Stakeholders of language tests are often interested in subscores. However, reporting a subscore is not always justified; a subscore should provide reliable and distinct information to be worth reporting. When a subscore is used for decisions across multiple levels (e.g., individual test takers and schools), it needs to be justified for its…

In this study the magnitudes of local dependence generated by cloze test items and reading comprehension items were compared and their impact on parameter estimates and test precision was investigated. An advanced English as a foreign language reading comprehension test containing three reading passages and a cloze test was analyzed with a…

The reliability of scores from four forms of the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) was estimated using a hybrid item response theory model. It was found that there was very little difference between overall reliability when the testlet items were assumed to be independent and when their dependence was modeled. (Author/SLD)