The Understanding of Test
multiple-choice test items.
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Therefore, it is necessary for the teacher to know are the items have well made. Although multiple-choice test items are commonly
used in school, teacher can not use it in any circumstances. It is only appropriate to use multiple-choice of items when the objective of learning can be measured by
having students choose his or her response from several alternatives.
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There are three parts in multiple-choice test item; One or more introductory sentence called
a stem, a correct alternative as a key, and several wrong alternative called distractors.
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According to Effective Instructional Strategies by Kenneth D. Moore, multiple choice should be well constructed, so they are straightforward, clear, and
concise. In order to make a straightforward, clear, and concise multiple-choice test items, D. Moore make a guidelines
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that can be followed, as follows:
The central issues or problem should be stated clearly in the stem, and there should be no ambiguity in terminology.
A stem and the alternatives should be in one page.
Avoid to provide grammatical or contextual clues to the correct answer.
Use language that even the most unskilled readers will understand. Keep
the reading requirement question to a minimum. Write brief stems and accurate choices.
Avoid using absolute terms such as always, never, none in the stem or
alternatives.
Alternatives should be grammatically correct. The use of is or are can help students to guess the correct response. All alternatives should be fit the
stems to avoid giving clues to items that are incorrect.
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Dawn M. Zimaro, Writing Good Multiple-Choice Exams, Austin: University of Texas, 2004, p. 2.
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Steven J. Burton, et.all, How to Prepare Better Multiple Choice Test Items: Guidelines for University Faculty, New York: Brigham Young University.1991, p. 9.
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Kelly V. Kings, et.all, The Distractors Rationale Taxonomy: Enhancing Multiple- Choice Items in Reading and Mathematics, San Antonio: Pearson Inc., 2004, p. 3.
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Kenneth D. Moore, Effective Instructional Strategies: From Theory to Practice, Washington DC: SAGE Publication Ltd., 2012, pp. 270-271.