Keywords; What is Essay type test? Types of Essay Test, Extended Essay type
Test type, Restricted Essay type
Test type, Limitations of Essay test , How to improve Essay Test?
How to write Good Essay Questions? How to score essay questions?
Constructing
an Essay Type Test
What is Essay type test?
The word essay derives
from the French infinitive essayer, "to try" or "to
attempt". In English essay first meant "a trial" or
"an attempt"
•
“Essay type test refers to any written test
that requires an examinee to write several paragraphs, passages or
comprehensive answer.
Why Essay tests?
•
Abilities like logical thinking, critical
reasoning and systematic presentation; etc. can be best evaluated by the essay
type tests.
•
They provide an opportunity to the student to
show their originality of thoughts, as they are permitted freedom of responses.
•
They help to develop good study habits such
as preparing outlines and summaries, organization arguments for and against.
•
They provide opportunities to students to
develop abilities such as to interpret, etc.
•
They can be successfully employed for evaluating
the performance of students in all subjects.
•
It is relatively easier to prepare and
administer the essay type test than to prepare an objective type test.
•
Guessing is eliminated to some extent.
•
They give freedom to respond within broad
limits.
•
They stress integration and application of
thinking and problem solving
•
They provide less scope for unfair means.
Types of Essay Test
Essay Test
1
Extended type 2 Restricted
type
Example of Extended type
i)
Discuss the importance of testing in education
ii)
What are the advantages and disadvantages of
a democratic form of government.
Examples of Restricted type
i)
Give five reasons why testing is
important in education?
ii)
State three advantages and three
disadvantages of a democratic form of government.
Limitations of Essay test
1) Subjective/Un-reliable
marking
2) Limited/inadequate
sampling ---- selective study is encouraged.
3) Rote
memorization is encouraged.
4) Time
consuming.
5) Influence
of irrelevant factors e.g. Hand writing, style of writing etc.
6) Bluffing
Bluffing –A Special Scoring
Problem
It is possible for pupils to
obtain higher scores on essay questions than they deserve by means of clever
bluffing. This is usually a combination of writing skill, general knowledge,
and the use of common “tricks of the trade.” Following are some ways that
pupils might attempt to influence the reader and, thus, inflate their grades.
- Writing something for every question –even if it is only a restatement of the question. (Pupils figure they might get some credit. Blank spaces get none).
- Stressing the importance of the topic covered by the question, especially when short on facts (e.g., “This battle played a significant role in the Civil War.”).
- Agreeing with the teacher’s views whenever it seems appropriate (e.g, “The future of mankind depends on how well we conserve our natural resources.”).
- Being a name dropper (e.g., “This is supported by the well known experiment by Smith.”. The reader assumes that the pupil knows Smith’s “well-known” experiment.).
Although bluffing cannot be
completely eradicated, carefully phrasing the questions and following clearly
defined scoring procedures can reduce it.
How to improve Essay Test?
Two Principal Ways
1) Writing good Essay
Questions. 2) Using Efficient Method of scoring.
1) How to write Good Essay
Questions?
a) The
Essay questions should measure well defined learning outcomes (Taxonomy of
objectives)
Some Types Of Thought
Questions And Sample Item Stems\
Comparing
Ø Describe
the similarities and differences between …..
Ø Compare
the following two methods for …..
2. Relating Cause and Effect
Ø What
are major causes of …..?
Ø What
would be the most likely effects of ……?
3. Justifying
Ø Which
of the following alternatives would you favor, and why?
Ø Explain
why you agree or disagree with the following statement.
4. Summarizing
Ø State
the main points included in …..
Ø Briefly
summarize the contents of …..
5. Generalizing
–
Formulate several valid generalizations from
the following data.
–
State a set of principles that can explain
the following events.
6. Inferring
Ø In
light of the facts presented, what is most likely to happen when …..?
Ø How
would (Senator X) be likely to react to the following issue…..?
7. Classifying
Ø Group
the following items according to …..
Ø What
do the following items have in common?
8. Creating
Ø List
as many ways as you can think of for …..
Ø Make
up a story describing what would happen if…..
9. Applying
Ø Using
the principle of … as a guide, describe how you would solve the following
problem situation.
Ø Describe
a situation that illustrates the principle of…….
10. Analyzing
Ø Describe
the reasoning errors in the following paragraph.
Ø List
and describe the main characteristics of …..
11. Synthesizing
Ø Describe
a plan for proving that …..
Ø Write
a well-organized report that shows …..
12. Evaluating
Ø Describe
the strengths and weaknesses of …..
Ø Using
the given criteria, write an evaluation of …..
a) Easy
and clear language should be used.
b) Ample
time should be given to students
Time According to:
i) Number of Questions
ii) Nature of Questions
d) Avoid
questions like, “What do you think” or “In your opinion”
e) Define
the examinee’s task completely and specifically as possible.
f) Avoid
to give choice.
Checklist for Reviewing
Essay Questions
- Is this the most appropriate type of item to use?
- Are the questioned designed to measure higher-level learning outcomes
- Are the questions relevant to the intended learning outcomes?
- Does each question clearly indicate the task to be performed?
- Are pupils told the bases on which their answers will be evaluated?
- Are generous time limits provided for answering the questions?
- Are pupils told the time limits and/or point values for each question?
- Are all pupils required to respond to the same questions?
- If revised, are the questions still relevant to the intended learning outcomes?
- Have the questions been set aside for a time before reviewing them?
How to score essay
questions?
1) Prepare
a scoring key in advance. It includes the major points/features of the answer
and the weight assigned to each.
2) Score
question No. 1 of all the students before going on to the next question
(Question wise marking)
3) Ignore
the identity of students during scoring.
4) Adopt
a definite policy regarding irrelevant factors e.g. Hand writing, spelling,
punctuation, sentence structure, style and neatness etc.
5) Use
an appropriate scoring method.
Two Methods:
i) Point Method (for restricted type)
ii) Rating Method (for extended type)
