Ask a clear question and get a clear answer: An enquiry into the question/answer and sentence completion formats of multiple choice items

Statman, Stella

doi:10.1016/0346-251x(88)90079-6

Cited by 6 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…Regardless of the way it was structured, each abstract was accompanied on a separate sheet (enclosed in its respective Test Booklet) by a five-question multiplechoice test written in Spanish (see Statman, 1988 for a comprehensive review of multiple-choice tests as a valuable testing tool). Each question was made up of four carefully-worded distractors.…”

Section: B3 Reading Comprehension Testsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reading medical English abstracts: a genre study of the interaction between structural variables and the reader's linguistico‐conceptual competence (L2)

Salager‐Meyer

1994

Journal Research in Reading

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Study Objective:To investigate how structural variables influence readers' construction of meaning from short-text samples of expository prose across different levels of background knowledge, text familiarity and L2 competence.Subjects: 36 Spanish-speaking medical graduates of different L2 proficiency -18 High Intermediate (HI) and 18 Advanced subjects (AD)were randomly divided into 2 sub-groups of 9 subjects. Design: Rhetorical manipulations were performed on the published versions of three semantically different medical English abstracts (familiar and relatively unfamiliar topics). Each sub-group received one of either version and completed a reading test. A questionnaire elicited background information on the subjects. Self-generated comments on the abstracts were optional. Statktical Treatment of Data:The number of correct answers for each abstract was recorded. Between-group one-and two-way ANOVAs were applied. The questionnaires and self-generated comments were both qualitatively and quantitatively analyzed. Results: Both groups differed in their background knowledge and in their intensity of English reading. The AD subjects outperformed the HI ones in reading performance for all three abstracts together, and for the two relatively unfamiliar abstracts only. No difference was observed for the familiar abstract. In the well structured but relatively unfamiliar abstract, only L2 competence affected reading performance. In the relatively unfamiliar and poorly structured abstract, text structure, L2 competence and the interaction between both variables affected reading comprehension.Conclusions: Textual variables operate differently depending on the extent of the readers' background knowledge and linguistic competence. Variables such as exposure to reading materials (in L1 and L2), background knowledge and L2 competence seem to outweigh the importance of structural variables. Abstract # 1 (relatively unfamiliar topic) Abstract # 2 (familiar topic) Abstract # 3 (relatively unfamiliar topic) STR (192 words): original version CON (196 words): published work DEF* (198 words) ~ ~~ ~ TEST BOOKLET B (given t o 18 randomly chosen Ss.: 9 HI and 9 AD) Abstract # 1 (relatively unfamiliar topic) Abstract # 2 (familiar topic) Abstract # 3 (relatively unfamiliar topic) CON* (193 words) DEF* (198 words) STR (199 words): original work Abbreviafions used STR Structured CON Conventional DEF AD Advanced group HI High Intermediate group Deficient (illogicalhnnatural order in move presentation) * Rhetorical manipulations performed for the experiment.

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Section: B3 Reading Comprehension Testsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reading medical English abstracts: a genre study of the interaction between structural variables and the reader's linguistico‐conceptual competence (L2)

Salager‐Meyer

1994

Journal Research in Reading

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“…According to the literature, the most common measures for reading comprehension assessment are cloze tests, open-ended questions, short answer, and multiple-choice tests. However, while each of the assessment techniques has significant effects on the students' scores, Statman (1988) determines that having a multiple-choice question with distracters is the most clear, authentic, and valid way of assessing the reading comprehension.…”

Section: Reading Comprehension Assessmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

English Language Teaching

Chandra¹

2022

English Language Teaching: Theory, Research and Pedagogy

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This study was an attempt to investigate the effect of SCROL (Survey, Connect, Read aloud, Outline, Look back) strategy of reading skill on EFL learners' reading comprehension achievement. An experimental design was employed in this research.To fulfill the purpose of this study, 60 female intermediate students of Taleqani high school were selected from among 80 students based on their performance on the standard KET test and randomly put into one experimental and one control group.After treatment of three sessions of SCROL strategy and teaching how to use text headings and subheadings for the experimental group, all participants in both groups read eight different passages which followed by five comprehension questions.Results of single t-test revealed that learners in experimental group who received SCROL reading strategy instruction produced significantly higher scores than the control group. Therefore, by considering the results of this study, it can be concluded that giving and teaching specific strategy to learners in reading process facilitates their comprehension of the text. The findings of current study propose some pedagogical implications for teachers, material designers and students who all have a relation with how to learn or teach reading comprehension more effectively and easily.

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“…It has been our experience that the sentence-completion format presents processing constraints which are not inherent in the interrogative construction. Statman (1988) found that students performed more successfully if the stem of a multiple-choice question was an interrogative rather than an incomplete declarative sentence. A possible explanation for her results may be that the students reading a sentence-completion item must reformulate it in their minds as an interrogative in order to complete it.…”

Section: Types Of Test Itemsmentioning

confidence: 95%

Avoiding Obstacles to Student Comprehension of Test Questions

1992

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We present preliminary criteria to consider in the writing of English for academic purposes (EAP) reading comprehension tests. Such criteria are necessary as a frame of reference for a large and diverse teaching staff. The criteria pertain to the test as a whole as well as to the form of individual questions. The choice of items derives from our classroom and test-writing experience and reflects the comprehension problems that students encounter with test questions. These problems may indeed be stumbling blocks for the student because they constitute processing constraints. Pragmatic theory can provide a theoretical framework to explain these processing constraints.

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Ask a clear question and get a clear answer: An enquiry into the question/answer and sentence completion formats of multiple choice items

Cited by 6 publications

References 18 publications

Reading medical English abstracts: a genre study of the interaction between structural variables and the reader's linguistico‐conceptual competence (L2)

Reading medical English abstracts: a genre study of the interaction between structural variables and the reader's linguistico‐conceptual competence (L2)

English Language Teaching

Avoiding Obstacles to Student Comprehension of Test Questions

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