessment framework of Bachman & Palmer (2010) and Bachman (2004), the principles of CLIL (Coyle et al., 2010) and the theories of development (Vygotsky, 1978), this study will use a mixed-methods approach to combine document analysis, test content analysis, teacher interviews and student test records to examine the test in four aspects: construction definition, task design, scoring mechanism and validity evidence. The evaluation results have the following deficiencies: insufficient coverage of the constructs, blurring of the boundary between math and language, insufficient task authenticity and uniformity of cognitive demands, outcome-oriented scoring without diagnostic value, and weak evidence for fairness across different levels of English proficiency. The study confirms the applicability of classic assessment frameworks to digital, cross-curricular preschool contexts and guides optimizing comparable math-language assessments.
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