Discuss any two test formats and their advantages and disadvantages

Test techniques simply are means of eliciting behaviour from candidates which will tell us about their language abilities. According to Hughes (2003) what we need are techniques which- 

1)     “will elicit behaviour which is a reliable and valid indicator of the ability in which we are interested;

2)     will elicit behaviour which can be reliably scored;

3)     are as economical of time and effort as possible;

4)     will have a beneficial backwash effect”.

Two important test techniques- multiple choice and cloze test- are discussed below with their advantages and disadvantages.

1) Multiple choice

Multiple-choice items take many forms but their basic structure is as follows:

There is a stem. Anwar has been there ……….. half an hour.

(A) during        (B) for       (C) while       (D) since

It is candidate’s task to identify the correct or most appropriate answer (in this case B).

Perhaps the most obvious advantages of multiple-choice are that scoring can be perfectly reliable. Scoring should also be rapid and economical. A further considerable advantage is that, since in order to respond the candidate has only to make a mark on the paper; it is possible to include more items than would otherwise be possible in a given period. This is likely to make for greater test reliability.

Fairly recently the technique’s limitations have been more generally recognized by professional testers. The difficulties with multiple-choice areas are as follows:

1.      The technique tests only recognition of knowledge.

2.      Guessing may have a considerable but unknowable effect on test scores.

3.      The technique severely restricts what can be tested and cheating may be facilitated.

4.      It is very difficult to write successful items and backwash may be harmful.

The multiple-choice technique is best suited to relatively infrequent testing of large numbers of candidates.

2) Cloze test:

A cloze test or a cloze deletion test is an exercise, test or assessment consisting of a portion of text with certain words removed where the participant is asked to replace the missing words. Words may be deleted from the text in question either mechanically or selectively. The cloze procedure involves deleting a number of words in a passage, leaving blanks and requiring the person taking the test to attempt to replace the original words. The following example illustrates how cloze test is used:

Pahela Baishakh has truly become a …(a)… of our great cultural heritage. It …(b)… the day that is the beginning …(c)… Bangla new year in a mood …(e)… festivity and celebration.

The main advantages of a cloze test are the followings:-

(a)   It is easy to construct and easy to score if the exact word scoring method is applied.

(b)   A large number of items can be taken on a relatively short text.

(c)   It is a valid measure for reading comprehension test.

One can easily detect the following disadvantages in carrying out cloze test activity:-

(a)   It is difficult to determine where a certain word is appropriate to the text or not. So, it takes a long time to check the answers.

(b)   The cloze procedure cannot be depended upon automatically to produce reliable and useful tests.

Cloze tests offer economical ways of measuring overall ability in a language. It is relatively easy to prepare, administer and score.