Planning in Test Authoring

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2.10.1. Planning in Test Authoring

A first and logical question might be; how much can we actually plan in any test? Ruch 1924:95-96 answers that detailed rules of procedures in the construction of an objective examination which would possess general utility can hardly be formulated. The type of questions must babe decided on the basis of such facts as the school subject concerned , the purposes of the examination, the length and reliability of the proposed examination, preferences of teachers and pupils, the time available for examination, whether factual knowledge or thinking is to be tested. Kehoe 1995 presents a series of guidelines for creating multiple-choice test items. These guidelines are specs like in their advice. Here are the first two, which concern the stem of multiple-choice a stem is the top part of multiple-choice item, usually a statement or question 1. Before writing the stem, identify the one point to be tested by that item. In general, the stem should not pose more than one problem, although the solution to that problem may require more than one step. 2. Construct the stem to be either an in complete statement or a direct question, av avoiding stereotyped phraseology as rote responses are usually based on verbal stereotypes. There are two elements to his – or any – multiple-choice item, each functioning somewhat differently. We first see a statement and question, known as the `stem`. We then see four `choices`. Most likely, the test taker was told that each item has one correct choice something that testers call the `key` and three incorrect choices known as distracters`. To answer the item correctly, the students must read carefully each word of the stem and each word of choice; furthermore, the student probably knows well that three of four choices are intended to be incorrect, and so this close reading becomes a process of elimination. Suppose that a particular testing or teaching situation routinely uses such close-reading items, and in that settinglike this is actually very familiar to the students. In such a case, perhaps the students do not really read the item closely or analyze its component parts. They see it, www.eprints.undip.ac.id © Master Program in Linguistics, Diponegoro University 28 recognize it as familiar type of task, and engage the relevant cognitive and language processing skills – from their training – to attempt the item.

2.10.2. Guiding Language Versus samples