Review questions

1. What is an item? What is the difference between an item and a test?

2. What are some of the problems posed by linguistic and format confoundings? How can they be rectified?

3. How do Grice’s maxims relate to guidelines for writing good items?

4. What are the three different assessment formats in each of the following three test types: (a) selected-response tests? (b) constructed-response tests? and (c) personal-response assessments?

5. What are the advantages and disadvantages of each of the three formats in each of the three test types mentioned in #4?

6. What are the differences and similarities among the guidelines for writing effective selected-response, constructed-response, and personal-response items?

7. What are the parts of test specifications? And, why are they particularly important in writing CRTs?

8. What are the parts of item specifications? And, why are they particularly important in writing CRTs?

9. What is item quality analysis? And, how is it done?

10. What is the difference between content congruence and content applicability? Why are these issues important to writing good CRT items?

11. How do the politics of a language program relate to testing? And, why are political issues important in developing language tests?