• English Language & Literature Teaching
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.153-184
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• 2010

On the bases of the 5 principles and the 4 criteria for designing and developing of the listening and the reading test of National English Ability Test (NEAT), this study presents Item-Types Decision-Making Model as a blueprint for designing and constructing the two tests. It sets up the criteria for validating item types, designs a modular type of test specifications, constructs an item-types bank, and specifies a complementary type of test specifications of the two tests. To gather all these threads up, it constructs Item-Types Decision-Making Model which consists of such components as the item-type pool, the validity criteria and the procedures of testing item types, the item-types bank, the modular and the complementary type test specification. Thus, it shows how the Model works in developing and constructing the two level-differentiated listening and reading tests (the 2nd and the 3rd rank) of NEAT. Finally, it discusses some implications and applications of the Model to the two level-differentiated tests (the A and the B type) of 2014 CSAT (College Scholastic Ability Test) systems, National Assessment of Educational Achievement (NAEA), and classroom testing. In conclusion, Item-Types Decision-Making Model functions as a testing template in an item development system and as a matrix in an item-types bank system.