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Discuss the Three fundamental principles for crafting assesment
tasks. Give examples to support your discussion
Discuss Six important guidelines for developing multiple-choice
item and Five guidelines for developing essay item. Give examples
to support your discussion3 FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES FOR CRAFTING
ASSESMENT TASKSFocus on the important learning outcomeFocus on main
learning outcome onlyThe minor point will waste the timeExample :
The item of task (essay item) must be based on learning outcome
that we what to achieved
2. Task Should crafted to elicit from students only the
knowledge & performance relevant to the LO to be assessedThe
teacher must need very clear idea of the learning outcome that
she/he want to assessed.Item must be built to test the knowledge,
skills and abilities based the learning outcome.Avoid from unwanted
behaviors from student.Example: The item must not make the student
do bluffing, fear, guessing or test-wise skills while.
3.The task neither prevent nor inhibit a students ability to
demonstrate attainment of the learning outcome that we want to
achievedAvoid from grammatic error or stucture of sentence than can
make the students confuse The poor instruction in question also may
make an item so ambiguous and make student who has the knowledge
answer it incorrectlyGive the clear stem questionExample :
Bincangkan faktor campur tangan British di Tanah Melayu?
6 IMPORTANT GUIDELINES FOR DEVELOPING FOR MULTIPLE CHOICE
ITEM1)Make sure the length of each alternative is more or less the
same.This is because normally the longest alternative is the right
answer.The students will easily guess the longest alternative is
the correct answer because too much facts are given in that
alternative compared to the other alternative.Example AExample
BWhat is Malaysia National Flower?Malaysian national flower is the
bunga raya or hibiscus (hibiscus rosa sinensis) and the flower was
selected because it grows abundantly in Malaysia.The sunflowers.The
rose.The tulipsWhat is Malaysia National Flower?The hibiscus The
sunflowers The rose. The tulipsP/S : For sure that students will
choice alternative A because it is the longest and it contains a
lot of facts among the other alternativesP/S : This question has
almost the same length of alternative. This will make the student
read all the alternative carefully before choosing their answer.2)
Avoid overlapping alternative meansSometimes the teachers
overlooked the alternative that given by them have overlapping
means.It often occurs because the teachers wanted to keep the
number of alternative for their items and they run out of idea.
Example AExample B Who is the Prime Minister?a) the chief
minister that appointed by a ruler b) the most senior minister of
the cabinet c) the actual head of the governmentd) the head of the
executive branch for the countryWho is the Prime Minister?a) the
most senior minister of cabinet b) the person that formally elected
to a five-year term by and from among the nine Rulers of the Malay
states c) the chief judge of the Federal Courtd) the secretary to
the Cabinet of MalaysiaP/S: Alternative A,B,C and D have the same
meaning of Prime Minister. Prime Minister is the chief minister
that appointed by a ruler. He also the most senior minister of
cabinet and the actual head of government. Prime Minister also the
head of the executive branch for the countryP/S: Alternative A is
the correct answer because the most senior minister of the cabinet
is the Prime Minister. Alternative B talked about The Yang
di-Pertuan Agong while Alternative C meant who is The Chief Justice
of Malaysia. Meanwhile, Alternative D meant for The Chief Secretary
of Malaysia
3)Build the questions and alternatives by using the positive
descriptions. If the word NOT used in a stem, it should be bold by
the teacher so that the students did not overlooked it.Almost 70%
of high school students in Malaysia overlooked the word NOT in the
question and answered it wrongly.Example A Example BWhat colour is
not in the Malaysia Flag?BlueRedgreend) whiteWhat colour is NOT in
the Malaysia Flag?a) blueb) Redc) greend) whiteP/S: Alternative A,B
and D are the colour that in Malaysia Flag. The students might
overlooked the word NOT because it is not been bold and capitalized
.P/S: Alternative A,B and D are the colour that in Malaysia Flag.
The students will not overlooked the word NOT because it is have
been bold and capitalized . The students will confidently choose
alternative C4) Define the task in the stemThe stem will present
clearly described taskStudents can then get to work on figuring out
wich of the items option is bestEXAMPLE A EXAMPLE BMoney..........A
medium of communicationsA factor of productionA store of bondsA
unit of accountsWhat is an economic function of money ?A medium of
communicationsA factor of productionA store of bondsA unit of
accounts Forcing students to read through all the alternatives to
find out what the item is really about. Distractors tend to be a
hodgepodge of any random thoughts Easier to students to find a
correct answerThe structure of stem are clear and definite
5) The Stem Should Be A Question Or A Partial SentenceA question
stem is preferable because it allows the student to focus on
answering the question rather than holding the partial sentence in
working memory and sequentially completing it with each alternative
(Statman 1988). .EXAMPLE A (INTERIOR BLANK)EXAMPLE B (QUESTION)In
addition to the nucleus, are organelles that contain DNA.Golgi
BodiesMitochondria and ChloroplastsRibosomes In addition to the
nucleus, which organelles cintain DNA?Golgi BodiesMitochondria and
ChloroplastsRibosomes
The cognitive load is increased when the stem is constructed
with an initial or interior blank, so this construction should be
avoided. Easier to student focus on answering the question
directly.6) Avoid alternatives such as none of the above or all of
the aboveAll the above is the weak alternativeStudent will simply
has to find two defensible options (without knowing the others) to
realize that all the above must be keyed responseStudent may read
alternative A, and recognize that is correct, mark the answer, and
never consider other choicesUsually run out of the ideas for
plausible distractors and want to create a final optionEXAMPLE A
EXAMPLE BWhich appear in both animal and plant cells ?Endoplasmic
reticulumGolgi aparatusKysosomeAll of the aboveWhich of the
following is not multicellular?HydraCopepodParameciumVolvox5
GUIDELINES FOR DEVELOPING ESSAY ITEM1. Determine mental processes
for the students get readyExaminers must start the questions with
such word or phrases compare, give reasons, predict what would
happen if and so on.Avoid the words like what, when and list. This
kind of words will make students to recall information and does not
requires complex thinking and reasoning.
EXAMPLE AEXAMPLE BList the 7- step path to making ethical
decisions. List them in their correct progressive order.Explain in
what ways a persons failure to apply 5 of the seven-step path for
making ethical decisions will impact his or her ability to make
ethical decisions. Provide an example that illustrates this
impact.The questions does not require students to use complete
sentences or more than one sentence. Students may respond to this
question by simply listing the name and the number for each
steps.Student not only need to compose a response to this questions
but they also need to write several sentences in order to provide
an answer that sufficiently meets the demands of the given task.
Students can provide a wide variety of examples to illustrate the
impact and they can structure their response in various ways. They
could give the example first and then provide an explanation or
they could state the impact first and then provide an
example.2.Specify the point value and an approximate time limit for
each question in clear directionsBy providing the marks for each
essay question, students can estimate how much point that needed to
be write. Student do not have to give every point that they have to
the essay question and also will not wasting their time.Provide
some rough estimates of how long the student should spend on each
question.Without the approximate time limit for each essay
question, students may feel at loss because they do not know how
much time to spend on an essay. When deciding how much time should
be spent on a question, keep the slower students and students with
certain disabilities in mind.
Example :
3. Clearly define and situate the task within a problem
situation.An effective essay question produces valid evidence of
the degree to which students have achieved the intended learning
outcome.Educators must avoid including vocabulary that is too
advanced for students.The following example demonstrates the
importance of carefully choosing directive verbs to align the essay
question with the intended learning outcome.
Intended Learning OutcomeAnalyze the impact of America at war on
the American economy. ExplanationEssay Question ADescribe the
impact of America at war on the American economy. Students are
asked to describe the impact. To describe requires students to give
an account of the impact but it does not require students to make
an analysis.Essay Question BAnalyze the impact of America at war on
the American economy by describing how different effects of the war
work together to influence the economy. Providing guidance
concerning the task of analyzing. Thus, directive verbs must be
carefully selected to clearly reflect the task required of students
and to be aligned to intended outcomes. 4. Clearly define the
intended learning outcome to be assessed by the item. Decide which
of the following intended learning outcomes lends itself better to
be assessed by an essay question.The following table show the
example and explanation.
EXAMPLE A EXAMPLE BStudents will appreciate the process of cell
division. Given a chart illustrating the process of cell division,
students will compare and contrast each major step in the process.
Too general to provide clear guidance in writing an essay question.
The directive verb, appreciate is vague and difficult to
assess.
More useful for guiding the development of an essay question.
Specific intended learning outcomes are crucial to designing
effective essay questions. Intended learning outcomes meant to
guide the development of test items will typically begin with a
specific directive verb.5. The essay task can be written as a
statement or question. The task can be presented either in the form
of a direct question or an imperative statement.For example, the
following illustrates the same essay item twice, once as a question
and once as an imperative statement.Question : How are the
processes of increasing production and improving quality in a
manufacturing plant similar or different based on cost? Imperative
statement : Compare and contrast the processes of increasing
production and improving quality in a manufacturing plant based on
cost. It shows that both essay items elicit the same performance
from the student (compare and contrast processes based on cost).
Whether essay questions are written as imperative statements or
questions, they should be written to align with the intended
outcome and in such a way that the task is clear to the
students.
SourcesCarneson, J., Delpierre, G., & Masters, K. (n.d.).
Designing and managing multiple-choice questions: Appendix B,
designing MCQs dos and donts. Retrieved July 7, 2006 from the
University of Cape Town Web site:
http://www.uct.ac.za/projects/cbe/mcqman/mcqappb.htmlHaladyna, T.
M. (1999). Developing and validating multiple-choice test items, 2
nd ed. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Ahmad Zamri bin
Khairani & Lim Hoii Lian. Pentaksiran Di Bilik Darjah (2012),
Universiti Sains Malaysia.Christian M. Reiner, Timothy W. Bothell,
Richard R. Sudweeks, Bud Wood. Preparing Effective Essay Questions
(2002), News Forums Press.