Proceedings of 10th Global Business and Social Science Research Conference
23 -24 June 2014, Radisson Blu Hotel, Beijing, China, ISBN: 978-1-922069-55-9
Development of Computerized General Literacy Test
for University Students and Comparison between
Different Occupational Types
Po-Hsi Chen1 and Hsin Ying Huang2
The investigation of general literacy of students was an important
issue in recent years, for example, the ATCS (Assessment &
Teaching of 21
st
Century Skills) and PISA (the Programme for
International Student Assessment) projects. However, most of the
projects are focus on the students under grade 12. The
computerized general literacy test for university students have been
developed since 2010, which including the assessment of
communication and collaboration, aesthetics, information literacy,
lifelong learning, problem solving, career, leadership, social
concern and citizenship, and scientific thinking. Three hundred and
sixty testlet-based items were developed, pretested and included in
the items bank. More than ten thousands of university students
from twenty universities in Taiwan were attended in the
investigation from November 2012 to December 2013. The partial
credit IRT (item response theory) model was used to analysis the
results of students with different occupational type, which
categorized by Holland’s Occupational Theory (Holland, 1973). The
results demonstrated that enterprising type students showed higher
information literacy and social concern and citizenship literacy, but
lower scientific thinking literacy and career literacy, than the
students with other occupational types. The superior and inferior
literacies of six occupational type students correspond with
Holland’s Occupational Theory. The results of general literacy test
for university students can be used in improving the curriculum of
general literacy courses in university.
Key-Words: general literacy test, item response theory, enterprising, general
literacy courses
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1
National Taiwan Normal University
2
National Cheng-Chi University