VALIDITY AND RELIABILITY OF THE ARABIC PRODUCTIVE VOCABULARY KNOWLEDGE INSTRUMENT AT THE HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTION LEVEL (I-PVKA IPT) USING THE RASCH MEASUREMENT MODEL

Knowledge of productive vocabulary is something critical in learning Arabic in Malaysia. A precise measurement tool is needed in order to know the level of students knowledge of productive Arabic vocabulary.Therefore, this research aims to validate the Arabic Productive Vocabulary Knowledge instrument at the IPT level (i-PVKA IPT). Through a quantitative approach, this test was distributed to 40 final year students of Selangor International Islamic University College (KUIS) and Sultan Abdul Halim Muadzam Shah International Islamic University (UniSHAMS) who are studying the Arabic language program.Next, the data were analyzed usingthe Rasch Measurement Model with the help of Winsteps version 5.2. The findings recorded a high item reliability index, which is at 0.86 and item separation index at 2.46.The noise level found is at 8.3% which is far from the ceiling value of 15%.Meanwhile, only seven items were found to be out of the mean square fit range, and those items were retained and refined.In conclusion, the i-PVKA IPT instrument was successfully proven to have a high level of validity and reliability by the Rasch Measurement Model and should be used to measure the level of students knowledge of Arabic productive vocabulary in higher learning institutes.