Understanding The Levels of Thinking Skills
21 English language test theories. According to Brown 2004, language tests
measure individual ’s performance of a language like reading. There are four types
of reading; two of them are selective and interactive reading Brown, 2004. First, selective reading focuses on integrating the form of a language such as lexicons,
grammar and discourse features Brown, 2004. An example of selective reading tasks is fill-in-the-blank in form of multiple choices Brown, 2004. Second,
interactive reading also focuses on the form of a language, but it emphasizes more on the meaning of messages given Brown, 2004. Therefore, it leads test takers to
interact with longer texts in order to gain meanings Brown, 2004. An example of interactive reading tasks is a reading comprehension Brown, 2004. It is because
a reading comprehension consists of numerous texts which lead test takers to gain meanings Brown, 2004. Additionally, a reading comprehension consists of
questions following the texts Brown, 2004. These questions are main ideas topic, expressionsidiomsphrases in context, inference implied detail,
grammatical features, detailed information, unstated details, supporting ideas and vocabulary in context Brown, 2004, p. 206.
Third, the research uses Bloom’s taxonomy to answer the second research question. Bloom’s taxonomy is used to obtain information about the levels of
thinking skills which are employed in the three consecutive years of Junior High School English UN. Therefore, there are six levels of thinking skills according to
Bloom 2004. They are knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesize and evaluation Anderson Krathwohl, 2001. As time goes by,
Anderson and Krathwohl revised Bloom’s taxonomy. Therefore, the changes of
22 Bloom’s taxonomy in cognitive domain are remembering, understanding,
applying, analyzing, evaluating and creating Anderson Krathwohl, 2001. These levels work from the lowest, remembering, to the highest, creating
Anderson Krathwohl, 2001; Churches, 2008. Accordingly, these six levels are divided into two categories Anderson,
1990. First are the lowest levels of thinking: remembering, understanding and applying Forehand, 2010. These levels promote retention in which leads
students to work on their memorization Anderson Krathwohl, 2001. Second are the highest levels of thinking: analyzing, evaluating and creating Forehand,
2010. Mayer and Wittrock 1966 note these levels promote transfers in which students are able to transfer their prior information or knowledge to solve new
problems. Thus, each level of thinking skills has its complexities which go higher and higher as cited in Anderson Krathwohl, 2001.
Regarding the complexities of each level, there are several behaviors which are employed as the goals of learning Anderson Krathwohl, 2001;
Athanassiou, 2003. Remembering leads students to recognize and recall information they have before Anderson Krathwohl, 2001; Churches, 2008;
Haladyna, 2012; Shepard, 1993. Understanding leads students to interpret and summarize messages they get Anderson Krathwohl, 2001; Churches, 2008.
Applying leads students to execute their knowledge prior knowledge in new situations Aderson Krathwohl, 2001; Forehand, 2010; Churches, 2008;