Assessment Instrument on Measuring Physics Verbal Representation Ability of Senior High School Students

The problem questions used in the physics learning assessment process do not only require the ability of students to apply concepts only in solving problems. But more than that, these questions measure how the concept can be applied in various situations, and how students make sense in solving the problems. Representing the same concept and then conveying it in a different form is the meaning of multiple representations. The ability of multi representation is one of the most important abilities to be mastered by students. For this reason, this study aims to develop a question instrument and to determine the characteristics of the verbal representation questions of Physics on Particle Dynamics, Newton's Law of Gravity, and Work and Energy. A total of 39 verbal representation questions were developed and tested on 322 students in Yogyakarta. The selection of the trial subjects was done by using the purposive sampling method. The steps for developing the instrument are, (1) Determination of test objectives, (2) Determination of test materials, (3) Designing test blueprints, (4) Writing test questions based on verbal indicators, (5) Content Validation, (6) Determination test subjects, (7) test implementation, and (8) analyzing test results. A total of 39 verbal representation questions have been developed with the format of two-tier multiple-choice questions. Valid items based on the results of content validation analysis using Aiken's V based on expert judgment and empirically, according to the PCM model. The difficulty index of all items on the test instrument is in a good category between -0.49 to 1.9. Test questions are very suitable for measuring verbal representation skills with an ability range of -2.3≤ θ ≤ 1.9. The results of this test item analysis can be used as a guide in assembling and presenting questions to measure the verbal representation ability of high school students in physics learning.