Chapter2TestItems.docx

Chapter2TestItems.docx

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Chapter2TestItems

ChapterTwoTestItems

InChapterOnewetalkedabouttheimportanceoflanguagetesting,itshistoricaldevelopment,itscriteriaandclassification.Inthischapterwearegoingtodiscusssomebasictermsinlanguagetesting,thetypesoftheitems,andaspecialattentionwillbepaidontwooftheseitems:

themultiplechoiceandthecloze

I.Somebasictermsfrequentlyusedinlanguagetesting

1.Testitem:

aquestionorelementinatestwhichrequiresananswerorresponse,e.g.Writeoutasentenceusingtheword“agree”.

2.Testprocedure:

asizabletaskoriteminatest,e.g.Writeasummaryofanarticle.Thesetwotermsaresometimesusedexchangeably.Forinstance,wecansayamultiple-choiceitemoramultiple-choiceprocedure,andaclozeitemoraclozeprocedure.

3.Testobjective:

theexplicitintentofanitemorprocedure,suchastotestforaparticularconcretepoint.Inotherwordsstudentsaretodrawontheirknowledgeandperformsomeoperationwiththatknowledge,e.g.decodeaword,readforcomprehension,orlistentoadialogue,andthenproduceawordorwriteaphrase.

4.Testpoint:

anyfeatureorformthatagivenitemelicits（drawsout,orforcestocomeout）,includingbothpointsintendedtobetestedbytheitemaswellasthefullrangeofpointsactuallyelicitedbyagivenitemwithorwithouttheteacher’sawareness.Foeexample,thereisatestitemlikethis:

Fillintheblankwiththewordinthebracket;

_____________nevercomesingly.（Fortunes）

Thestudentshouldfill“Misfortunes”intheblank.Thetestpointistheabilitytorecognizetheprefix“mis-”.Butinthisitem,thereisanothertestpoint:

capitalization,ifthestudentfillsin“misfortunes”.So,oneitemmayhavemorethanonetestpointandmorethanonetestobjective;onetestpointortestobjectivemaybetestedbysingmorethanonetestitem.

5.Itemstimulusformat:

theformatforelicitingdataonatestitemorprocedure.

6.Itemresponseformat:

theformatwhichstudentsaretouseinordertorespondtoanitemstimulusBothofthesemakeuseoforal,writtenornon-verbalmedium,somecombinationsofthese.

7.Itemtype:

theproductofcombininganitemstimuluswithanitemresponse,e.g.oneitemtypewouldconsistofareadingpassagefollowedbystatementsaboutit（itemstimulus）withtrue/falsealongsidethatstatement（itemresponse）.

II.TypesofItems

1.Multiplechoice

2.Cloze

3.Alternativeresponse（True/False;Correct/Incorrect;Yes/No;Pro/Con;Same/Different;etc.）

4.Matching

5.Editing（Proofreading）

6.Errorrecognitionandcorrection

7.Completion（Fillintheblanks）

8.Transformation

9.Combination

10.Sets（Associatedwords）

11.Rearrangement

12.Addition

13.Dictation

14.Listing

15.Sentence-making

16.Definition

17.Translation

18.QuestionsandAnswers

19.Summary

20.Composition

21.Paraphrase

22.OralInterview

III.MultipleChoice

1.Definition

Multiplechoiceisatestitemwhichthetesteeispresentedwithaquestionalongwith4or5possibleanswersfromwhichonemustbeselected.Usuallythefirstpartofamultiplechoiceitemwillbeaquestionoranincompletestatement.Thisisknownasthestem.Thedifferentpossibleanswersareknownasoptions.Theoptionscontainusuallyonecorrectanswerorthecorrectoptionandseveralwronganswersordistracterswhichattractstudentswhodonotknowtheanswer.Sometimestheoptionsareallcorrect;thenonlyoneisthebest.

A.Stem

Thestemshouldbeclearandconcise.Itspurposeistogivetesteesgeneralinformationaboutthequestion.Itshouldn’tberedundantandambiguous.Thestemusuallyhasthefollowingforms:

1）anincompletestatement,e.g.

Heaccusedherof___________lies.

A.speakingB.sayingC.tellingD.talking

2）astatementwithapartunderlined,e.g.

Everythingwewantedwastohand.

A.undercontrolB.withinreach

C.wellcaredforD.beingprepared

3）aquestion,e.g.

Accordingtothewriter,whatdidTomdothen?

A.Heranhome.B.HemetBob.

C.Hebegantoshout.D.Hephonedthepolice.

4）astatementwhichmustbeabletohaveenoughoptions.Somestemscanonlyhaveacertainnumberofoptions,e.g.

Tomwas_________theothertwoboys.

A.tallerthanB.shorterthan

C.astallasD.?

Itisdifficultforustofineanotheroptionforthisitem.Weneedtochangetheitem.

A.Correctoption（answer）

1）Oneitemmusthaveonlyonecorrectoption（answer）.

2）Thecorrectoptionshouldbeaslongastheotheroptions.Otherwise,itiseasyforthetest-wisestudentstogetthecorrectanswer,e.g.

Hebegantochokewhilehewaseatingthefish.

A.die

B.coughandvomit

C.growveryangry

D.beunabletobreathbecauseofsomethinginthewindpipe

B.Distracters

1）Eachdistracterorincorrectoptionshouldbereasonablyattractiveandplausible.Itshouldappearrighttoanytesteewhoisunsureofthecorrectoption.

2）Thewrongoptionshouldbecorrectonallotheraspectsexceptthetestpoint.

3）Thedistractersshouldbereasonable,andlogical.Theymustnotbeabsurd.

4）Thedistractersshouldbealittleeasierthanthecorrectoption.Otherwisethetopstudentsmaybetricked.

C.Sourcesofdistracters

1）Students’mistakesintheirhomework.

2）Theanswersintheprevioustests.

3）Thetesters’experience.

4）Students’answerstotheopen-endedquestions.

2.Variables

A.Multiplechoicecompletion

B.Multiplechoiceparaphrase

3.Stepsforwritingmultiplechoiceitems

A.Obtainaclearnotionofwhatitisthatneedstobetested

B.Selectappropriateitemcontentanddeviseanappropriateitemformat

C.Writethetestitem

D.Getsomequalifiedpersontoreadthetestitemforeditorialdifficultiesofvagueness,ambiguity,andpossiblelackofclarity（thisstepcansavemuchwastedenergyonlatersteps）

E.Rewriteanyweakitemsorotherwiserevisethetestformattoachievemaximumclarityconcerningwhatisrequiredoftheexam

F.Pretesttheitemsonsomesuitablesampleofsubjectsotherthanthespecificallytargetedgroup

G.Runanitemanalysisoverthedatafromthepre-testing

H.Discardorrewriteitemsthatprovetobetooeasyortoodifficult,orlowindiscriminatorypower.

I.Possiblyrecyclethroughsteps（F）to（H）untilasufficientnumberofgooditemshavebeenobtained

J.Assessthevalidityofthefinishedproduct

K.Applythefinishedtesttothetargetpopulation.Treatthedataacquiredonthisstepinthesamewayasthedataobtainedonstep（F）byrecyclingthroughstep（G）to（J）untiloptimumlevelsofreliabilityandvalidityareconsistentlyattained

4.Guidelinesforwritingmultiplechoice

Generalitem-writing（procedural）

1）Useeitherthebestanswerorthecorrectanswerformat.

2）Avoidthecomplexmultiple-choice（TypeK）format.

3）Formattheitemvertically,nothorizontally.

4）Allowtimeforeditingandothertypesofitemrevisions.

5）Usegoodgrammar,punctuation,andspellingconsistently.

6）Minimizeexamineereadingtimeinphrasingeachitem.

7）Avoidtrickitems,those,whichmisleadordeceiveexamineesintoansweringincorrectly.

Generalitem-writing（contentconcerns）

8）Baseeachitemonaneducationalorinstructionalobjective.

9）Focusonasingleproblem.

10）Keepthevocabularyconsistentwiththeexaminees'levelofunderstanding.

11）Avoidcueingoneitemwithanother;keepitemsindependentofoneanother.

12）Usetheauthor’sexamplesasabasisfordevelopingyouritems.

13）Avoidoverspecificknowledgewhendevelopingtheitem.

14）Avoidtextbook,verbatimphrasingwhendevelopingtheitem.

15）Avoiditemsbasedonopinion.

16）Usemultiple-choicetomeasurehigherlevelthinking.

17）Testforimportantorsignificantmaterial;avoidtrivialmaterial.

Stemconstruction

18）Statethestemineitherquestionformorcompletionform.'

19）Whenusingthecompletionformat,don'tleaveablankforcompletioninthebeginningormiddleofthestem.

20）Ensurethatthedirectionsinthestemareclear,andthatwordingletstheexamineeknowexactlywhatisbeingasked.

21）Avoidwindowdressing（excessiveverbiage）inthestem.

22）Wordthestempositively;avoidnegativephrasing.

23）Includethecentralideaandmostofthephrasinginthestem.

Generaloptiondevelopment

24）Useasmanyoptionsasarefeasible;moreoptionsaredesirable.

25）Placeoptionsinlogicalornumericalorder.

26）Keepoptionsindependent;optionsshouldnotbeoverlapping.

27）Keepalloptionsinanitemhomogeneousincontent.

28）Keepthelengthofoptionsfairlyconsistent.

29）Avoidorusesparingly,thephrase"alloftheabove."

30）Avoidorusesparingly,thephrase"noneoftheabove."

31）Avoidtheuseofthephrase"Idon'tknow."

32）Phraseoptionspositively,notnegatively.

33）Avoiddistractersthatcancluetest-wiseexaminees;forexample,avoidclangassociations,absurdoptions,formalprompts,orsemantic（overlyspecificoroverlygeneral）clues.

34）Avoidgivingcluesthroughtheuseoffaultygrammaticalconstruction.

35）Avoidspecificdeterminers,suchas"never"and"always."

Correctoptiondevelopment

36）Positionthecorrectoptionsothatitappearsaboutthesamenumberoftimesineachpossiblepositionforasetofitems.

37）Makesurethereisoneandonlyonescorrectoption.

Distracterdevelopment

38）Useplausibledistracters;avoidillogicaldistracters.

39）Incorporatecommonerrorsofstudentsindistracters.

40）Avoidtechnicallyphraseddistracters.

41）Usefamiliaryetincorrectphrasesasdistracters.

42）Usetruestatementsthatdonotcorrectlyanswertheitem.

43）Avoidtheuseofhumorwhendeveloping