Evaluation of the Content Validity of the English Language Test in Erbil Governorate Schools

This study aims to evaluate English language tests of seventh grade at basic schools in Erbil governorate-general directorate in terms of their content validity. More specifically, it tries to find out to what extent the content validity of the tests relate to English language content areas in terms of grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation, and four language skills such as listening, reading, writing and speaking. Hughes (1989) pointed out among the validity types the most relevant one is content validity since it is a means to check the attainment of objects of each content the syllabus of a certain domain. For the research design, a qualitative method is used and the data was collected through 160 summative test samples for the purpose of this study from the schools. The findings of the study revealed that grammar covers the most part of the tests; whereas both vocabulary and pronunciation were less focused in a manner that they take the second and third places, respectively. Concerning the language skills, it was found that the test developers focused mostly on writing, and reading stayed at the second stage. However, both speaking and listening skills were totally ignored in the tests. Overall, it can be concluded that both grammar and vocabulary, as two basic language areas, were mostly reflected the content validity of the English language tests used in the schools of Erbil; whereas, pronunciation was rarely reflected the content validity. Moreover, although both reading and writing skills were adequately reflected the content validity of the tests, other language skills like speaking and listening were fully ignored.