TEST CONSTRUCTION

Test Construction
Constructing a test is not an easy task, it requires a 2. How much emphasis to give to various
variety of skills along with deep knowledge in the objectives
area for which the test is to be constructed. The steps 3. What type of assessment to use? (or type of
include: questions)
4. how much time to allocate for the
A- determining E - reviewing
assessment?
B- planning F- pre-testing
5. How to prepare the students?
C- writing G- validating
6. Whether to use the test from the textbook
D- preparing
publisher or to create your own?
PLANNING THE TEST
When starting to construct a test, one should try
1. Decide why you are giving the test. State the to answer the following questions:
objectives. 1-what kind of test is to be made?
2. Decide how many correct answers are 2-what is the precise purpose?
needed to demonstrate mastery. 3-what abilities are to be tested?
3. Decide how much emphasis to place on each 4-how detailed and how accurate the results must
objective. be?
4. Prepare the table of specifications (also called 5-how important is the backwash effect?
as test plan or test blueprint) 6-what constraints are set by the unavailability of
5. Write the test questions expertise, facilities, time of construction,
administration, and scoring.
TABLE OF SPECIFICATIONS 7-who will take the test?
 Is a two-way table that matches the objectives 8-what is the scope of the test?
or content you have taught with the level at
STAGES FOR ORGANIZING TEST CONSTRUCTION
which you expect students to perform.
1- determining the form and function, this is done
 It contains an estimate of the percentage of
by answering the following questions:
the test to be allocated to each topic at each
level at which it is to be measured.  Who are the examinees? How many are they?
 What is the test for?
2-planning (determining the content),
this is done by answering the following
questions:
 What is going to be tested?
 How many items should the test consist
of?
 Which aspect is going to be measured?
Planning stage includes the following
components:
o Describing the purpose of the test
o Describing the characteristics of
the test takers, the nature of the
population of the examinees for
Six decisions made by the classroom teacher in whom the test is being designed.
the test development process o Defining the nature of the ability
we want to measure
1. What to test o Developing a plan for evaluating
the qualities of test usefulness which is the
 degree to which a test is useful for teachers
and students, it includes six qualities:
reliability, validity, authenticity,
interactiveness, impact, and practicality.
o Identifying resources and developing a plan
for their allocation and management
o Determining format and timing of the test
o Determining levels of performance
o Determining scoring procedures
3. Writing: although writing items is time-
consuming, writing good items is an art. Those
who write items should have the following
characteristics:
o They have to be experienced in test
construction.
o They have to be quite knowledgeable of the
content of the test.
o They should have the capacity in using
language clearly and economically.
o They have to be ready to sacrifice time and
energy.
MATCHING ITEMS is a test item which involves
Sampling – basic aspect in writing the items of the
test. It means that test constructors choose widely
from the whole area of the course content.
o One should not concentrate on those elements
known to be easy to test. Rather, the content of
the test should be a representative sample of
the course material.
4-Preparing: it needs to understand the major
principles, techniques and experience.
o Not every teacher can make a good tester. To
construct different kinds of tests, the tester
should observe some principles, in
production-type tests, no comments are
necessary.
o Test writers try to avoid test items, which can
be answered through test-wiseness.
o Test-wiseness refers to the capacity of the
examinees to utilize the characteristics and
formats of the test to guess the correct
answer.
T/F , S/D, YES/NO, R/W, C/I ITEMS
MERITS:
1-they are easy to construct and easy to score.
2-scoring is straight forward and quick.
3-they are appropriate because many of these
items may appear in a test.
DEMERITS:
1-they are dependant on luck, and encourage
guessing since students have 50% of chance
of giving the correct answer.
2-they are more appropriate to evaluate
simple activities.
Principles for constructing T/F items
1. Write T/F items only where they are more
appropriate than any other item types (only 2
alternatives).
2. Avoid partly true statements.
3. Avoid vague terms and complex sentences.
4. Keep the alternatives approximately equal in
length, number, and level of difficulty.
5. Order the items randomly.
6. Avoid too general or too specific statements
or trivial points.
7. Avoid negative statements (or double
negation).
8. Avoid too specific determiners.
associating the entries on one list with those
given in a second list.
o They are appropriate to measure the
knowledge of vocabulary of language
learners.
o In language testing, matching items test is
used to check students’ ability in recognizing
and comprehending synonyms, antonyms,
names of objects, names of groups or classes
of objects, names of occupations, etc…
Principles for constructing Matching Items
1. Make sure the items are listed homogeneously
2. Keep the lists relatively short
3. Make sure the number of items in each column
is unequal
4. Place the brief responses on the right and in
logical order
5. Make sure the directions are clear, indicating
the basis for matching
Principles for constructing Multiple-Choice
Items
1. The stem should serve its function.
2. The stem should carry as much information as
possible.
3. The stem should not start with a blank.
4. The stem should not provide any clues for the
candidates (intelligent guesses).
 5. The stem should not be so long and
complicated.
6. The alternatives should be of the same length
and level of difficulty.
7. The alternatives should all be reasonable and
likely to be true.
8. The alternatives should all be grammatical.
9. The response should not be in the form of “all
CONSTRUCTING AND ASSEMBLING THE TEST
the above” or “none of the above”.
10. The response should be only one.
11. The responses should be randomly
distributed.
5- Reviewing
Principles for reviewing test items:
o The test should not be reviewed
immediately after its construction, but after
some considerable time.
o It should be reviewed by other teachers or
testers it is preferable if native speakers are
available to review the test.
6- Pretesting:
After reviewing the test, it should be submitted
to pre-testing.
Principles for pre-testing
o The tester should administer the newly-
developed test to a group of examinees
similar to the target group and the purpose
is to analyze every individual item as well as
the whole test.
o Numerical data (test results) should be
collected to check the efficiency of the item,
it should include item facility and
discrimination.
Item Facility
IF shows to what extent the item is easy or
difficult. The items should neither be too
easy nor too difficult. To measure the facility
or easiness of the item, the following formula
is used:
IF= number of correct responses (Σc) / total
number of candidates (N)
And to measure item difficulty:
IF= (Σw) / (N)
The results of such equations range from 0 – 1.
An item with a facility index of 0 is too
difficult, and with 1 is too easy. The ideal
item is one with the value of (0.5) and the
acceptability range for item facility is
between [0.37 → 0.63], i.e. less than 0.37 is
difficult, and above 0.63 is easy.
THUS tests which are too easy or too difficult
for a given sample population, often show
low reliability.
Reliability is one of the complementary
aspects of measurement.
Test items - are the best instrument to measure
how well students learned as well as how
effective instruction was.
Appropriate test items:
- It must be an assessment of the exact
performances called for in the learning
objectives.
Constructing and Assembling the Test
1. Begin with simpler item types, then,
proceed to more complex
- If more difficult items appear early in the
test, the student may spend too much
time on them and not get the simpler
ones that he can answer.
2. Group items of the same type (true-false,
multiple choice etc)
- This will allow you to write directions for
that item type once.
3. Check to see that directions for
marking/scoring are included with each type of
test item.
4. Provide directions for recording purposes
- Have students circle or underline correct
responses when possible rather than
writing them to avoid problems arising
from poor handwriting.
5. If a group of items of the same type carry over
from one page to another, repeat the
directions at the top of the second page.
6. All parts of an item should be on the same
page.
7. If graphs, tables, charts or illustrations are
used, put them near the questions based on
them (on the same page, if it all possible)
8. Check to see that items are dependent
one item does not supply the answer or clue
to the answer of another question.
9. Make sure the reading level is appropriate for
your students.
10. Space the items for easy reading.
 11. Leave appropriate space for writing
answers.
- Younger children need larger spaces than
older students because their
print/handwriting is larger.
12. Decide if students are to mark answers
on the test, use a separate answer
sheet.
- Usually separate answer sheets are not
recommended for students in the primary
or early elementary grades.
13. Include on the answer sheet a place for the
student’s name and the date.
14. Make an answer key.
TEST ADMINISTRATION
Before the test:
o Avoid instilling anxiety.
o Tell students purpose of the test.
o Tell students the amount of time allowed for
the test.
o Tell the students how to signal you if they have
a question.
o Tell the students how the papers will be
collected.
o Tell the students what they are to do when
they are finished.
After distributing the test papers:
o Remind students to put their names on their
papers.
o If the test has more than one page, have each
student check to see that all pages are there.
During the test:
o Minimize interruptions.
o Avoid giving hints.
o Monitor student progress and discourage
cheating.
o Give time warnings.
o Make a note of any questions students ask
during the test so that items can be revised
for future use.
After the test:
o Grade the papers and add comments if you can
o Do test analysis
o Return test papers in a timely manner
o Discuss test items with the students.
Lesson 4: Lesson Planning
Lesson plan - a teacher's detailed description of
the course of instruction for an individual lesson.
- developed by a teacher to guide class
instruction.
- a teacher's road map.
Parts of a lesson plan:
1. Attainable objectives
o Should be stated in clear, specific and
behavioral terms along the three levels of
behavior:
1. Cognitive
2. Affective
3. Psychomotor
2. Adequate subject matter and specific
references
o Specify the textbooks, library references,
visual aids and equipment needed to attain
the objectives.
3. Well-chosen procedures
o Motivation techniques
o Review
o Presentation of the lesson
4. Well-motivated assignment
o Should be specific, logically organized,
reasonable, attainable and intellectually
stimulating.
Types of Assignments
o Whole-class—the teacher lectures to the
class as a whole and has the class
collectively participate in classroom
discussions.
o Small groups - students work on
assignments in groups of three or four.
o Workshops—students perform various
tasks simultaneously. Workshop
activities must be tailored to the lesson
plan.
o Independent work- students complete
assignments individually.
o Peer learning- students work together,
face to face, so they can learn from one
another.
o Contractual work - teacher and student
establish an agreement that the student
must perform a certain amount of work
by a deadline.
 5. Suitable evaluation techniques
o Immediate feedback mechanism. Tips on lesson planning
Elements of a lesson plan: o Be sure that lesson plans are carefully planned.
o Title of the lesson o Lesson plan should be flexible enough to allow
o Time required to complete the lesson room for interesting factors or activities not
o List of required materials pre-planned but are necessary for better
o List of objectives, which may be behavioral teaching.
objectives (what the student can do at lesson o Plans should be made to meet students’ needs.
completion) or knowledge objectives (what o Know a number of methods and procedures
the student knows at lesson completion) which can be utilized in various teaching
o The set (or lead-in, or bridge-in) that focuses procedures. Do not over-use the question and
students on the lesson's skills or concepts— answer methods.
these include showing pictures or models, o Good and effective motivational techniques
asking leading questions, or reviewing remain to be the best way to stimulate the
previous lessons intellectual enthusiasm of students.
o An instructional component that describes the
sequence of events that make up the lesson, LESSON PLAN TEMPLATE
including the teacher's instructional input
and guided practice the students use to try
new skills or work with new ideas
o Independent practice that allows students to
extend skills or knowledge on their own
o A summary, where the teacher wraps up the
discussion and answers questions
o An evaluation component, a test for mastery of
the instructed skills or concepts—such as a set
of questions to answer or a set of instructions
to follow.
Types of Lesson plan
 Detailed lesson plan
o It’s a written report that contents detailed
about what the teacher has to teach in
class.
o Scripted word for word what you are going
to say.
 Semi-detailed lesson plan
o Less intricate than the detailed lesson
plan
o Stating what you'll talk about
- (i.e. "Discuss the effects of slavery on
the Civil War")
 Brief lesson plan
o Outline form
Example:
Lesson 5-6, p. 156-189
a. Read and discuss
b. Guiding comprehension
c. Workbook p. 46
 INSTRUCTIONAL AIDS TO EFFECTIVE TEACHING
Instructional materials/aids
o These are materials that are used to aid in the
transference of information from one to
another.
o These are devices that assist an instructor in
the teaching-learning process.
o These are not self-supporting; they are
supplementary training devices.
Instructional Aids Theory
o During the communicative process, the
sensory register of the memory acts as a
filter.
o As stimuli are received, the individual's
sensory register works to sort out the
important bits of information from the
routine or less significant bits.
o Within seconds, what is perceived as the most
important information is passed to the
working or short-term memory where it is
processed for possible storage in the long-
term memory.
o This complex process is enhanced by the use
of appropriate instructional aids that
highlight and emphasize the main points or
concepts.
o The working or short-term memory functions
are limited by both time and capacity.
Therefore, it is essential that the information
be arranged in useful bits or chunks for
effective coding, rehearsal, or recording.
o The effectiveness of the instructional aid is
critical for this process.
o Carefully selected charts, graphs, pictures, or
other well-organized visual aids are examples
of items that help the student understand, as
well as retain, essential information.
o Ideally, instructional aids should be designed
to cover the key points and concepts.
o In addition, the coverage should be
straightforward and factual so it is easy for
students to remember and recall.
o Generally, instructional aids that are relatively
simple are best suited for this purpose
Teaching aids are useful to:
o reinforce what you are saying,
o ensure that your point is understood,
o signal what is important/essential,
o enable students to visualize or experience
something that is impractical to see or do in
real life,
o engage students’ other senses in the learning
process,
o facilitate different learning styles.
o Increased learning
o More efficient use of class time
o Fewer discipline problems
o Improved instruction
CONE OF EXPERIENCE
EDGAR DALE (1960s)
o Theorized that learners retain what they “do”
as opposed to what is “heard”, “read”, or
“observed”
o His research led to the development of the
Cone of Experience
o Today, this “learning by doing” has become
“experiential learning” or “action learning”
Kolb’s Experiential Learning Cycle
1. Concrete experience (or “DO”)
- The first stage, concrete experience (CE),
is where the learner actively experiences
an activity such as a lab session or field
work.
2. Reflective observation (or “OBSERVE”)
- The second stage, reflective observation
(RO), is when the learner consciously
reflects back on that experience.
3. Abstract conceptualization (or “THINK”)
- The third stage, abstract
conceptualization (AC), is where the
learner attempts to conceptualize a
theory or model of what is observed.
4. Active experimentation (or “PLAN”)
- The fourth stage, active experimentation
(AE), is where the learner is trying to
plan how to test a model or theory or
plan for a forthcoming experience.
 We learn and retain
WHITE/BLACKBOARD
Advantages
o No advanced preparation required,
o except when displaying a complex
table/chart/ diagram.
o Technology is not dependent on electricity
or other possible glitches.
o Can be used by students for problem-
solving, etc.
Disadvantages
o Time-consuming if you have a lot to write.
o Handwriting may be difficult to read
(legibility, size, glare, etc.).
o Turn your back on audience.
o Cleaning the board (chalk dust, permanent
marker, etc.)
o Can’t go back to something you’ve erased.
TIPS
o Get to the lecture hall early to make sure that
the board has been cleaned.
o Bring your own chalk/markers and eraser.
o If you have problems with keeping your
writing level, draw horizontal lines in
advance using a pencil and meter stick.
o Draw complex diagrams, charts, etc. in
advance and cover with a piece of newsprint
until needed.
OVERHEAD PROJECTOR
Advantages
o Allows you to prepare all your slides in
advance.
o Particularly suited for complex diagrams,
charts and illustrations.
o Can build up information point-by-point
through the use of overlays.
o Don’t have to turn your back on the audience.
Disadvantages
o A blown bulb or power failure can spoil all
your hard work.
o Image quality can also be a problem.
o Can be disorienting to manipulate
transparencies on projector plate.
Preparing Transparencies
o By hand, or
o Computer application (eg. MS PowerPoint, MS
Word, HTML documents)
o Printing - colored or B/W
o Printer (laser or inkjet), or
o Photocopier
Selecting Text
o Avoid overcrowding
o Avoid continuous prose
o Bullet or numbered points preferred
o KILLS: Keep It Legible, Lean and Simple
o Keep words to a minimum
o Tables are best avoided
o Font size: minimum of 20pt
o Font preferred: Sans Serif, Arial, Times New
Roman, Comic Sans
Style Notes for Transparencies
o Allow a margin of 5 cm (2”) all round.
o Avoid TOO MUCH UPPERCASE TEXT
o For emphasis, use bold or underlining instead
of italics
o Keep titles systematic and consistent
o Justification - left or centred
o Avoid light text on dark background.
OVERHEAD PROJECTOR
Beforehand
o Get to the room early to make sure the OHP is
working.
o Check the aim and focus.
o Walk to the back of the room to see whether
the smallest print is readable.
o Relax (if possible).
During the Lecture
o Keep used and unused slides in separate piles.
o Cover the slide with a piece of cardboard and
slide it down to reveal text as you go.
o Use a pen on the OHP glass rather than
pointing to the screen.
 DATA PROJECTOR (portable) TIPS
How to connect your Laptop to a portable data o Check the room and equipment beforehand.
projector: o Can it be heard from the back of the room?
o Attach one end of the data cable to the serial o Find the right spot on the tape/CD and queue it
port of the laptop. up in advance.
o Attach the other end to the RGB IN port of the o Don’t play more than a few minutes of audio at
data projector. one time.
o Switch the data projector on followed by the o Break up longer clips into segments,
laptop. interspersed with discussion or other
o Press the 'Fn' and the appropriate function key activities.
to display. VIDEO TAPES OR DVDs
NOTE: Available in certain classrooms only
When to USE:
A FEW DAYS BEFORE o Adds a dimension not available through audio
- Contact Education Services Helpdesk to alone - helps students to visualise.
have your account authorised for log on. o Essential when illustrating things that are
impractical to do in real life.
JUST BEFORE YOUR LECTURE/TUTORIAL
o Particularly suited for language learning, media
o Log on as normal.
studies, engineering, etc.
o Open PowerPoint (or other application) and
o Valuable when referring to recorded historical
access files on your designated network
events.
drive, or
TIPS
o Open web browser, type in the URL and queue
o Same as for CDs/audio tapes
up what you want to present.
o Check equipment beforehand.
o Minimise window until you are ready to use.
o Can images be seen from the back of the room?
Other Media o Queue up the tape in advance.
FLIPCHART o Break viewing into short segments,
interspersed with discussion or activities.
When to USE:
o if electricity is unavailable,
o to enable students to illustrate group reports,
o to provide a written record of points made by
students.
TIPS
o Check the room and equipment beforehand.
o Get your own pad of newsprint.
o Write out important pages in advance.
o Don’t put too much on a page.
o Carry a collection of felt-tip pens and check
that they haven’t dried out.
AUDIO TAPES OR CDs
When to USE:
o Particularly suited for language learning,
media studies, English literature, etc.
o Valuable when referring to recorded historical
events
o Background music can also be played before
class starts and during group activities.