TestTechniques

1、 test techniquesselected-response vs. constructed responsecorrection-for-guessing formulamultiple-choice itemsshort-answer itemsgap-filling itemscloze tests (mechanical vs. rational)c-testsmatching itemssequencing itemsselected- and constructed response itemsselected-response itemsconstructed-respon

2、se itemsreceptive skillsproductive skillsease of writingease of scoringreliabilityvaliditymultiple-choice items which of the following will make a test more reliable?a to increase the number of itemsb to decrease the number of itemsc to make the items easierd to make the items more difficultstemcorr

3、ect optiondistractorsmultiple-choice items in order to make a test more reliable, weneed to a increase the number of itemsb decrease the number of itemsc make the items easier d make the items more difficulthow many options to write try to write as many options as possible but there seems to be a na

4、tural limit, and in practical terms, three options (one correct option plus two distractors) seem to suffice 40 3-option items will make a more reliable test than 30 4-option items do not hesitate to include items with different number of optionscorrection-for-guessing formula corrected score = nc -

5、 ni * (1/(k-1) nc: number correct ni: number incorrect k: number of options per itemthis formula is designed in such way that random guessing on all the items will result in a score of zero.eg. in the case of 4-option 100 items, nc = 25, ni = 75; 25-75*(1/(4-1) = 0based on the assumption that all in

6、correct answers are results of random guessingtest-takers should be advised not to answer when in doubtdos and donts for multiple-choice reading comprehension itemsimportance of what is being askedpick a point worth asking about. ask yourself what a competent reader would retain in his/her memory af

7、ter reading the material.write an item that encourages higher-order thinking. whenever possible, ask about: implied meanings;authors attitude; inter-paragraph relationships, etc., (ask about the forest, rather than the trees)background knowledgewrite an item that can be answered if and only if the p

8、assage is understood. avoid items that can be answered from common knowledge.ex) what disease could you get if you smoke too much? ex) which hemisphere is responsible for processing language?the role of a stemwrite a stem that clearly specifies what is being asked. in other words, a stem should prov

9、ide enough information as to what is being asked.avoid an item that concerns more than one pointsample questionex ng) according to the passage, a. japanese names are written in japanese style in most english papers.b. the us navy wanted japanese people to flip their names for their convenience.c. ma

10、ny westerners do not know that some peoples given names come first.correct options write the correct option by paraphrasing the target part. avoid using verbatim expressions. discourage the mechanical word-matching strategy. distractorswrite distractors putting yourself in the shoes of a poor reader

11、. base your options on students typical misunderstandings;past students mistakes make all the options similar in length. he began to choke while he was eating the fish.a. dieb. cough and vomitc. be unable to breathe because of something in the windpiped. grow very angry (from heaton 1988) avoid usin

12、g “absolute” terms all; never; always; every; without exception avoid negatively worded stems what is not emphasized in the passage is. when tom met billy, he did not know. in principle, all the distractors should make grammatical phrases when put into the stem. someone who designs houses is aa) des

13、igner b) builder c) architect d) plumber john soon returned toa) work b) the prison c) home d) school the same wording repeated in each option should be included in the stem. the word “astronaut” is used in the passage to refer toa) travellers in an ocean linerb) travellers in a spaceshipc) travelle

14、rs in a submarined) travellers in a balloon the options should be placed in a logical order. blackwell started his career as a lawyer ina) 1932 b) 1925 c) 1921 d) 1926 when group a is compared with group b,a) group a is much largerb) group a is somewhat smallerc) group a is somewhat largerd) group a

15、 is much smallerparticular requirements for listening tests test-takers cannot re-listen; stimulus can be processed only once the number of options should be kept small options should be kept short and briefmatching items going to see a film tonight? i cant stand war films, can you? dont you find wa

16、r films too violent? i like war films. is that why you dont like war films? so do i. yes, i probably will. its one of the reasons. actually, i quite like them. not really. i quite like them. all right. nothing special.short-answer items what does it in the last sentence refer to? how old was hanniba

17、l when he started eating human brains? why did hannibal enjoy eating human brains so much? (taken from hughes 2003) advantages: disadvantages:gap-filling items for testing reading comprehension: hannibal particularly liked to eat brains because of their _ and their _. for testing grammar: he asked m

18、e for money, _ though i earn a lot less than him. (taken from hughes 2003)invisible-gap filling historians and anthropologists used think that ill health and disease prevalent among primitive tribes. results recent investigations, however, have shown we much to learn from primitive people. without b

19、enefit of immunisation or vaccination, primitive often acquired immunity the diseases present in their society. moreover, the diseases now beset modern society were uncommon primitive man. although he did live a long life, according to research, he have been far healthier previously thought.cloze te

20、sts “reduced redundancy” after a short intact lead-in, every n-th (typically 7th) word is deleted. when we listen to someone or read something, there is more information available to us than we actually need in order to interpret what is said or written. there is redundancy. native speakers ( ) a la

21、nguage can cope well ( ) this redundancy is reduced. they ( ), for example, understand what someone ( ) saying even though there are ( ) in the environment that prevent ( ) from hearing every sound that ( ) made.rational selected deletion cloze the effect of testing on teaching and learning is known

22、 as backwash, and can be harmful or ( ). if a test is regarded as ( ), if the stakes are high, preparation for it can come to ( ) all teaching and learning activities. and if the test ( ) and testing techniques are at variance with the ( ) of the course, there is likely to be harmful ( ).the c-test

23、tests can be categorised according to the types of information they provide. this categor_ will pr_ useful bo_ in deci_ whether a_ existing te_ is suit_ for _ particular pur_ and i_ writing appro_ new te_ where th_ are nece_. the fo_ types o_ test wh_ we wi_ discuss i_ the foll_ sections a_: profi_

24、tests, achie_ tests, diagn_ tests, a_ placement te_.multiple-choice cloze proficiency tests are designed to measure peoples ability in a language, regardless of any ( 1 ) they may have had in that ( 2 ). the content of a proficiency test, ( 3 ), is not based on the content or objectives of language courses that people taking the test may have followed. rather, it is based on a ( 4 ) of what candidates have to be able to do in the language in order to be considered proficient. 1. experience training feeling expectation2. langua