Autonomous University of Baja California

Language School
Bachelor in Language Teaching

“Assembling
Tests”
Presented by:
❑ Andrea Alejandra Almanza Sánchez
❑ March, 2020.
 “The context and purpose of a test and
Introduction the specifications of the overall test
structure report the decisions that
1. Test have been made about what job the
test is meant to do, and what the
instructions overall test will look like.” – (Carr,
2011)

3. Layout
2. Item
and format
writing
 1. Test According to Genesee &
instructions Upshur (1996), it is
important to include:
We want to discover: ❑ Purpose

What students have ❑ Weighting

learned ❑ Time
How well they can ❑ Number
understand / guess
what they are ❑ Conditions
supposed to do (Genesee & Upshur, 1996)
“It is necessary to tailor instructions
for the tests you use. Instructions
are largely a matter of common
sense – one tells the ss what they
need to know in order to do their
best when taking a test.”
(Genesee & Upshur, 1996)
 According to Carr (2011),
there three overachieving 2. Item writing
considerations to keep in
mind during item writing:
1. Keeping questions
clear and construct-
relevant
2. Not giving away the
answers
3. Maintaining item
independence
(Carr, 2011)
 Selected response task formats
1. Multiple choice 2. True-false 3. Matching questions
questions questions
3. Layout and “Our concern with layout and format is
format aimed at helping students
demonstrate their attainment of
instructional objectives. They are
3.1. Crowding directed towards removing
distractions.” – (Genesee & Upshur,
1996)

3.2 Ordering blocks of items

and ordering items
 3.1 Crowding

● According to Genesee and Upshur (1996),

some consequences of crowded pages are:
○ Students skip lines.
○ Students omit questions
○ Students write over things they haven’t
read
(Genesee & Upshur, 1996)
 3.2 Ordering blocks of items
Efficiency ordering
Students can gain the 01 02 Facility ordering
The block that will yield
greatest number of the best performance
points. comes first.

Difficulty ordering Reactive ordering

Opposite
ordering.
to facility 03 04 Put the block that will
have the better
performance first.
 3.2 3.2
Ordering blocks
Ordering of items
items
1. Facility
Efficiency ordering
ordering
Students can gain have
Students the 01 the maximum 02 Facility ordering
The block that will yield
greatest numberto try
opportunity of the items they should the best performance
points.do best on. comes first.

2. Random ordering
Students
Difficulty tend to be discouraged
ordering Reactive ordering
ordering.items .
03
Oppositeaftertoencountering
facility a series of hard
04 Put the block that will
have the better
performance first.
Conclusion

“We want to discover what

students have learned, not
how well they can
understand or guess what
they are supposed to do.” –
(Genesee & Upshur, 1996)
 References
Carr, N. T. (2011). Designing and Analyzing Language Test.
Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press.

Genesee, F., & Upshur, J. A. (1996). Classroom-Based

Evaluation in Second Language Education (Cambridge
Language Education). Cambridge, United Kingdom:
Cambridge University Press.
 Thank you for
your
attention!
Presented by Andrea Alejandra Almanza Sánchez
E-mail: almanza.andrea@uabc.edu.mx