ITEM WRITING

Terminology
• A test is composed of a number of tasks
• An item is a combination of the rubric , input
consisting of a stimulus such as a text
• writing and speaking consist of rubric, input
and a response which is scored against a
rating scale or set of criteria
• MCQs involve rubric, stem, options and
distractions.
 WHAT TO REMEMBER IN SELECTING
TEXTS FOR TESTS?
Authenticity:
• make use of texts, situational contexts, and tasks which
simulate 'real life' without trying to replicate it exactly;
• attempt to use situations and tasks which are likely to
be familiar and relevant to the intended test taker at the
given level;
• make clear, in providing contexts, the purpose for
carrying out a particular task, as well as make clear the
intended audience;
• make clear the criterion for success in completing the
task.
Difficulty of texts:
• Linguistic structure of the text
• The context in which the text is placed
• The content of a text
• The type of interaction and the relationship which it
creates between text and reader or listener
• The issue of difficulty in listening tasks
• Interaction of speakers
• Time reference and context
• Language
 WHAT TO REMEMBER WHEN
DECIDING ON THE TYPE OF AN ITEMS?
• Discrete point or text based?
• Skills? (perceptive or reproductive)
• Objective or subjective?
• Selection or response items?
 A FEW GENERAL RULES
• Items should always attempt to test salient information
• Normal grammatical conventions should be followed
• When a new item type is used, an example should be
provided (unless the procedure is so simple that this is
unnecessary)
• With text-based items it must be necessary to read and
understand the text in order to arrive at the correct answer -
it should not be possible to answer correctly by using
background or general knowledge only
• Text-based items may be placed before or after the text, but
those placed before should test an overview of the text,
while those placed after the text may require more detailed
reading or ask for conclusions to be drawn.
 MULTIPLE CHOICE AND OTHER
SELECTION ITEM TYPES
Advantages:
• familiar to nearly all candidates in all places
• independent of writing ability
• easy and quick to mark, lending themselves easily
to the use of a template or Optical Mark Reader
• capable of being objectively scored
• economical of the candidate's time, so that many
can be attempted in a short period and a range of
objectives covered, adding to the reliability of the
test.
Disadvantages:
• tests of recognition rather than production
• limited in the range of what they can test
• incapable of SS expressing a wide range of abilities
• dependent, in many cases, on reading ability
• affected by guesswork
• very difficult and time consuming to write successfully
• capable of leading to poor classroom practice, if
teaching focuses too intensively on preparation for
tackling this sort of test item.
• The item should measure one important point.
• Items should not be interdependent i.e. the answer to
one item should not influence the answer to another.
•There should be only one correct option, and its status
as key must be clear and unambiguous.
MCQs
• The distractors, while being incorrect, should be
plausible enough to distract weak candidates.
• Options should form a coherent set of alternatives;
there should not be three similar-looking options and
one which stands out as different from the others.
• Where the options complete a stem, each should form
a grammatically correct sentence. Similarly, in discrete
items, grammatically nonsensical forms should not be
invented as distractors.
• Each option should be as close in length to the others as
is possible.
•To reduce the reading load, any information which is
repeated in each option should be taken out of the
options and placed in the stem.
• Options which cancel each other out, using words such
as 'always' and 'never', should be avoided.
• Options should have an approximately equivalent
grammatical structure and level of complexity to one
another.
• Negative forms should be avoided as much as possible,
but if a negative word is included in the stem, it should
be emphasized by putting it in bold print, and all the
options should be positive.
• Verbal clues which direct students to the correct option
(‘word spotting’) should be avoided.
• As with other types of multiple choice items, only one of the options
must be correct, and the options should form a coherent set. One
way of choosing distractors is to administer the test to some
students as an open cloze (where no options are provided) and use
GAP-FILLINGs
some of the wrong responses as distractors.
• The first gap should not be placed too near the beginning of the
passage, or subsequent gaps so close to each other that it becomes
difficult to see which structure is being used. A reasonable
assumption is that there should generally be between seven and
twelve words between gaps.
• Deleting the first word in a sentence should be done infrequently,
and deleting negatives avoided. It is also not advisable to delete
words (usually adjectives or adverbs) which leave an acceptable
sentence when omitted.
• Contractions, hyphenated words and any other form which may
confuse students who have been directed to fill each gap with one
word should not be deleted. `
 TASKS
• Identify the types of available test items
• Design 3 items per test type
• Present to everyone, explaining and
demonstrating your items.
 Test Items
1. MCQs 5. Sentence transformation
2. Gap-filling I. With prompts
3. Reordering II. With provided cues

I. Word level 6. Word formation

II. Sentence level 7. Error correction
III. Discourse level 8. Matching
4. True or False 9. Multiple matching