On the Construct Validity of the Reading Section of the University of Tehran English Proficiency Test

University of Tehran administers a test known as The University ofTehran English Proficiency Test (the UTEPT) to PhD candidates on ayearly basis. By definition, the test can be considered a high-stakesone. The validity of high stakes tests needs to be known (Roever,2001). As Mesick (1988) maintains, if the validity of high stakes testsare not known, it might have some undesirable consequences for thesociety at large. To investigate the construct validity of the test, factoranalysis was employed (Farahdy, 1983). The factor analysis of choicewas exploratory factor analysis with varimx rotation strategy. In thereading section, the factor analysis produced eleven factors.Furthermore, the use of Principal Components Analysis (PCA) wascomplemented with Principal Axis Factoring (PAF). Overfactoringwas an issue. This overfactoring can be attributed to theheterogeneous nature of items; different paradigms from which itemswere taken: iBT TOEFL, ILTES, and FCE.