Chet tillarini o'qitishning integrallashgan kursi (III & IV) Qarshi- 2018 Module: Language Testing and Assessment Lesson Basic principles of language assessment

Lesson 6. Test methods (multiple matching)

Studying for a multiple choice exam requires a special method of preparation distinctly different from an essay exam. Multiple choice exams ask a student to recognize a correct answer among a set of options that include 3 or 4 wrong answers (called distracters ), rather than asking the student to produce a correct answer entirely from his/her own mind.

Multiple-choice questions are easy to write. In fact, they are easy to write poorly, and many are, as most teachers have never been trained in how to write them. It is not terribly hard to learn, though, as good item writing mostly involves attention to detail and an awareness of several rules, rules which generally seem obvious after they have been explained. The stem is the portion of the item that poses the question being asked, or the “question” part of a multiple-choice item. The options, answer choices, or alternatives are the potential answers from which students choose. The correct option is called the key, and the incorrect answers are the distractors.
Answering Multiple Choice Questions
There are many strategies for maximizing your success on multiple choice exams. The best way to improve your chances, of course, is to study carefully before the exam. There is no good substitute for knowing the right answer. Even a well-prepared student can make silly mistakes on a multiple choice exam, however, or can fall prey to distracters that look very similar to the correct answer.
A multiple-choice test usually has dozens of questions or "items." For each question, the test- taker is supposed to select the "best" choice among a set of four or five options. (They are sometime called "selected-response tests.") For example:
What causes night and day?
A. The earth spins on its axis.
B. The earth moves around the sun.
C. Clouds block out the sun's light.
D. The earth moves into and out of the sun's shadow.
E. The sun goes around the earth.
(Source: P. M. Sadler, "Psychometric Models of Student Conceptions in Science," Journal of Research in Science Teaching (1998. V. 35, N. 3, pp. 265-296).)
The "wanted" answer is "A." The other answer options are called "distractors."
Most standardized tests, including state exams and most commercial achievement tests, are made up primarily of multiple-choice items. A few state tests have a quarter, a half or even more "open-ended" (or "constructed-response") items, usually short answer questions. These ask a student to write and perhaps explain, not just select, an answer. Many short-answer questions are not much more than multiple-choice items without the answer options, and they share many of the limits and problems of multiple-choice items.