Journal of Authentic Research
Vol. 5 No. 4 (2026): November

Item Analysis of the Developed Reading Preparation Materials for the English Proficiency Test

Issatirrodiah (Unknown)
Zamzam, Ahmad (Unknown)
Junaidi, Ahmad (Unknown)



Article Info

Publish Date
15 Oct 2026

Abstract

This study is an integral part of research and development (R&D) on digitalized reading materials for the English proficiency test. It focused on item analysis of the fifty reading comprehension questions embedded in a newly developed Digitalized English Proficiency Test (EPT) Reading Preparation Materials platform. Although previous studies have examined item quality in teacher-made tests, little is known about the statistical quality of reading items developed specifically for a digital EPT preparation platform at the university level; this study addresses that gap and offers novelty by integrating item facility, item discrimination, and distractor efficiency into an item-level decision matrix for platform improvement. Because a fellow researcher independently constructed the items and they had never been empirically evaluated, this study aimed to analyze item facility, item discrimination, and distractor efficiency. It used a quantitative descriptive design and analyzed response data from 38 English Education students who completed all 50 items, following Arikunto’s (2018) classical test theory procedures. The results showed a mean item facility index of .64, with 50% of items falling in the medium/acceptable range. The mean item discrimination index was .34, and 109 of 150 distractors (72.7%) were functional. Based on the combined criteria, 6 items (12%) were recommended for retention, 41 items (82%) required revision, and 3 items (6%) were recommended for removal. The main limitation is that reliability was not calculated and the pilot sample was relatively homogeneous in English proficiency, which likely restricted discrimination estimates; therefore, findings should be interpreted as initial, sample-dependent evidence. These findings provide an empirical basis for iteratively improving the platform’s item bank before wider implementation.

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Journal Info

Abbrev

jar

Publisher

Subject

Earth & Planetary Sciences Education Public Health Social Sciences Other

Description

Journal of Authentic Research (ISSN. 2828-3724) is an open-access journal that published by Lembaga Penelitian dan Pemberdayaan Masyarakat (LITPAM). This journal publishes research papers in the field of social science and natural science. Journal of Authentic Research publish twice a year ...