ENG.35 INTRODUCTION TO
Avoid including two ideas in one statement,
APPLIED LINGUISTIC
BASIC STEPS IN CLASSROOM TESTING
General Suggestion for Writing Test Items
1. Use your test specifications as a guide.
2. Write more items as needed.
3. Write the items well in advance of the testing
date.
4. Write each test item so that the task to be
performed is clearly defined and it calls forth
the performance described in the intended learning
outcome.
5. Write each item at an appropriate reading level.
6. Write each item so that it does not provide help in
responding to other items.
7. Write each item so that the answer is one that
would be agreed upon by experts.
8. Whenever a test item or assessment task is
revised, recheck its relevance.
Constructing Short-Answer Items
1. Word the item so that the required answer is both
brief and specific.
2. Do not take statements directly from textbooks to
use as a basis for short-answer items.
3. A direct question is generally more desirable than
an incomplete statement.
4. If the answer is to be expressed in numerical
units, indicate the type of answer wanted.
5. Blanks for answers should be equal in length and
in a column to the right of the question.
True-False or Alternative-Respond Items
Uses of True-False Items:
Ability to identify:
 the correctness of statements of facts
 definitions of terms
 statements of principles
  The problem may be stated as a direct
Constructing True-False Items
1. Avoid broad general statements if they are to be
judged true or false.
2. Avoid trivial statements.
3. Avoid the use of negative statements, especially
double negatives.
4. Avoid long, complex sentences.
5.
unless cause-effect relationships are being
measured.
6. Avoid using opinion that is not attributed to some
source, unless the ability to identify opinion is being
specifically measured.
7. Avoid using true statements and false statements
that are unequal in length.
 There is a natural tendency for true
statements to be longer because such
statements must be precisely phrased in
order to be absolutely true.
Matching Exercises
Uses of Matching Exercises:
 To measure factual information
based on simple associations
 To relate two things that have some
logical basis for association
Constructing Matching Exercises
1. Use only homogenous material in a single
matching exercise.
2. Include an unequal number of responses and
premises, and instruct the student that responses
may be used once, more than once, or not at all.
3. Keep the list of items to be matched brief, and
place the shorter responses on the right.
4. Arrange the list of responses in logical order.
Place the words in alphabetical order and numbers
in sequence.
5. Indicate in the directions the basis for matching
the responses and premises.
6. Place all of the items for one matching exercise
on the same page.
Constructing Objective Test Items:
Multiple-Choice Forms
Characteristics of Multiple-Choice Items:
question or an incomplete statement and is
called the stem of the item.
 The list of suggested solutions may include
words, numbers, symbols, or phrases and are
alternatives (also called choices or options).
 The correct alternative in each item is called
the answer, and the remaining alternatives
 are called distracters (also called decoys or
foils).
Item Types
 Direct-Question Form
 Incomplete-Statement Form
 Best-Answer Type
Uses of Multiple-Choice Outcomes
1. Measuring Knowledge Outcomes
 Knowledge of Terminology
 Knowledge of Specific Facts
 Knowledge of Principles
 Knowledge of Methods and
Procedures
2. Measuring Outcomes at the Understanding and
Application Levels
 Ability to Identify Application of
Facts and Principles
 Ability to Interpret Cause-Effect
Relationships
 Ability to Justify Methods and
Procedures
Constructing Multiple-Choice Items
1. The stem of the item should be meaningful by
itself and should present a definite problem.
2. The item stem should include as much of the item
as possible and should be free of irrelevant material.
3. Use a negatively stated stem only when
significant learning outcomes require it.
4. All of the alternatives should be grammatically
consistent with the stem of the item.
5. An item should contain one correct or clearly best
answer.
6. Items used to measure understanding should
contain some novelty, but beware of too much.
 The situations must be new to the
students, but not too far removed from
the examples used in class.
7. All distracters should be plausible. The purpose
of a distracter is to distract the uninformed from the
correct answer.
Ways to Make Distracters Plausible:
 Use the students’ most common errors.
 Use important-sounding words
 Use textbook language or other phraseology
that has the appearance of truth.
 Use incorrect answers that are likely to
result from student misunderstanding or
carelessness
 Use distracters that are homogenous and
similar in content to the correct answer
 Use distracters that are parallel in form and
grammatically consistent with the item’s
stem.
 Make the distracters similar to the correct
answer in length, vocabulary, sentence
structure, and complexity or thought.
 Caution: Distracters should distract the
uninformed, but they should not result in
trick questions that mislead knowledgeable
students.
8. Verbal associations between the stem and the
correct answer should be avoided.
9. The relative length of the alternatives should not
provide a clue to the answer.
10. Use sparingly special alternatives such as “none
of the above” or “all of the above.”
11. Do not use the multiple-choice items when other
item types are more appropriate
PREPARED BY:
JESSECA L. MULLET
AB in ENGLISH LANGUAGE 3A