Translation effects in international assessments

Abstract

Ideally, a single common form of a test would be used for international assessments. However, since the test is administered in different countries, it is necessary to translate the test into the languages of these countries. This chapter explores the application of a statistical method to examine the effect of translations on the equivalence of test items and the comparability of test scores. This method is used to identify poorly translated items in an international assessment which was administered in two languages and to examine how the comparability of scores is affected by problems in translations.