Cross-Language Test Equating

How can performance levels in different languages be compared? Here are the steps we used to equate four tests, each developed to measure one of four skills (vocabulary, analogies, reading and writing) in one language (English), to four similar tests in a second language (Spanish) for the Woodcock-Muñoz Language Surveys (Chicago: Riverside, 1993).

Step 1. Develop a bank of English items for each of the four skill areas.

Step 2. Rasch analyze the responses of subjects (6,359, ages 2 to 95) to establish the scale underlying each of the four banks of English items. Discard misfitting items.

Step 3. Compute norm measure tables of typical English language performance at different educational levels, ages, etc.

Step 4. Select sets of items for the four published English tests from their respective banks. Compute a raw score-to- measure table for each test for field use.

Step 5. Identify a subset of items covering the full difficulty range from "easy" to "difficult" in each English test and translate into Spanish. Verify that each English item has a reasonably direct counterpart in Spanish, e.g., authority/autoridad. (Though translated from English items of known difficulty, the difficulty of the Spanish items is still unknown.)

Step 6. Develop item banks for the four Spanish tests. Imbed in each bank of Spanish items the set of equating items translated from English.

Step 7. Rasch analyze the responses of Spanish speakers from outside the USA (1,200) and Spanish speakers from within the USA (800, pre-school to university graduate). Establish item difficulties for each Spanish item bank.

Step 8. Plot the English and Spanish difficulties for equivalent items for each skill area. Do not expect perfect agreement between the two sets of calibrations, because there are language-related differences for specific item content. Evaluate outliers from the best fit line for exclusion from the set of equating items. (This step verifies success in constructing comparable English- and Spanish-language variables.)

Step 9. Select items for the published versions of the Spanish tests. Compute a raw score-to-Spanish measure table for each test.

Step 10. Compute means (Me for English and Ms for Spanish) and standard deviations (Se for English and Ss for Spanish) of the English and Spanish equating item calibrations for each pair of tests.

Step 11. Equate each Spanish measure, Bs, to the scale of English measures, with value Be, by


Step 12. Construct a raw score to English equated measure table for each Spanish test, so that an examiner using the Spanish tests on native Spanish-speaking subjects can use the English equated measures to identify in the English language norm tables the typical performance levels for native English speakers of equivalent language competency.

Richard W. Woodcock
Ana Muñoz-Sandoval

Cross-Language Test Equating. Woodcock R., Muñoz-Sandoval A. Rasch Measurement Transactions 1994 7:4 p.329


Rasch publications in Spanish - Español
www.rasch.org/rmt/glosario.htmRasch Anàlisis - Glosario Español - Spanish Glossary - Español-Inglés del diccionario - Spanish-English Dictionary - Dr. Agustín Tristàn Lòpez
www.rasch.org/diseno.htmSpanish language introduction to Diseño de Mejores Pruebas (Best Test Design)
Book PDFDiseño de Mejores Pruebas - Spanish-language translation of Best Test Design (Wright & Stone, 1979)

Cross-Language Test Equating. Woodcock R., Muñoz-Sandoval A. … Rasch Measurement Transactions, 1994, 7:4 p.329



Rasch Publications
Rasch Measurement Transactions (free, online) Rasch Measurement research papers (free, online) Probabilistic Models for Some Intelligence and Attainment Tests, Georg Rasch Applying the Rasch Model 3rd. Ed., Bond & Fox Best Test Design, Wright & Stone
Rating Scale Analysis, Wright & Masters Introduction to Rasch Measurement, E. Smith & R. Smith Introduction to Many-Facet Rasch Measurement, Thomas Eckes Invariant Measurement: Using Rasch Models in the Social, Behavioral, and Health Sciences, George Engelhard, Jr. Statistical Analyses for Language Testers, Rita Green
Rasch Models: Foundations, Recent Developments, and Applications, Fischer & Molenaar Journal of Applied Measurement Rasch models for measurement, David Andrich Constructing Measures, Mark Wilson Rasch Analysis in the Human Sciences, Boone, Stave, Yale
in Spanish: Análisis de Rasch para todos, Agustín Tristán Mediciones, Posicionamientos y Diagnósticos Competitivos, Juan Ramón Oreja Rodríguez

To be emailed about new material on www.rasch.org
please enter your email address here:

I want to Subscribe: & click below
I want to Unsubscribe: & click below

Please set your SPAM filter to accept emails from Rasch.org

www.rasch.org welcomes your comments:

Your email address (if you want us to reply):

 

ForumRasch Measurement Forum to discuss any Rasch-related topic

Go to Top of Page
Go to index of all Rasch Measurement Transactions
AERA members: Join the Rasch Measurement SIG and receive the printed version of RMT
Some back issues of RMT are available as bound volumes
Subscribe to Journal of Applied Measurement

Go to Institute for Objective Measurement Home Page. The Rasch Measurement SIG (AERA) thanks the Institute for Objective Measurement for inviting the publication of Rasch Measurement Transactions on the Institute's website, www.rasch.org.

Coming Rasch-related Events
May 17 - June 21, 2024, Fri.-Fri. On-line workshop: Rasch Measurement - Core Topics (E. Smith, Winsteps), www.statistics.com
June 12 - 14, 2024, Wed.-Fri. 1st Scandinavian Applied Measurement Conference, Kristianstad University, Kristianstad, Sweden http://www.hkr.se/samc2024
June 21 - July 19, 2024, Fri.-Fri. On-line workshop: Rasch Measurement - Further Topics (E. Smith, Winsteps), www.statistics.com
Aug. 5 - Aug. 6, 2024, Fri.-Fri. 2024 Inaugural Conference of the Society for the Study of Measurement (Berkeley, CA), Call for Proposals
Aug. 9 - Sept. 6, 2024, Fri.-Fri. On-line workshop: Many-Facet Rasch Measurement (E. Smith, Facets), www.statistics.com
Oct. 4 - Nov. 8, 2024, Fri.-Fri. On-line workshop: Rasch Measurement - Core Topics (E. Smith, Winsteps), www.statistics.com
Jan. 17 - Feb. 21, 2025, Fri.-Fri. On-line workshop: Rasch Measurement - Core Topics (E. Smith, Winsteps), www.statistics.com
May 16 - June 20, 2025, Fri.-Fri. On-line workshop: Rasch Measurement - Core Topics (E. Smith, Winsteps), www.statistics.com
June 20 - July 18, 2025, Fri.-Fri. On-line workshop: Rasch Measurement - Further Topics (E. Smith, Facets), www.statistics.com
Oct. 3 - Nov. 7, 2025, Fri.-Fri. On-line workshop: Rasch Measurement - Core Topics (E. Smith, Winsteps), www.statistics.com

 

The URL of this page is www.rasch.org/rmt/rmt74n.htm

Website: www.rasch.org/rmt/contents.htm