Test Writing    

    Prior to the actual writing of a test, we invite teachers to look at the distribution of marks.

        Now that we have agreed upon the types of questions and marks allotted to each question, we can ask questions related to the actual writing of tests.  Some of these questions include: -

  1- How do I write a composition question?

COMPOSITION :- There are many ways of writing questions in English that can be considered composition questions and here are some:

1) Write a paragraph about " Trains as a means of transportation". It is preferable to limit the choices to only one subject. This topic is an example of the many topics you can give and it could be guided or free. e.g. you may use the following words or ideas then you state a number of words or ideas, which can help the pupils, come up with a decent piece of writing. It is also important to decide how much the students should write by limiting the composition to a number of lines, sentences or paragraphs but it is better to be to the number of words.

2) Write a paragraph about water answering the following questions:

A: Where do we find water?

B What is the importance of water?

C: What do we use water for? etc...       .  .

The answer to these questions is put together into a paragraph with appropriate transitional expressions and connectors.

  3) You can give a paragraph where the sentences are not in the correct order, and then the students should rewrite them in the correct order.

       2- What about dialogues?

    When attempting to write dialogue questions, follow these steps:- 

1) You can start a dialogue then ask the students to complete it.

2) You can give a dialogue with missing parts and you ask the students to complete it.

3) You can give a dialogue with missing parts and you give them choices to choose from and put them in the correct places.

4) You can give a dialogue with miss placed parts and you ask them to rearrange them correctly.

1-     Letter writing is important, so how do I test this skill?

We suggest that you try the following: -

1) You can start a letter and ask the students to finish it.

2) You can give them a letter without the essential information like the

 date, address etc ... and ask them to write the missing information.

3) You can also write a question saying "Write a letter to your friend Umar. Tell him that you are going to be abroad for three weeks and you cannot keep in touch with him. Your name is Nabeel and your address

is 3986 king Street, Riyadh K.S.A. Then they should organize and write the letter in the best possible way.

4- How do I form ‘INFORMATION QUESTIONS’? 

1) You can use direct questions like: Why do people collect stamps? etc... 2) You can use matching to match questions with some answers.

3) Try your questions to test the students' ability to express their skill in understanding certain questions and coming up with suitable answers i.e. not to memorize a number of answers to certain questions.

4) You can also use write capital letters of the following small letters? etc ... this is for first intermediate.

5) Complete a, e......1.......1....... ? etc. .....

5- How can I write good OMPREHENSION questions?

                           You give the students a passage then you ask them some questions about the passage or paragraph. The passage could be from inside the text or similar to what the students have already taken. Please bear in mind the following notes:

1) Your questions should test the students' ability to extract information from the reading.

2) You should not limit the questions to only one style but variety is required.

3) You can use true or false questions.

4) You can use choose the correct answer.

5) You can use find from the paragraph a word opposite to     ........... or meaning the same as etc...

6) You can use reference questions e.g. what does the underlined pronoun refers to?

7) All the answers should be inside the paragraph so no outside information is needed.

8) Short answers should be given a full mark because what is intended here is comprehension not grammar.

            6- How do I write good grammar questions?

Here are some suggestions:-

1) Do as shown between brackets.

2) Circle the correct answer Khaled is (tall, taller, the tallest). 3) Write (a/an).

4) Write the past from the following verbs (eat, drink, clean).

5) Correct the verb in brackets. Ali is (read) a book.

6) Underline the verbs, adjectives and adverbs in the following paragraph. And you can put a table

7) Rearrange the following words to make a meaningful sentence.

8) Put (X) to show the time line

9) You can give them an answer and you ask them to give you the question.

10) Do not give many questions to a certain grammatical point.  For example you ask them to report and you give them four sentences.

11) Always, when you give multiple choices, give choices no fewer than three, to make the students’ chance of guessing the answer much less.

7- It is important that I test VOCABULARY.  Do you have any suggestions?

      When testing vocabulary, you need to be aware of the following wording of your questions:-

1) Write the correct word under the picture.

2) Fill in the gaps with suitable words. It is preferable to give choices and they are to be more than the number of the sentences. So if you have five sentences give seven alternatives.

3) Matching.

4) Giving multiple choices.

5) Asking the students to give you the antonyms or synonyms to some words.

6) Put these words in meaningful sentences of your own.

7) Explain these words.  The correct answer could be putting them into sentences or giving the antonyms or synonyms.

8) Substitute a word from the sentence with a word that means the same as “…….”

          8- Spelling is different from vocabulary, how can my questions show the difference clearly?

            You need to be extra careful when setting you questions that test your students’ spelling ability.  Therefore, we suggest the following: -

1) You can give a word with a missing letter or letters, and the students come up with the letters. It is better for it t be in a sentence.

2) Choose the correct answer. Equi-ment (d, r, p, s, g)

3) The (damand, demand, dimand, dumand) for cold drinks increases in hot weather.

4) Rearrange the following letters to make a meaningful word. (mceo).

5) 1 had an ace ..... yesterday when 1 was driving my car. (Complete the spelling)                          

                    9- As for handwriting, which is very important at the intermediate level, how can I set questions for this skill?

          Handwriting is important at all levels of learning English.  Pupils, however, sit for a handwriting test at the intermediate level.  Therefore, your test should clarify the purpose o the test.  We suggest these steps: -

1) Copying a sentence, sentences or a small paragraph.

2) To be more precise, it is advisable to draw the four lines on the exam sheet so that the students could write neatly.

3) Your marks should be given to clarity and readability.

  Finally, what have been stated here are just examples or suggestions but that does not mean that teachers could not have samples of questions that have not been mentioned, so always try to be creative when you start preparing for the exam.

Written by: Abdulrahrnan bin Saleb AL-Furaih  

English Supervisor.

AL-Rawdah teducational Supervision Center

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