ITEM WRITING FOR

SOUTHEAST ASIANLANGUAGES

Goals• Improve item writing skills of

all participants•Begin training of writers for

national assessments • Enhance assessment literacy

Key Skills• Text selection and leveling• Item writing

TEXT SELECTION• Authenticity (soft definition)“Plausibly written by a proficient writer to a proficient

reader”

• If a text is not authentic, it cannot be related to the ILR/ACTFL scales

• Authentic texts represent the goal of instruction• Authentic texts enhance critical thinking, cultural

acquisition, and motivation

Authenticity (hard definition) “Written by a native speaker for a native speaker”

TEXT SELECTIONLEVELING: Placing a text on the ILR scale

Purpose

Guidelines Linguistic features

What is the writer’s purpose?What is the writer’s purpose?

What can the reader do with the text?What can the reader do with the text?

How difficult is the language to a native speaker?

How difficult is the language to a native speaker?

Text leveling: Purpose• Orientation: Formatted info, simple instructions

menus, weather reports, directions = 0-1 (novice-intermediate)• Instructive: making comments, expressing opinion news article, diary, summaries = 2 (advanced)• Evaluative: arguing, supporting, justifying

editorials, political positions, book reviews = 3 (superior)• Projective: theorizing, innovating, alluding creative works, satires = 4 (distinguished)

Text leveling: Guidelines0 = Can read isolated words/phrases to

identify

1= Can read simple connected discourse to understand basic meaning

2= Can read organized discourse to understand main ideas and details

3= Can read extended discourse to read between the lines

Text Leveling: Linguistic features• Lexical, syntactic, and discourse features • Based on the difficulty for a native speakerExamples: An airline pilot’s checklistContractsUlysses• These are language specific

Text selection and levelingGroup activity: Women in the military

Purpose

Guidelines Linguistic features

What is the writer’s purpose?What is the writer’s purpose?

How difficult is the language to a native speaker?

How difficult is the language to a native speaker?

What can the reader do with the text?

What can the reader do with the text?

Language-specific activity

Sharing texts that you have brought, go through two or three as a group and determine the level.

Remember: purpose, guidelines, linguistic features

Item Writing • Why are you including this item?

-Assess knowledge of a topic? A text type? A grammar point? Vocab?

• Who will get this wrong?Students who are sloppy? Can’t read well? Didn’t read the question carefully? Non-native speakers of English? Non-proficient students?

• Who will get it right?Good guessers? Good memorizers? Good readers?

Components of a reading item• ContextWhy and when are you reading this?• Authentic text Appropriately selected and leveled• Question(s)Direct, clear, relevant, never tricky• Four optionsAll plausible, only one correct

Why are context, questions, and options written in English?• ILR Guidelines describe what readers can do

with an authentic text.

• Who would get this wrong? • The purpose of summative testing is to

measure, not to teach.

Context is realistic, purposeful, concise, and does not give away the answer

Context is realistic, purposeful, concise, and does not give away the answer

Concise, relevant, specific, and does not depend on a single wordConcise, relevant, specific, and does not depend on a single word

Options are plausible, simple, balanced, equal, and one one is correct

Options are plausible, simple, balanced, equal, and one one is correct

Text is authentic, appropriate to the level (novice) and clearText is authentic, appropriate to the level (novice) and clear

ActivityUsing “Women in the Military” as the text, create a context, question, and options for students learning English overseas.

Context:

Question

Text: Women in the Military……………………………………………

Options

ActivityUsing one of the texts selected in your language, create an item following the principles of item writing we have learned.

Goals• Improve item writing skills of

all participants•Begin training of writers for

national assessments • Enhance assessment literacy

Carl FalsgrafCenter for Applied Second Language Studies

University of Oregonfalsgraf@uoregon.edu

541-346-5715

Zimbabwe's HIV Prevalence Rate In Further Decline To 15.6%

The Zimbabwean Health Ministry said Wednesday that the national HIV prevalence rate reflecting the number of adults infected with the virus that causes AIDS has fallen to 15.6% this year compared with 18.1% in 2005 and 24.6% in 2003.

Which of the following statements about the decline in the AIDS infection rate is true?

a) It has dropped 15.6% this yearb) It has been declining for several yearsc) It has been declining because of Health Ministry policiesd) It is expected to decline further

You are preparing for a trip to Zimbabwe and come across this item on a government website.