TestsofGrammarandUsage

TestsofGrammarandUsage4.1IntroductionThefollowingarethemostcommontypesofobjectiveitemsusedtotestawarenessofthegrammaticalfeaturesofthelanguage(P34):---multiple-choiceitems---error-recognitionitems---rearrangementitems---completionitems---transformationitems---itemsinvolvingthechangingofwords---‘brokensentence’items---pairingandmatchingitems---combinationitems---additionitemsRemember:Suchitemstesttheabilitytorecognizeorproducecorrectformsoflanguageratherthantheabilitytouselanguagetoexpressmeaning,attitude,emotions,etc.Nevertheless,itisessentialthatstudentsmasterthegrammaticalsystemofthelanguagetheyarelearning.Thus,classroomtestsofgrammarandusagecanplayausefulpartinalanguageprogram.Whydoweuseitemshereinsteadofquestion?Theworditemisusedinpreferencetothewordquestionbecausethelatterwordsuggeststheinterrogativeform;manyitemsare,infact,writtenintheformofstatements.4.2Multiple-choicegrammaritems:itemtypesTheincompletestatementtype,withachoiceoffourorfiveoptionsisthetypeofmultiple-choiceitemfavoredbymanyconstructorsofgrammartests.Thereareseventypesofmultiple-choicepresentedinthetextbook.Let’scomparetheseventypesonP34-35,whichtypesdoestheauthorrecommend?Type2,3,6and7arepreferabletotheothertypes.Note1)Itemswhichappearinatestofgrammarandstructureshouldbemadetosoundasnaturalaspossible.2)Distractorsshouldgenerallybecorrectbothinwritingandinspeech.Thedisadvantageoftheprovisionofadetailedcontext:Tolimittherangeofgrammaticalfeaturesbeingtested.Theadvantagesofprovisionofadetailedcontextingrammaritems:Tohelptoensurethatthereisonlyonecorrectoptionineachcase.What’sthedisadvantageofusingshortdecontextualizedsentencesasstems?Shortdecontextualizedsentencescanleadtoambiguityastheyareusuallyopentoseveralinterpretationswhenusedasstemsformultiple-choiceitems.e.g.Icouldn’ttakethetestlastweekbecauseI______acold.A.havecaughtC.wouldcatchB.hadcaughtD.wascatching4.3Constructingmultiple-choiceitemsInconstructingclassroomtestsandschoolachievementteststheauthorrecommendsustousesamplesofstudents’ownwrittenwork,andheshowsusfourstepsandrefinementintheconstructionofmultiple-choiceitems.(SeeP38)4.4Constructingerror-recognitionmultiple-choiceitemsThisitemtypeiscloselyrelatedtothoseskillsrequiredwhenstudentscheck,editorproof-readanyreport,article,paperoressaytheyhavejustwritten.(seeP40)Thereare2typesoftheerror-recognitiontypeofitem:(seeP40)Whichoneisbetter,Type1orType2?Type1isbetter(seeP40)Thedisadvantagesoferror-recognitionmultiple-choiceitems:1)Itemphasizethemorenegativeaspectsoflanguagelearning.Itisclearlynotsufficientforstudentssimplytorecognizesourcesoferror:theyoughttobeencouragedatalltimestoconcentrateonrecognizingandproducingthecorrectforms.2)Itmakesstudentssimplyrecognizesourcesoferror.3)Itmakesstudentsbeexposedtoomuchtoincorrectforms.4.5ConstructingrearrangementitemsRearrangementitemscantakeseveralforms,thefirstofwhichtoconsiderherewillbethemultiple-choicetype.Apreferableitemtypeisthefollowingword-orderitem:Completeeachsentencebyputtingthewordsbelowitintherightorder.Putintheboxesonlythelettersofthewords.e.g.“Won’tIneedacoat?”“Well,youknowhow…………”A.itB.todayC.warmD.iscWordorderitemsareusefulfortestingotherstructuresandfeaturesinvolvinginversion:e.g.Notonly………,buthetookmetohishouse.A.meB.heC.didD.meetTheorderofadjectivesandthepositionofadverbscanbetestedinthisway,ascanseveralothergrammaticalareas.1)Thepolicearelookingfor……….A.bigB.twoC.carsD.black2)Tomsaid……..cleaninghiscar.A.hadB.finishedC.heD.just3)Mrs.WalkermadeAnn……….A.hernewpenB.toC.showD.meInmanycasesitwillbeusefultochangefromamultiple-choiceitemformattoaformatinvolvingsomeactualwriting.Therearrangementitemcanbeusedtotestthesamefeaturesofwordorder,buttheitemformatbecomesalittlelessartificial.Thestudentsaresimplyrequiredtounscramble(整理)sentencesandtowriteouteachsentence,puttingthewordsorconstituentpartsintheircorrectorder.e.g.Itisnotadvisable………./theexamination/late/up/thenight/tostay/beforeNotonly………./theexamination/verydifficult/was/but/it/was/also4.6ConstructingcompletionitemsCarefullyconstructedcompletionitemsareausefulmeansoftestingastudent’sabilitytoproduceacceptableandappropriateformsoflanguage.Theyarefrequentlypreferabletomultiple-choiceitemssincetheymeasureproductionratherthanrecognition,testingtheabilitytoinsertthemostappropriatewordsinselectedblanksinsentences.Thewordsselectedforomissionaregrammaticalorfunctionalwords(e.g.to,it,in,is,the);contentwordsmaybeselectedinavocabularyorreadingtest.Completionitemscannot,ofcourse,bemachine-markedbuttheyareveryusefulforinclusioninclassroomtestsandforexercisepurposes.Whataretheadvantagesinusingapassageofcontinuousproseratherthanseparatesentenceswhengivingacompletiontypetest?Firstly,theuseofcontextoftenavoidsambiguity.Secondly,thestudentsexperiencetheuseofgrammarincontext,beingrequiredtouseallthecontextcluesavailableinordertoguessmanyofthemissingwords.4.7ConstructingtransformationitemsThetransformationtypeofitemisextremelyusefulfortestingabilitytoproducestructuresinthetargetlanguageandhelpstoprovideabalancewheninclude