Test question types

I will now go on to look at testing and elicitation and in particular some different question types and their functions, advantages and disadvantages.

• Types of test
• Types of task
  • Multiple choice
  • Transformation
  • Gap-filling
  • Matching
  • Cloze
  • True / False
  • Open questions
  • Error correction
• Other techniques

Types of test
Before writing a test it is vital to think about what it is you want to test and what its purpose is. We must make a distinction here between proficiency tests, achievement tests, diagnostic tests and prognostic tests.

• A proficiency test is one that measures a candidate's overall ability in a language, it isn't related to a specific course.

• An achievement test on the other hand tests the students' knowledge of the material that has been taught on a course.

• A diagnostic test highlights the strong and weak points that a learner may have in a particular area.

• A prognostic test attempts to predict how a student will perform on a course.

There are of course many other types of tests. It is important to choose elicitation techniques carefully when you prepare one of the aforementioned tests.

Types of task
There are many elicitation techniques that can be used when writing a test. Below are some widely used types with some guidance on their strengths and weaknesses. Using the right kind of question at the right time can
be enormously important in giving us a clear understanding of our students' abilities, but we must also be aware of the limitations of each of these task or question types so that we use each one appropriately.

Multiple choice
Choose the correct word to complete the sentence.

Cook is ________________today for being one of Britain's most famous explorers.

a) recommended b) reminded c) recognised d) remembered

In this question type there is a stem and various options to choose from. The advantages of this question type are that it is easy to mark and minimises guess work by having multiple distracters. The disadvantage is that it
can be very time-consuming to create, effective multiple choice items are surprisingly difficult to write. Also it takes time for the candidate to process the information which leads to problems with the validity of the exam. If a low level candidate has to read through lots of complicated information before they can answer the question, you may find you are testing their reading skills more than their lexical knowledge.

• Multiple choice can be used to test most things such as grammar, vocabulary, reading, listening etc. but you must remember that it is still possible for students to just 'guess' without knowing the correct answer.

Transformation
Complete the second sentence so that it has the same meaning as the first.

'Do you know what the time is, John?' asked Dave.
Dave asked John __________ (what) _______________ it was.

This time a candidate has to rewrite a sentence based on an instruction or a key word given. This type of task is fairly easy to mark, but the problem is that it doesn't test understanding. A candidate may simply be able to rewrite sentences to a formula. The fact that a candidate has to paraphrase the whole meaning of the sentence in the example above however minimises this drawback.

• Transformations are particularly effective for testing grammar and understanding of form. This wouldn't be an appropriate question type if you wanted to test skills such as reading or listening.

Gap-filling
Complete the sentence.

Check the exchange ______________ to see how much your money is worth.

The candidate fills the gap to complete the sentence. A hint may sometimes be included such as a root verb that needs to be changed, or the first letter of the word etc. This usually tests grammar or vocabulary. Again
this type of task is easy to mark and relatively easy to write. The teacher must bear in mind though that in some cases there may be many possible correct answers.

• Gap-fills can be used to test a variety of areas such as vocabulary, grammar and are very effective at testing listening for specific words.

Matching
Match the word on the left to the word with the opposite meaning.

With this question type, the candidate must link items from the first column to items in the second. This could be individual words, words and definitions, parts of sentences, pictures to words etc. Whilst it is easy to mark, candidates can get the right answers without knowing the words, if she has most of the answers correct she knows the last one left must be right. To avoid this, have more words than is necessary.

• Matching exercises are most often used to test vocabulary.

Cloze
Complete the text by adding a word to each gap.

This is the kind _____ test where a word _____ omitted from a passage every so often. The candidate must _____ the gaps, usually the first two lines are without gaps.

This kind of task type is much more integrative as candidates have to process the components of the language simultaneously. It has also been proved to be a good indicator of overall language proficiency. The teacher must be careful about multiple correct answers and students may need some practice of this type of task.

• Cloze tests can be very effective for testing grammar, vocabulary and intensive reading.

True / False
Decide if the statement is true or false.

England won the world cup in 1966. T/F

Here the candidate must decide if a statement is true or false. Again this type is easy to mark but guessing can result in many correct answers. The best way to counteract this effect is to have a lot of items.

• This question type is mostly used to test listening and reading comprehension.

Open questions
Answer the questions.

Why did John steal the money?

Here the candidate must answer simple questions after a reading or listening or as part of an oral interview. It can be used to test anything. If the answer is open-ended it will be more difficult and time consuming to mark and there may also be a an element of subjectivity involved in judging how 'complete' the answer is, but it may also be a more accurate test.

• These question types are very useful for testing any of the four skills, but less useful for testing grammar or vocabulary.

Error Correction 
Find the mistakes in the sentence and correct them.

Ipswich Town was the more better team on the night.

Errors must be found and corrected in a sentence or passage. It could be an extra word, mistakes with verb forms, words missed etc. One problem with this question type is that some errors can be corrected in more than one way.

• Error correction is useful for testing grammar and vocabulary as well as readings and listening.

Other Techniques
There are of course many other elicitation techniques such as translation, essays, dictations, ordering words/phrases into a sequence and sentence construction (He/go/school/yesterday).

It is important to ask yourself what exactly you are trying to test, which techniques suit this purpose best and to bear in mind the drawbacks of each technique. Awareness of this will help you to minimise the problems and produce a more effective test.

Further reading
Techniques in testing by Harold S Madsen: OUP

Richard Frost, British Council, Turkey