IJSRSET1625107 | Received : 22 October 2016 | Accepted : 31 October 2016 | September-October-2016 [(2)5: 420-430 ] © 2016 IJSRSET | Volume 2 | Issue 5 | Print ISSN: 2395-1990 | Online ISSN : 2394-4099 Themed Section: Science and Technology 420 How Does Item Difficulty Justify Learners’ Poor Attendances in ELT Context? Behnam Behforouz Foundation English Department, University of Buraimi, Oman ABSTRACT This study investigated the relation between degree of test difficulty and students‟ performances in midterm and final exams. For this purpose, 24 Arab students were selected. Examination of results revealed that of course there is a relation between these two variables but it is not a big gap. Keywords: Item Difficulty, Poor Attendance, ELT Context I. INTRODUCTION Regarding previous researches about students‟ achievement (Qayyum& Ismail, [32], Hong, [17], Nami, [29]), there are many factors which affect students‟ performance in a test. Item difficulty, motivation, time, etc., all are among those factors. According to Marso [24], educators always deal with the problem of classroom tests. Some like believes that when the item difficulty reaches 50 percent, the test has maximum reliability and validity, but classroom activists believe that difficult tests decrease students` motivation leading to poor achievement (Wood, 1961). Expected test trouble is generally recognized as a student formulated model and has been found to have significant effect on test performance. (Marso, [24] cited in Qayyum & Ismail, [32]). Making reasonable and orderly assessments of others execution can be a challenging task. Judgments‟ can`t be made exclusively on the premise of instinct and heedless speculation, or custom (Sax, 1989). Educators, managers, and others in evaluative positions utilize an assortment of instruments to help them in their assessments. Tests are instruments that are frequently used to encourage the assessment procedure. To develop the norm-referenced tests for instructional purposes, to evaluate the impacts of educational plans, or to investigate examination purposes, it can be vital to conduct item and examine the analysis. (Matlock- Hetzel, [25]). 1.1. Statement of the problem State-administered tests (i.e. estimation tools that are utilized to assess levels of particular proficiencies, aptitudes or abilities, for example, knowledge of science) are utilized as a part of instruction for a few purposes, including outlining and measuring changes in understudy accomplishment, and in addition for symptomatic and aptitude purposes (Shephard, 2001; Black and Wiliam, 1998). At the point when tests are likewise utilized as a feature of the premise for granting understudy grades, they can contribute towards evaluating which schools the participants may go to later on, the understudies' self-viability (Bandura, 1997). Suppose you were sitting, tensely waiting for an exam to start. What might you do? Would you utilize your additional time before exam to concentrate on? How might you contemplate? What system would you utilize? Foos [12] suggested some of these questions in a study where students were informed that an exam they were concerning to take would be either simple or hard. All participants were given fifteen minutes to concentrate on. Those who thought the test would be hard, performed superior to those participants who thought the test would be simple. He [12] reasoned that students who thought the exam would be troublesome