Module 4.

ASSESSING READING (HIGH SCHOOL)

Objectives of the module:

• Understand documents of guidance on assessing reading
• Analyze different reading task types
• Practice writing reading test items
Contents:
1. Documents of Guidance on assessing reading
2. Types of reading questions
3. Writing multiple choice items
4. Writing true false test items
5. Writing completion test items

1. GUIDANCE ON ASSESSING READING

1.1 Reading outcomes
(CV Số: 5333/BGDĐT-GDTrH)
• Grade 10

Grade 11

Grade 12
1.2 READING TASKS (Document 5333)
READING (at least 2 parts/8 Qs)
 Read and match;
 Read and number;
 Read and tick;
 Read and complete;
 Read and select the correct option;
 Read and rearrange the information;
 Read and find the right information;
 Read and summarize
1.3 READING SPECIFICATIONS
40 mins/4 parts (Document 1477-THPT - 2016)
(for B1 level proficiency test)
PART 1: Notices, message, notes, signs
• (7 3-option MCQs)
PART 2: letter, handbook, brochures
• ( 5 Qs Gap filling)
PART 3: A story
• (6 4-options MCQs)
PART 4: An article
• (7 Qs True False)
Document 1477
(Định dạng đề thi Năng lực tiếng Anh bậc 3 THPT)
Kiểm tra các tiểu kỹ năng Đọc hiểu khác nhau:
 Đọc tìm chi tiết: phát hiện, xác định và so sánh các thông tin chi tiết và các định
nghĩa
 Đọc xác định thể loại văn bản
 Đọc xác định các chi tiết quan trọng và các kết luận chính trong các văn bản thể
loại nghị luận có cấu trúc rõ ràng
 Đọc hiểu và đưa ra những suy luận dựa trên các thông tin có sẵn trong văn bản.
1.4 BLOOM’S TAXONOMY

1.4.1 BLOOM’S TAXONOMY-BASED LEVELS OF TEST ITEMS

Level 1: Knowledge (about 30%)
Level 2: Comprehension (about 40%)
Level 3: Application * (about 20%)
Level 4: Application ** (about 10%)
1.4.2 BLOOM’S TAXONOMY-BASED SAMPLE QUESTIONS
Level 1: Knowledge
 What’s …. ?
 Who is/was…?
 When did…?
 Where is…?
 How did … happen?
 When did happen…?
 Can you list/name…?
 What happened after …?
 Who spoke to …?
 Which one…?
 How did…?
 How much/many …?
Level 2: Comprehension
 What facts and ideas show....?
 What example shows …?
 Who was the key character …?
 What differences exist between …?
 What could happen next …?
 What does … mean?
Level 3: Application *
 What is the main idea of the passage?
 The main idea of …. is ….
 What is the best title of …?
 The best title of …. is ….
Level 4: Application **
 What does the writer mean when writing...?
 What is meant by …?
 What does the writer imply by...?
 Why did the writer mention....?
 What can be inferred from …?
2. TYPES OF QUESTIONS ON READING TEST
2.1 Factual: Reading for specific information
Look at the following example:
On Jan. 12, a few days after registration opened at Yale for Psyc 157, Psychology
and the Good Life, about 300 people had signed up. Within three days, the figure had
more than doubled. After three more days, about 1,200 students, or nearly one-fourth of
Yale undergraduates, were enrolled.
• According to the paragraph, at least how many students enrolled in the course
Psychology and the Good Life after all?
A. 12 B. 157 C. 300 D. 1200
2.2. Paraphrase
Look at the following example:
Karate is a science of unarmed self-defense and counterattack. It is a sort of
"weapon in an empty hand!‘ In many U.S. cities thousands of young people are
developing their minds as well as their bodies by learning karate.’
The key portion that we will use for our paraphrase question is "In many U.S. cities,
thousands of young people are . . . learning karate."
The paraphrase of this is "Karate is being taught to many young Americans." Every word
but "karate" is different.
Here is the resulting question:
In this passage we learn that karate _________.
A. is being taught to many young Americans
B. can be used to develop everyone’s mind and body
C. can remove a weapon from someone's hand
D. is used to attack young people in many U.S. cities
2.3. Synthesis: requires integration of ideas from more than one sentence, sometimes
from the entire selection.
Look at the following example:
Karate is a science of unarmed self-defense and counterattack. It is a sort of
"weapon in an empty hand. “In many U.S. cities thousands of young people are
developing their minds as well as their bodies by learning karate. "I've been taking
karate lessons for five years now," says sixteen-year-old Bobby Hamilton of Columbus,
Ohio, "and it's great! I find myself doing things that I thought I could never do!' Paula
Jones has just begun taking karate lessons at her high school in Philadelphia. She feels
that she has more self-confidence because of the lessons. "I am more aware of myself,"
she says. "I already have learned so much about self-control. I know everything in life is
not going to be easy. Karate helps prepare me for the times when I'll have to meet my
problems face to face."'
What is the best title of the passage?
A. Young children do karate in Philadelphia
B. Karate-Weaponless Protection for People of All Ages
C. School Children Enjoy a New Kind of Physical Education Class
D. Self-Perfection through Self-Protection
2.4. Inference: requires students to find out what the author implies in the reading text.
Look at the following example:
[Two men, Gerard and Denys, were traveling in a forest. They had just been forced to
kill a large baby bear in self-defense.] Then Gerard heard a sound behind them. It was a
strange sound, too, like something heavy, but not hard, rushing over dry leaves. It was a
large bear, as big as a horse, running after them a short distance away. As soon as he
saw it, Gerard cried out in fear, "The baby bear's mother!
Question: The mother bear was probably running because it ________.
A. was afraid of Gerard and Denys and wanted to escape.
B. wanted to hurt those who had killed its baby.
C. was chasing a horse, a short distance away.
D. enjoyed running, like horses and other animals do.
Techniques for testing reading:
- No best method. No single method can fulfill the all the varied purposes for which
we might test.
- Good reading tests are likely to employ a number of different techniques, possibly
even on the same text, but certainly across the range of texts tested.
(Alderson, 2000)
3. WRITING MULTIPLE-CHOICE ITEMS
What are components of a MCQ?
• Stem: the initial part of a multiple-choice item
• Options/responses/alternatives: the choices from which the students select their
answers
• Answer/correct option/key: One option
• Distractors: other options, to distract poor students from the correct option
The process of writing a good MCQ
• Identify the content and the sub-skill to test
• Write the stem in a question format
• Write the correct answer
• Write the distractors
• Developing and validating test items
Rules of writing MCQs:
*Content concerns
1. Keep the content of items independent of one another.
2. Test important content. Avoid overly specific and overly general content.
3. Avoid opinions unless qualified.
Eg: Unqualified
What is the best comedy film ever made?
A. How rocket will travel B. Animal house C. Young Frankenstein
Qualified
According to the Film institute of NewYork, what’s the greatest American comedy film
ever made?
A. How rocket will travel B. Animal house C. Young Frankenstein
*Format concerns
1. Each multiple-choice item should have only one answer.
2. The stem may take the form of an incomplete sentence or a question.
3. Each option should be grammatically correct when placed in the stem/answer the
question.
4. Multiple-choice items should be as brief and as clear as possible.
5. The correct option should be approximately the same length as the distractors.
6. The options should be placed in alphabetical order or natural order (e.g. of dates or
figures)
Writing the stem
1. State the central idea clearly and concisely in the stem and not in the options.
2. Word the stem positively, avoid negative phrasing.
VD: Which is not a characteristic of baleen whales?
 Baleen whales have the following characteristics EXCEPT_______
Writing the options
1. Use only options that are plausible and discriminating (hợp lý và có tính phân biệt)
2. Keep options independent; options should not be overlapping.
3. Avoid using the options “None of the above, All of the above, and I don’t know”
What to keep in mind
1. The reading text:
- Must be of the length and difficulty level as required by the MOET
- Must be authentic
2. Tools to check readability of the reading text:
1. http://www.englishprofile.org/wordlists/text-inspector
2. https://www.online-utility.org/english/readability_test_and_improve.jsp
3. https://www.lextutor.ca/vp/comp/
4. Thesaurus.com
3. Distractors:
- Must be consistent in part of speech, content words, function words
- Must be approximately equal in length
- Must appear in the reading text. In case there is not enough information for
distractors, test designers must adapt the text
- must be put in the same order as the order of information from the text
Activity 1. Practice
Work in groups. Analyze multiple-choice test items based on a reading text about Charles
Dickens.

4. WRITING TRUE/FALSE TEST ITEMS

1. Construct statements that are definitely true or definitely false, without additional
qualifications. This will avoid students from being confused because of wrong usage of
words.
Eg: The vice-president of the Philippines is elected nationwide.
2. Use relatively short statements. The shorter the statements are, the better the
understanding will be done.
Eg: - Aristotle thought that a falling object’s acceleration and speed depended on its
mass. While Galileo disagreed and said that all objects fall with the same ..... Poor
statement
- Aristotle’s view of science differs from Galileo’s.  better
3. Express a single idea in each test item.
Ex. Water will boil at a higher temperature if the atmospheric pressure on its surface is
increased and more heat is applied to the container.
Better: Water will boil at a higher temperature if the atmospheric pressure on its surface
is increased.
4. Keep true and false statements approximately the same length. Some statements have
tendencies to be longer to be absolutely true or false.
5. Avoid taking statement directly from text. As much as possible, revise the statement.
6. Avoid the use of extreme modifiers or qualifiers such as all, no-one, always, never,
only, nobody, best, absolutely, certainly not, etc.
7. Always state the questions positively. Students tend to over look negative word such as
no and not.
Eg:
1. None of the parts in the research paper is unnecessary.  Poor
2. Each part in the research paper was necessary.  Better
Activity 3: Analyze true/false test items based on a reading about Charles Dickens.

1. Many of Charles Dickens’ characters were poor and hungry people.

2. His father was a clerk in an office.
3. He had eight brothers and sisters.
4. He didn’t go to school because his life was so hard.
5. All members of his family went to prison except him.
6. He used all experiences of his hard life in his many novels.

Activity 4. Practice
Design 5 true/false items based on the last two paragraph of the reading about Charles
Dickens.

5. WRITING COMPLETION TEST ITEM

1. Because of the randomness of the deleted words, anything may be tested within a
singles cloze text: grammar, collocation, fixed phrases, reading
comprehension...However, it should focus on semantic, syntactic and graphonic
cues in the text.
2. Deletion interval: commonly between every 5th& every 10th word. (5th, 6th, 7th word
intervals are the preferred)
3. Do not omit so many words from the statement/ passage that the intended meaning
is lost.
4. Omit only key words or phrases rather than trivial details.
5. If possible, put the blank at the end of a statement rather than at the beginning.
6. Avoid grammatical clues to the correct response.
Eg: Every atom has a central core called a(n) …… (nucleus)
 Đặc tả đề thi cho kỹ năng đọc
Môn: Tiếng Anh lớp ….

Thông tin chung

- Miêu tả chung các phần:
2 phần với các dạng thức nhiệm vụ và câu hỏi khác nhau nhằm kiểm tra kỹ năng đọc hiểu
các dạng văn bản khác nhau
Số lượng bài đọc: …
Số lượng từ mỗi bài….
Độ khó của bài đọc:
Độ khó của câu hỏi: từ M1- M4
- Miêu tả mỗi phần
Phần 1: một bài đọc về chủ đề ….., độ dài khoảng ……, với 5 câu hỏi
Phần 2: một bài đọc về chủ đề …..., độ dài khoảng ……, với 5 câu hỏi

Thông tin chi tiết

Ngữ liệu nguồn (dạng thức, Thời Độ khó câu hỏi Số câu
độ dài, thể loại, chủ đề) lượng hỏi
(gợi
ý)
Phần 1 đoạn văn bản về chủ … câu hỏi mức 1 5
1 đề…..,
MCQ Độ dài: …. ….câu hỏi mức 2
….câu hỏi mức 3
….câu hỏi mức 4
Phần 1 đoạn văn bản về chủ 5
2 đề….
True Độ dài: ……từ
False
 Reading test
Number of questions: 10

Part 1. Read the following passage and choose the correct answer A, B, C or D.

Question 1
Question 2
Question 3
Question 4
Question 5

Part 2. Read the text below and then decide which answer A, B, C or D
best fits each space.

Question 6
Question 7
Question 8
Question 9
Question 10