Examining the Validity of Northern College Standardized English Test (NTC-SET) according to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) Standard

The purposes of this study were to develop and validate the Northern College Standardized English Test (NTC-SET), a standardized English proficiency test aligned with CEFR benchmarks. The analysis focused on NTC-SET’s design process, content validity, item difficulty, item discrimination, and internal consistency reliability. There were 351 participants used in the study. Content validity was confirmed by three expert raters with high Index of Item-Objective Congruence (IOC) ratings ranging from 0.76 (speaking) to 1.00 (listening). The item analysis revealed a moderate overall difficulty level (P=0.50) and a very good discrimination index (0.43), showing that the test successfully distinguished between skill levels. The internal consistency reliability, as measured using the Kuder-Richardson Formula 20 (KR-20), was strong, with the reading section having the highest reliability coefficient, at 0.94. Overall, the findings offered solid empirical evidence supporting the NTC-SET's validity and reliability as a tool for assessing English competence in accordance with CEFR norms.