Multiple-Choice Items: The Stem/ The Correct Option/
The Distractors
Ø The Stem
1.
The primary
purpose of the stem is to present the problem clearly and concisely. The testee should be able to obtain from the seem
a very general idea of the problem
and the answer required. At the same time, the stem should not contain extraneous information or irrelevant
clues, thereby confusing the problem being tested. Unless students understand
the problem being tested, there is no way of knowing whether or not they could
have handled the problem correctly. Although the stem should be short, it
should convey enough information to indicate the basis on which the correct
option should be selected.
2. The
stem may take the following forms:
(a)
an incomplete statement
He accused me of....... lies.
A. speaking B. saying C. telling D. talking
(b) a complete
statement
Everything we wanted
was to hand.
A. under control C. well cared for
B. within reach D. being prepared
(c)
a question
According to the
writer, what did Tom immediately do?
A. He ran home. C. He began to shout.
B. He met Bob. D. He phoned the
police.
3. The stem should usually contain those words or phrases
which would otherwise have to be repeated in each option.
The word 'astronauts'
is used in the passage to refer to
A.
travellers in an ocean liner
B. travellers
in a space-ship
C.
travellers in a submarine
D.
travellers in a balloon
The stem here should be
rewritten so that it reads:
The word 'astronauts'
is used in the passage to refer to travellers in
A. an ocean liner C. a submarine
B. a space-ship D. a balloon
The same principle applies to grammar items. The following
item:
I enjoy…..the children playing in the park.
A. Looking to
B. Looking about
C. Looking at
D. Looking on
Should be rewritten in this way:
I enjoy…..the children playing
in the park.
A. to C.
at
B. about D.
on
If,
however, one of the errors made by students in their free written work has been
the omission of the preposition after look (a common error), then it
will be necessary to include look in the options.
I enjoy…….the children
playing in the park.
A.
looking on C. looking at
B. looking D.
looking to
4. The stem should allow for the number of choices which
have been decided upon. This is
particularly relevant, for example, when comparisons are involved in reading
comprehension. There is no possible fourth option which
can be added in the following item:
Tom
was............... the other two boys.
A.
taller than
B.
smaller than
C.
as tall as
Ø The Correct
Option
For normal purposes of testing,
this should be clearly the correct or best option: thus, it is most important that each item should
be checked by another person.
It can be argued that a greater degree of subtlety is
sometimes gained by having more than
one correct option in each item. The correct answers in
the following reading comprehension and grammar items are circled:
According to the
writer, Jane wanted a new racquet because
her old one was damaged
slightly
B.
she had lost her old one
C.
her father had given her some money for one
her father had given her some money for one
Mary
had a new racquet
E.
Ann often borrowed her old racquet
Who.............. you cycle here to see us?
A. ordered B. caused made D. asked let
It is very important, however, to avoid confusing the
students by having different number of correct options for
each item, and this practice is not recommended.
Each of the two multiple-choice test items above actually comprises a group of
true/false (i.e. right/wrong) items and, therefore, each alternative should be marked in this way: e.g.
in the first item, the testee scores 1 mark for circling A, 1 mark for not
circling B, 1 mark for not circling C, 1 mark for circling D, and 1 mark for
not circling E (total score = 5).
The
correct option should be approximately the same length as the distractors. This
principle applies especially to vocabulary tests and tests of reading and
listening comprehension, where there is a
tendency to make the correct option
longer than the distractors simply because it is so often necessary to qualify
a statement or word in order to make it absolutely correct. An example
of such a 'giveaway' item is:
He began to choke while he was eating the
fish.
A.
die
B.
cough and vomit
C.
be unable to breathe because of
something in the windpipe
D.
grow very angry
Ø The Distractors
Each
distractor, or incorrect option, should be reasonably attractive and plausible. It should appear right to any testee who
is unsure of the correct option. Items
should be constructed in such a way that students obtain the correct option by direct selection rather than by the
elimination of obviously incorrect
options. Choice D in the following grammar item is much
below the level being tested and will be eliminated by testees immediately: their chances of selecting the
correct option will then be one in three.
The present tax reforms have benefited ..... poor.
A. that B. the C. a D. an
For most purposes, each distractor should be grammatically
correct when it stands by itself: otherwise testees will be
exposed to incorrect forms. In the above item (and in all
grammar items) it is only the wrong choice, and
its implied insertion into the stem, which makes a particular pattern ungrammatical. For example, option A is
grammatically correct on its own and only becomes incorrect when
inserted into the stem.
The following item (which actually appeared in a class
progress test of reading comprehension) contains two
absurd items:
How did Picard first
travel in space?
A. He travelled in a space-ship. C. He went in a submarine.
B. He used a large balloon. D.
He jumped from a tall building.
Unless a distractor is attractive to the student who is
not sure of the correct answer, its
inclusion in a test item is superfluous. Plausible distractors are best based on (a) mistakes in the
students' own written work, (b) their answers in previous
tests, (c) the teacher's experience, and
(d)
a contrastive analysis between the native and target languages.
Distractors should not be too difficult nor demand a higher
proficiency in the language
than the correct option. If they are too difficult, they will succced only in distracting the good student, who will be
led into considering the correct option
too easy (and a trap). There is a tendency for this to happen,
particularly in vocabulary test items.
You need a ............. to enter that
military airfield.
A. permutation B.
perdition C. permit D. perspicuity
Note that capital letters are only used in options which
occur at the beginning of a sentence. Compare the following:
Has ............... of petrol
increased?
A. the price B.
price C. a price
.................. of
petrol has actually fallen.
A. The price B. Price C. A price
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