Language Learning Evaluation

Reading Multiple – Choice Test

A. Definition of Reading Comprehension

Reading is basically a matter of decoding a series of written symbols into their aural equivalents

in the quest for making sense of the text (Nunan:1991). Ruddell, Rudell, & Singer (1994) as cited in

Harris & Hodges (1995) stated that comprehension on reading is:

“a process in which the reader construct meaning (in) interacting with text … through a

combination of prior knowledge and previous experiences; information available in text; and

immediate, remembered or anticipated social interaction and communication.” (p. 39)

This definition shows that reading comprehension can be gained if the readers are able to

construct the meaning in the text by relating the text with their personal experiences or knowledge.

Anderson (1993) as cited in Harris and Hodges (1995) supports the above statements by stating that

reading comprehension can be gained by having a framework which is able to explain the whole

message in the text being read.

B. Subskill of reading
According to Mishra (2013), there are saveral subskill of reading:

1. Global Comprehension

In reading a text for meaning, it is desirable to go from the ‘whole’ to the ‘parts’, and not vice

versa, as unskilled readers tend to do. A poor reader will pick up information from the text in small

bits and pieces, as he/she reads from one word or one sentence to the next, and try to assemble the

bits together. An efficient reader, on the other hand, will first try to form an over all ‘picture’ of the

entire text.
 ‘Global Comprehension’, or the ability to get ‘over-all’ meaning from a text, requires the sub-

skill of skimming i.e. reading through the text at high speed in order to identify and pick up the main

idea or ideas in the text while ‘filtering out’ the unnecessary details.

2. Understanding the Plan of the Text

A good reader usually reads a text more than once in order to understand it adequately. The first

reading is done at speed, with the intention of making a ‘general survey’ of the text. Then the reader

returns to the text as many times as needed in order to fill in the details.
Efficient readers are able to form a ‘plan’ of the text that is being read, which helps them to

recover meaning from it. Most texts – unless they are badly written – possess unity of thought. There

is generally one central idea or ‘theme’ in the text, which is most prominent. There may be other

ideas as well, but they are usually introduced in order to provide support for the main idea. The

reader’s mental plan helps him/her to ‘navigate’ through the text confidently instead of groping about

blindly.

3. Making Predictions and Informed Guesses

An unskilled reader plods through a text laboriously, trying to get the meaning of every word.

The skilled reader, after reading a few sentences, paragraphs or pages, is able to form a fairly accurate

picture of what the author is trying to say, and is able to ‘hop’ and ‘skip’ through the text, omitting

quite substantial portions of it without missing important information. Most writers have a tendency

to repeat themselves in irder to ensure that their readers do not miss the significance of what they are

saying; good readers are aware of this and know that portions of the text can be safely omitted.

Making reliable predictions about what is likely to be found in the text is an important sub-skill of

reading.

4. Local Comprehension

After reading through the text quickly to form an overall impression, one should focus on the

details of the information provided by the writer, which will generally be located in different parts of

the text.
 A reader begins by gathering the ‘facts’ presented by the author in the text. The term ‘factual

comprehension’ refers to the ability to absorb and retrieve factual information contained in the text –

i.e., information which has been explicitly stated by the writer and is directly available in the text.

Factual comprehension must come before deeper and more thorough understanding of the text; unless

one understands the ‘plain sense’ of the text, one cannot reach the other levels of comprehension.
Inferential comprehension refers to the reader’s ability to ‘read between the lines’. The reader

has to understand not just what the writer has said but also what he/she might have said but has

chosen to leave unsaid. This is done on the basis of clues provided in the text as well as the reader’s

own background knowledge.

Evaluative comprehension requires the reader to make a considered judgment on the truth and

the value of what the writer is trying to say, and how far he/she has succeeded in saying it. This is a

more sophisticated skill than the two previously referred to since the author has to respond to the text

more critically to identify, among other things, the writer’s bias, force and accuracy of argument and

the effectiveness of what he/she is trying to say.

5. Guessing the meanings of Unfamiliar Words

Good readers tackle unknown words in a text by trying to guess their meanings from the context.

It is not possible to look up the meanings of all unknown words in the dictionary. If the reader

attempts to do that the flow of reading is interrupted. However, this is possible only when the text

does not have too many difficult words.

6. Skimming and Scanning

'Skimming' a text means going through it quickly to get an overall idea of the content. We are not

interested in details or any specific information while skimming.

'Scanning' on the other hand , involves searching the text for specific piece of information in

which the reader is interested.

7. Understanding Discourse Markers

 Discourse markers are ‘signposts’ provided by the writer. These are used in a text to indicate

sequence of ideas and signal the writer’s point of view. Understanding the writer’s use of discourse

markers is an important sub-skill of reading. These signposts are helpful because they indicate to the

reader the relationship between two parts of the text.

8. Understanding the Organization of a Text

Every text contains a number of different ideas, which are presented in different parts of the text.

The manner in which different ideas are related to each other in a text is referred to as the structure or

organization of a text. This is controlled by the topic, the writer’s purpose and the audience that

he/she has in mind. A good reader should be able to trace the organizational pattern in the text. Once

readers understand how a text is organized, they are better able to get meaning from a difficult text.

C. Reading Multiple Choice Test

A notable concern of many teachers is that they frequently have the task of constructing tests

but have relatively little training or information to rely on in this task (Kehoe, 2010). The objective

of this article is to set out some conventional wisdom for the construction of multiple-choice tests,

which are one of the most common forms of teacher-constructed tests.

Multiple choice questions (MCQs) are the traditional 'choose one from a list' of possible

answers. It is a form of assessment in which respondents are asked to select the best possible answer

(or answers) out of the choices from a list. The multiple choice format is most frequently used in

educational testing

The multiple-choice questions is a very flexible assessment format that can be used to

measure knowledge, skills, abilities, values, thinking skills, etc. Such a test usually consists of a

number of items that pose a question to which students must select an answer from among a number

of choices. Items can also be statements to which students must find the best completion. Multiple-

choice items, therefore, are fundamentally recognition tasks, where students must identify the correct

response.
 Multiple choice testing is an efficient and effective way to assess a wide range of knowledge,

skills, attitudes and abilities. When done well, it allows broad and even deep coverage of content in a

relatively efficient way. Multiple choice testing still remains one of the most commonly used

assessment formats (Haladyna, 1999; McDougall, 1997).

A multiple choice question is a form of assessment in which respondents are asked to select

the best possible answer (or answers) out of the choices from a list (www.wikipedia.com). The

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. A traditional multiple choice

questions (or items) is one in which a student chooses one answer from a number of choices

supplied. The multiple choice question consists of a stem, options, the key, and distracters.

D. Taxonomy Bloom

Benjamin S. Bloom extensively contemplated the nature of thinking, eventually authoring or

co-authoring 18 books. According to a biography of Bloom, written by former student Elliot W.

Eisner (2002), "it was clear that he was in love with the process of finding out, and finding out is

what I think he did best. One of Bloom's great talents was having a nose for what is significant.

Bloom's Taxonomy is a multi-tiered model of classifying thinking according to six cognitive

levels of complexity. Throughout the years, the levels have often been depicted as a stairway, leading

many teachers to encourage their students to "climb to a higher (level of) thought." The lowest three

levels are: knowledge, comprehension, and application. The highest three levels are: analysis,

synthesis, and evaluation. "The taxonomy is hierarchical; [in that] each level is subsumed by the

higher levels. In other words, a student functioning at the 'application' level has also mastered the

material at the 'knowledge' and 'comprehension' levels." (UW Teaching Academy, 2003). One can

easily see how this arrangement led to natural divisions of lower and higher level thinking.

The original taxonomy was revised for two reasons:

  To refocus attention on the value of the original handbook in developing accountability

programs, aligning curriculums, and designing assessments.

 To update the original based on new understanding of learning and new methods of

instruction.

Reading Skill C1 C2 C3 C4 C5 C6
(Remember (Understand (Apply (Analysis (Evaluate (Create
) ) ) ) ) )

1. Global √
Comprehension

2. Planning √

3. Prediction √

4. Local √
Comprehension

5. Guessing √
unfamiliar words

6. Skimming and √
Skanning

7. Understanding √
Discourse Marker

8. Understanding the √
organization of a
text

In this paper, the writers examine 10 reading multiple choice tests based on taxonomy bloom.

The tests are taken from Examination Test of 7 Grade students, second semester. It examined by

using the new terms of taxonomy bloom (taxonomy bloom revised).

E. Analysis of the Test

 Test no 1 : this questions is include in C2 (Understand) in taxonomy bloom because the

question asses students understanding of the text.

 Test no 2 : this questions is include in C2 (Understand) in taxonomy bloom because the

question asses students understanding the purpose of the text.

 Test no 3 : this questions is include in C1 (Remember) in taxonomy bloom because the

question asses students’ memory of the story.

 Test no 4 : this questions is include in C4 (Analysis) in taxonomy bloom because the question

asses students analysis in making prection of the word.

 Test no 5 : this questions is include in C1 (Remember) in taxonomy bloom because the

question asses students’ memory of the story.

 Test no 6 : this questions is include in C2 (Understand) in taxonomy bloom because the

question asses students understanding of the text.

 Test no 7 : this questions is include in C1 (Remember) in taxonomy bloom because the

question asses students’ memory of the story.

 Test no 8 : this questions is include in C1 (Remember) in taxonomy bloom because the

question asses students’ memory of the story.

 Test no 9 : this questions is include in C2 (Understand) in taxonomy bloom because the

question asses students understanding of the text.

 Test no 10 : this questions is include in C4 (Analysis) in taxonomy bloom because the

question asses students analysis the unfamiliar word of the text.

F. Conclusion

Reading is essential for language acquisition in general, provides good models for future

writing and offers opportunities for language study. Multiple choice in reading comprehension

should be constructed in such a way that students obtain the correct option by direct selection
rather than by the elimination of obviously incorrect option. Designing a good test for the

students will help the teacher knowing the students’ ability and giving the right treat for the

students who are need a help.

Based on the analysis above, the tests are good because the contents has all the subskill

needs. But, it’s still need validity and reliability testing to make it better. Knowing that

principles can also help English teachers direct the students to read efficiently and communicate

with the writer of the reading materials.