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Chapter 3

Developing good quality language test items

1. What is a test item?In the same sense that the phoneme is a basic unit in phonology and the morpheme is

basic unit in syntax.an item is the basic unit language testing. Analysis is this processof carefully inspecting individual test item on a test.

2. Guidelines for item format analysis.In analysing item format, testers focus on the degree to hich each item is properly

ritten so that it measure all and only the desired content. General guidelines.

Are in in the form of !uestions that teachers can as" themselves hen riting orcriti!uing any type of item format. #et$s consider each !uestion.

Is the item format correctly matched to the purpose and content of item?Is there only one correct ans er?

Is the item ritten at the students$ level of proficiency?%ave ambiguous terms and statements been avoided?&oes the item avoid giving clues that clues that could be used in ans eringother items?Are all parts of the items on the same page?Is only relevant information presented?%ave race, gender, and nationality bias been avoided?%as at least one other colleague loo"ed over the items?

'eceptive response items'e!uire the students to select a responses rather than actually produce one.

(rue false are typically ritten as statements, and students, and students must decidehether the statement are true or false.

Is the statement orded carefully enough so it can be )udged ithoutambiguity?%ave *absoluteness+ clues been avoided?

ultiple-choices items are made up of an items stem, or the main part of the item atthe top, a correct and the distracters, hich are those choices that ill be counted asincorrect.

%ave all unintentional clues been avoided?Are all of the distracters plausible?%as needless redundancy been avoided in the options?%as the ordering of the options been carefully considered? r are correctans er randomly assigned?%ave distracter li"e *none of the above+, *A and / only,+etc. been avoided?

atching items present the students ith t o columns of information, the studentsmust then find and identify matches bet een the t o sets of information.

Are there more options than premise?Are options shorter than premises to reduce reading?Are the option and premise lists related to one central theme?

0roductive response items'e!uire the students tp actually produce responses rather than )ust select themreceptively. ill in items are those herein a ord or phrase is replaced by a blan" ina sentence or longer text and the students )ob is to fill in that missing ord or phrase.

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Is the re!uired response concise?Is there sufficient context to convey the intent of the !uestion precede the

blan"?Are the blan" of standard length?&oes the main body of the !uestion precede the blan"?%as a list of acceptable responses been developed?

hort response items are usually items that the students can ans er in a fe phrases or sentences.

Is the item formatted so that only one relatively concise ans er is possible?Is the item framed as a clear and direct !uestion?

(as" items ill be defined here as any of a group of fairly open-ended items type thatre!uire students to perform a tas" in the language that is being tasted.

Is the students tas" clearly defined?Is the tas" sufficiency narro 3and4or broad5 for the time available?%ave a scoring procedures been or"ed out in advance ith regard to theapproach that ill be used?%ave a scoring procedures been or"ed out in advance ith regard to theapproach

6. 0ersonal response items.Are students to produce responses that hold personal meaning. elf-assessment ill

be defined here as any items herein students are as"ed to rate their o n "no ledge,s"ills, or performance.

%ave you decided on a scoring type3holistic or analystic5?%ave you decided in advanced hat aspect of the students language

performance they ill be assessing?%ave you developed a ritten rating scale for the learner to use scoring?7tc.

8onference are defined here as any assessment procedures that involve students visiting theteachers office alone group for brief meeting.

%ave you introduced and explained conferences to the students?%ave you given the students the sense that they are in control of the conference?%ave you focused the discussion on the students vie about the learning process?7tc.

0ortfolios are many procedures that re!uire students collect samples of their second languageuse.

%ave you introduced and explained portfolios to the students?%ave you and the students decided ho ill ta"e responsibility for hat?%ave students selected and collected meaningful or"?7tc.