Bài giảng Phương pháp kiểm tra và đánh giá học tập - Chapter 4: Tests of grammar & usage

Chapter 4: 
Tests of grammar & usage
Heaton, J.B. (1988). Writing English Language Tests. Longman
1. multiple - choice items
2. error recognition items
3. rearrange items
4. completion items
5. transformation items
6. items involving the changing of words
7. ‘broken sentence’ items
8. pairing and matching items
9. combination items
10. addition items 
1. Multiple - choice items
 the incomplete statement type with a choice of 
four or five options
 Seven types of multiple – choice items in the 
textbook; however, item types 2 & 3 are 
preferable because the options do not interrupt 
the flow of meaning in the sentence: these items 
present the entire sentence so that it can be read 
at a glance. (read page 34 – 39) 
Constructing multiple choice items
 Use samples of students own written work to 
provide the basis for the test items.
 Constructors of classroom tests and school 
achievement tests should take advantage of the 
types of errors made by students in their free 
composition and open-ended answers to 
questions. 
2. Constructing error recognition
multiple-choice items
 Type 1: Each sentence contains 4 words or 
phrases underlined, marked A, B, C and D. Select 
the underlined word or phrase which is incorrect 
or unacceptable. (TOEIC &TOEFL)
 Type 2: Each sentence is divided into 4 parts by 
slashes (//). Each part is marked by A, B, C and 
D. This item type allows test writer to test errors 
caused by omission. In practice, this method 
doesn’t work well. (page 40)
3. Constructing rearrangement items
 taking several forms, the first of which to 
consider the multiple - choice type.
 useful to change from a multiple-choice item 
format to a format involving some actual 
writing
 Ss unscrambling sentences and writing out 
each sentence, putting the words in their 
correct order 
4. Constructing completion items
 Careful constructed completion items useful means of 
testing a student’s ability to produce acceptable and 
appropriate forms of language 
 These items measure production rather than recognition, 
testing the ability to insert the most appropriate words in 
selected blanks in sentences.
 The words selected for omission: grammatical or 
functional words (e.g. preposition, articles.); content 
words selected in a reading or vocabulary test. 
 Completion items cannot be machine marked. 
5. Constructing transformation items
 extremely useful for testing ability to produce 
structure in the target language and helping to 
provide balance when included in tests 
containing multiple choice items. 
 It can measure some of the skills tested in 
composition writing.
6. Constructing items involving the 
changing of words
 This type of item is useful for testing 
the student’s ability to use correct 
tenses and verb forms. 
7. Constructing ‘broken sentence’ 
items
 testing the student’s ability to write full 
sentences from a series of words and phrases, 
so it does not allow the test writer to 
concentrate exclusively on testing those 
particular grammatical features practiced in the 
classroom.
 When setting this item, the instructions should 
be clear. One or two examples should be 
provided.
8. Constructing pairing and matching 
items
 Usually consisting of a short conversation: e.g. a 
stimulus in the form of a statement or question followed 
by a response often in the form of a statement
 Used to test ability to select appropriate responses to 
stimuli which would be presented orally in normal 
everyday situations
 Useful for testing students’ sensitivity to appropriacy 
and their awareness of the functions of the language 
rather than the knowledge of grammar
9. Constructing combination 
& addition items
 These objective type items have long 
been used in past tests. They should be 
used sparingly as they involve largely 
mechanical responses.