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Student Assessments: Are They Fair For International Students?

Connie Eudy & Li JinProgram for Instructional Excellence

The Florida State University

Commonly Used Student Assessments

• Multiple choice• Short essay• Group project• Class presentation• Case study• Final paper• Field experience (intern, etc.)

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Barriers for International Students

• Language barriers: reading, writing, speaking• Life experience: contextual knowledge,

confidence, cultural difference• Time: will longer time be helpful• Grader bias

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Fairness Issue in Student Assessments

How these barriers may affect the fairness of the student assessments--

Q1: What types of tests are fair for international students?

Q2: What types of tests are unfair for international students?

Q3: What factors may have contributed to the unfairness? (why is it unfair?)

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Research Method

Instrument: A survey consisted of 12 questions

Participants: 63 Graduate students at a south-eastern public university

Data: International students’ responses (15) vs. domestic students’ responses (48)

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Definitions of Fair and Unfair

• Three questions to collect opinions on fairness– 1. Do you think it is fair to compare the scores of international students to the scores of domestic students in the

following types of tests?– 2. An international student can perform as well as an domestic student in the following types of tests when they

have the same level of knowledge on the subject.– 3. An international student may perform as well as a domestic student in the following types of tests when they

have the same level of critical-thinking skills.

• When more than ¾ of the responses are strongly agree & agree, the test is reported as fair. Otherwise, it is reported as unfair (as less fair). This criteria is arbitrary.

• 50% cutting off threshold was used to identify contributing factors.

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Types of tests reported as fair/unfair for international students

All Responses International Student Responses

Domestic Student Responses

Fair Multiple ChoiceShort EssayGroup ProjectCase Study

Multiple ChoiceShort Essay

Multiple ChoiceShort EssayGroup ProjectCase StudyField ExperienceFinal Paper

Unfair Class PresentationField ExperienceFinal Paper

Class PresentationField ExperienceFinal PaperCase StudyGroup Project

Class Presentation

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Factors contributing to the unfairness for each test type

Test Type All Responses International Student Responses

Domestic Student Responses

Multiple Choice English-reading skills none English-reading skills

Short Essay TimeEnglish-writing skillsEnglish-reading skills

English-writing skillsTimeEnglish-writing skillsEnglish-reading skills

Group Project English-speaking skillsContextual knowledge

English-speakingContextual knowledge English-readingConfidenceCultural difference

English-speaking skillsContextual knowledge

Class Presentation English-speaking skillsConfidenceContextual knowledge

English-speaking skillsConfidence

English-speaking skillsConfidenceContextual knowledge

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Factors contributing to the unfairness for each test types (continued)

Test Type All Responses International Student Responses

Domestic Student Responses

Case Study English-writing skillsEnglish-reading skillsContextual knowledge

English-writing skillsEnglish-reading skillsContextual knowledgeCultural difference

English-writing skillsEnglish-reading skillsContextual knowledge

Final Paper English-writing skillsEnglish-reading skills

English-writing skills

Time

English-writing skillsEnglish-reading skills

Field Experience English-speaking skillsContextual knowledge

English-speakingContextual knowledge TimeConfidenceCultural difference

English-speakingContextual knowledge

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Comparison of factors contributing to the unfairness

All Responses International Student Responses Domestic Student Responses

English-reading skills; Contextual knowledge

English-writing skills; English speaking skills; Contextual knowledge; Confidence; Cultural difference

English-reading skills; Contextual knowledge

English writing skills; English speaking skills

TimeEnglish-reading skills

English-writing skillsEnglish-speaking skills

Confidence ; Time

Confidence; Time

Conclusions and Discussions• International students reported that 5 out of

the 7 types of tests were unfair.• Domestic students reported that only one out

of 7 types of tests were unfair.

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Conclusions and Discussions• The factors contributing to the unfairness of

the tests reported by international students did not match with those factors reported by domestic students for any of the tests.

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