한국어 학습자의 진급 여부 의사결정을 위한 준거점수 설정 방법 비교 연구

Establishing Passing Standards for Classroom Achievement Tests for Learners of Korean as Second Language: A Comparative Study of Three Methods

The purpose of the present study is to compare cut scores for classroom achievement tests at Korean language institutes using three well-established standard setting methods, and to investigate what factors may have an influence upon creating standards. In doing so, cut scores obtained by the extended Angoff's method, the Ebel's method and the contrasting groups method were compared with the exiting official cut scores based on experienced teachers' intuition at an university-affiliated language institute for learners of Korean as second language (KSL). The results indicate that the extended Angoff's and the Ebel's passing scores were lower than both the official and the contrasting groups' ones although the contrasting groups' passing scores produced similar results to the official ones. More intriguing is a significant change in cut scores and improvement in interrater reliability found when the judges were provided with normative information on learners' performance. The forementioned findings suggest that the intuition-driven cut score setting method, which has been prevailing in the Korean education field, might have to be reconsidered, and using well-established standard setting methods together could help faculty to make a more informed and valid decision on which should pass or fail in the setting of KSL classrooms. Implications for further research and limitations of the present study were also discussed.