Using Item Response Theory to Analyze Student Ability to Acquire Lower Primary Curriculum Content: A Case of Rural Malawi

Taniguchi Kyoko

広島大学大学院人間社会科学研究科紀要. 教育学研究

Bulletin of the Graduate School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Hiroshima University. Studies in education

[ISSN] 2436-0333

[NCID] AA12909086

Improving student achievement is a significant issue in Malawi. This study uses item response theory (IRT) to analyze students’ ability to acquire curriculum content in rural Malawi’ s primary education system. Using data from a sample of 1,476 grade 5 students across 30 public primary schools, the analysis computes two parameters of IRT—item difficulty and item discrimination—on selected test questions in the areas of English and mathematics. In English, students demonstrated skills in vocabulary and in asking and answering questions, while they had difficulty with tenses and stories. In mathematics, students’ strengths were concentrated in counting, writing numbers, and addition, while their weaknesses were concentrated in solving common fractions and in problems involving time and addition of money. Although IRT is useful for analyzing student ability, the test items being studied must meet certain assumptions before IRT can be used with them—posing a challenge in low-income countries. The findings of this study are intended to contribute to improving student skills in Malawi.

item response theory

student ability

academic achievement

curriculum

sub-Saharan Africa

英語

広島大学大学院人間社会科学研究科

Graduate School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Hiroshima University

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