Validating the Test of Academic Literacy for Postgraduate Students (TALPS)

Abstract

The concepts of reliability and validity help to determine whether a test is a strong one or not, does what it is designed to do, tests what it is designed to test, and whether we can make inferences that are justified about the test takers, based on their score (Van der Walt & Steyn, 2007). Clearly, a lot depends on the reliability and validity of a test. This article will take the form of a validation argument of the Test of Academic Literacy for Postgraduate Students (TALPS). It will do so by providing a priori evidence collected before the test event (Weir, 2005) to support eight claims made about the reliability and validity of the test.