On the Construct Validity of the Iranian Ministry of Health Language Exam (MHLE)

Abstract

Considering validity as a unitary concept, this study investigated the construct validity of the Iranian Ministry of Health Language Exam (MHLE). To meet this objective, we first conducted item analysis and reliability analysis, and verified KR20-if-item-deleted indices on the scores of 987 MHLE test takers before running factor analysis. Though the test was found to enjoy a high level of reliability, it suffered from 28 problematic items flagged through item analysis and KR20-if-item-deleted indices. Next, we ran factor analysis on the data, screened through item analysis, by implementing Horn’s parallel analysis and Velicer’s minimum average partial (MAP) tests. Parallel analysis resulted in overfactoring. The MAP test, however, produced results with two to seven factors. Though the 4-factor result of the MAP test seemed to be more logical at first glance, the overall results were rather disappointing. Nineteen items did not load significantly on any factor and a clear pattern of item loading was not found for many items. These findings can be viewed as evidence detracting from the validity of MHLE.

Keywords

• language assessment
• language testing
• proficiency test
• item analysis
• reliability analysis
• factor analysis
• mhle