An Analysis of Content Validity in English Semester Test Items of Senior High Schools in Padang,

This study aims to evaluate the English semester examination for Grade X students at senior high schools (SMA) in Padang. The evaluation is conducted to identify and determine the content validity of the test by examining the content representativeness, namely the alignment between the objectives (indicators) stated in the syllabus and the test items. This study is classified as evaluation research because it assesses the quality of an educational product, specifically an achievement test, through document analysis. Based on the nature of the data, the study employs a qualitative approach, with data presented in descriptive form focusing on the objects being evaluated. To evaluate the test, the researcher used an item–indicator matching checklist as the research instrument.

The findings clearly indicate that the test has low content validity. Out of 40 test items, only 14 items are aligned with the indicators stated in the syllabus, while 26 items do not correspond to any indicators. Furthermore, of the 46 indicators listed in the syllabus, 34 indicators are not represented or measured by the test items. In the listening section, only six out of 15 items are considered valid because they match the indicators. However, 19 out of 24 listening indicators are not assessed in the test. The next section, reading, shows similar results: out of 20 items, only seven items align with the indicators, and these seven items represent only four of the 11 reading indicators in the syllabus. The writing section, which is in essay form, demonstrates the lowest level of content representativeness, as only one item (item number 40) out of five corresponds to the indicators, while the remaining 10 indicators are not reflected in the test items.