3.Objective Testing (Revised)

ObjectiveTesting,Spring2012(3),outline,ObjectivetestingObjectivetestitemsAdvantages&disadvantagesofeachtestitem,WhatisanObjectivetest?,Atestthatcanbemarkedwithouttheuseoftheexaminerspersonaljudgment.,ObjectiveTestItem,Atestitemthatrequiresthechoiceofasinglecorrectanswer.,ObjectiveTestItems,multiplechoiceitemsthetrue-falseitemmatchingitemshortansweritemcompletionitem,CharacteristicsofObjectiveTesting,measuresrelativelysimplelearningoutcomesonlyonecorrectanswerscoredmechanically,AdvantagesofObjectiveTesting,easytoscorecancoverawidersampleofareas,Weakness,confinedtolanguage-basedusagecannotevaluatetheabilitytocommunicateinthetargetlanguage/actualperformanceencouragesguessingtime-consumingtoconstruct,MultipleChoice,Componentsofamultiplechoiceitem:thestemalternatives/theanswerthecorrectalternativedistracters/decoys/foils,UsesofMultipleChoiceItems(1),themostversatiletypeoftestitemavailableadaptabletomosttypeofsubject-mattercontent,UsesofMultipleChoiceItems(2),canmeasureavarietyoflearningoutcomesfromsimpletocomplexmeasuringknowledgeoutcomeknowledgeofterminologyknowledgeofspecificfactsknowledgeofprinciplesknowledgeofmethods&principles,UsesofMultipleChoiceItems(3),Measuringoutcomesattheunderstandingandapplicationlevelsabilitytoidentifyapplicationoffactsandprinciples(i.e.,transferlearningtonewsituations)abilitytointerpretcause-and-effectrelationships(e.g.,readingcomprehension)abilitytojustifymethodsandprocedures(e.g.,teachingmethods),Advantages(1),Caneffectivelymeasurevarioustypesofknowledgeandcomplexlearningoutcomespossibletomeasurelearninginthenumeroussubject-matterareas,canavoidambiguity&vaguenessUsinganumberofplausiblealternativesmakestheresultsamenabletodiagnosisMorereliablethantrue-falseitem,Advantages(2),Limitations,limitedtolearningoutcomesattheverballevelinappropriateformeasuringlearningoutcomesrequiringtheabilitytoorganizeorpresentideascanhardlymeasurestudentperformancedifficulttofindasufficientnumberofincorrectbutplausibledistracters.,Constructingmultiple-choiceitem,involvesdefiningtheprobleminthestemselectingonecorrectorbestsolutionidentifyingseveralplausibledistracters,&avoidingirrelevantcluestotheanswer,Suggestions(1),Thestem:meaningfulbyitselfwithadefiniteproblem.Theitem:includesmuchinformationbutbefreeofirrelevantmaterial,Suggestions(2),Stem:usesparinglyanegativelyoneAlternatives:grammaticallyconsistentwiththestemoftheitemOnlyonecorrectorclearlybestanswerPlausibledistractersAvoidverbalassociations,Suggestions(3),Avoidthelengthofthealternativestoprovideacluetotheanswer.Usesparinglyspecialalternativessuchasnoneoftheaboveoralloftheabove.,Short-answerItems,supply-typetestitemscanbeansweredbyaword,aphrase,etc.usesadirectquestionanincompletestatement(incompletion),UsesofShort-answeritem,measuringrelativelysimplelearningoutcomessuchastherecallofmemorizedinformationknowledgeofterminology(e.g.,linguistics,test)Knowledgeoffactinformation(e.g.,thehistoricaldevelopmentofEnglishlanguage)Simpleinterpretationofdata(e.g.,howmanysyllablesinthewordterminology?),AdvantagesofShort-answerItem,oneoftheeasiesttoconstructreducesthepossibilityofguessing,LimitationsofShort-answerItem,UnsuitableformeasuringcomplexlearningoutcomesDifficulttoscoremanypossibleanswerstoconsiderthescoringmaybecontaminatedbythestudentsspellingability,SuggestionsforConstructingS-AItem,WordthestemtorequireabriefandspecificanswerUseadirectquestionMorenaturaltothestudentsfreeoftheambiguity,SuggestionsforConstructingS-AItem,Donottakestatementsdirectlyfromtextbooksforshortansweritemsequallengthofblanksforanswers,True-falseorAlternative-responseItem,adeclarativestatementforstudentstomarktrueorfalse,(themostcommon)rightorwrong,correctorincorrect,yesorno,factoropinion,agreeordisagree,orthelike.,UsesofTrue-FalseItems,Themostcommonuseofthistypeisinmeasuringtheabilitytoidentifythecorrectnessofstatementsoffact,definitionsofterms,statementsofprinciples,andthelike.todistinguishfactfromopiniontorecognizecause-effectrelationships,AdvantagesofofTrue-FalseItems,ItisefficientItiseaseofconstructionwithawidesamplingofcoursematerial,LimitationsofTrue-FalseItems,notespeciallyusefulbeyondtheknowledgeareasusceptibletoguessing,SuggestionsforConstructingTFItems,Avoidbroadgeneralstatementsfor“trueorfalse”Wordssuchasusually,generally,often,&sometimesaremostlikelytoappearintruestatements.Absolutetermssuchasalways,never,allmore,&onlyareapttoappearinfalsestatements.,SuggestionsforConstructingTFItems,Avoidtheuseofnegativestatements,especiallydoublenegativesAvoidlong,complexsentences,SuggestionsforConstructingTFItems,Avoidincludingtwoideasinonestatement(unless,forcause-effectrelationships)Statements:approximatelyequalinlengthtoeliminatepossiblecluesThenumberforboth:approximatelyequal,MatchingExercise,ConsistsoftwoparallelcolumnsPromises:theitemsinthecolumnamatchissoughtforresponses:theitemsinthecolumnfromwhichtheselectionismade,UsesofMatchingExercises,Limitedtomeasuringfactualinformationalsousedwithpictorialmaterialsinrelatingpicturesandwordsortoidentifypositionsonmaps,charts,&diagrams.,AdvantagesofMatchingExercises,measurealargeamountofrelatedfactualmaterialinarelativelyshorttimeeaseofconstructionbutitrequiresahighdegreeofskilltoselectaplausibleresponsefortheotherpremises,LimitationsofMatchingExercises,Restrictedtothemeasurementoffactualinformationbasedonrotelearningthedifficultyoffindinghomogeneousmaterial,SuggestionsforConstructingMatchingExercises,Useunequalnumberofresponsesandpremises(responsestobeusedonce,morethanonce,ornotatall)Keepthelistofitemstobematchedbrief,andplacetheshorterresponsesontherightPlacealloftheitemsforonematchingexerciseonthesamepage,homework,Basedontheprinciplesdiscussedt