Usability testing the Afghan Language Aptitude Battery: Evaluating Cognitive Tests for Non-Traditional Populations
Susan G. Campbell, Michael F. Bunting · Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting · 2012
We present two closely-related approaches to product evaluation in less-commonly taught languages with native speaker informants and test participants. The Afghan Language Aptitude Battery (ALAB) was designed to be used to identify promising Afghan candidates for English language instruction before they started training in Afghanistan. In evaluating the battery, however, we were limited to testing in the United States. We asked Afghan service members who were already enrolled in language courses to act as usability participants and solicited their input on the design of the tests, the quality of the translations, and on the battery’s suitability for use in Afghanistan. Our testing found that the students were able to accomplish the tests, though the elements were unfamiliar, but that the instructions required extensive revisions in order to make them understandable to a less-educated audience in Afghanistan. The difference in the outcomes of our two evaluations suggests that translation evaluation should be done separately from test evaluation.