Professional Documents
Culture Documents
vocabulary knowledge.
There are som e t e ch ni ques whi ch t est onl y t he r eco gni t i on of words,
and test onl y the p assive use of vo c a bular y knowled ge. Such techniques
can be suc cessfull y used in the lower st ages of te achin g a f o reign l an gua ge.
A s f ar as t es t i n g v o cab u l ar y i s co n cern ed , t h e m u l t i p l e ch o i ce
technique is the one which is widel y us e d at al l l ev el s o f l angua g e co u r s es .
It h as gai n e d i t s p o p u l a r i t y t h a n k s t o s ome advanta ges whi ch has mad e a
contribution to its common use.
Accordin g to Madse n, newspapers, ma gaz i nes, tex t books form other classes
m a y co n s t i t u t e t h e s o u r ces w h i ch w o r d s t o b e checked c an b e t ak en f r o m .
Howeve r, he r eminds that onl y words w hich belong to such cate gories as:
nouns, verbs, adjec tives, and adverbs (so called content words) can b e
included in voc abu l ar y tests, be cause functions words, namel y articl es,
determiners, p reposi ti ons, conjunctions, pronouns, au x iliar y verbs can onl y
o ccu r i n gr am m ar t e s t s .
Havi ng p repa red t he cont ex t , t he nex t step t o fol l ow, acco rd i ng t o Madsen,
is distractor prep ara tion. It c an be don e in two “equall y go o d wa ys ”, either
b y pr epar at i on di st ract ors b y t each ers o n t hei r own or usi ng m ost com m on
st udent s’ erro rs as d i st ract ors. It i s requ i red t hat di st ra ct ors and t he corr ect
answer should be the same form of word. If this req uirement is not
1
Madsen (1983 : 17)
f o l l o w ed , t h ere m a y b e t h e ch an ce o f s t u d en t s g et t i n g t h e a n s w er co r r e ct l y.
Test-makers should be awar e of the fact tha t the r e is a possi bilit y to “ giv e
awa y” t h e answ er b y uni nt ent i onal l y provi ded gram m at i cal cues. The
ex am p l e i l l u s t r at es the cas e:
2
Madsen (1983 : 19)
T h e o t h er u s e o f m u l t i p l e- ch o i ce t ech n i q u e s u g g es t ed b y M ad s en, i s
paraphr asing. Fo r in stance:
As for the multiple choice technique, teache rs should take notice of the
fact that vocabula r y tests ou ght to measure onl y th e knowled ge of
vocabular y, but the y should never r equi r e the competen ce in other ar eas.
Misz tal (1999) supplies the ex ample of such a test question to which
specific, subject-o ri ented knowled ge sh oul d be involved in order to answ er
i t co r r e ct l y. S t u d en t s are as k ed t o ci r cl e t h e o n e w h i ch i s n o t a r ep t i l e. A n d
t h e h i n t s gi v en are as f o l l o w s : al l i g at o r , f r o g, l i z ard , an d t u r t l e. A s a
m at t er o f f act , l ea r n er s m a y b e f am i l i ar w i t h al l t h es e w o r d s p r o v i d ed , b u t
t h e y m a y f i n d i t d i f f i c u l t t o d i s t i nguish between an a m phibian and a
reptile. Thus, test- m akes should avoid such kinds of ques tion and stick to
t h e t es t v al i d i t y w h i l e p r ep a r i n g t h e t es t q u es t i o n s .
3
Madsen (1983 : 24)
Match the words from the list to the pictures and name each fruit as in the
example: pin eapple , banana, lemon, pear, cherries, stra wberry, grapes,
apples ,
fig. 64
4
Misztal, Lechowski (2001 : 12)
1.3. Matching w ords to their def i nition s.
5
Misztal, Lechowski (2001 : 21)
The answ ers:
b e a u t i f ul - u gl y
b i g- l i t t l e
b l u n t - s h a rp
c h e a p - e xp e n s i v e
c l ea n - di r t y
d a r k - l i g ht
d e a d - al i v e
e a s y - di f f i c u l t
e m pt y - f u l l
f at - t h i n
fig. 86
C o m b i n e t h e a d j e c t i v e s w i t h a s i mi l a r m e a n i n g i n t o p a i r s :
nice hard the answers: nice - pleasant
awful delicious awful - terrible
tasty pleasant tasty - delicious
difficult terrible difficult - hard
7
fig.9
6
Misztal, Lechowski (2001 : 137)
7
Misztal, Lechowski (2001 : 139)
10. M atch the following words to their function in the
s e n t e n c e : g o , b i g , b a l l , we l l , s a d , p l a y , q u i c k l y , b i k e ,
fig. 10
Rega rdless of the f act that the ch art a bove seems to pres ent rathe r
gr ammatical aspect to be tested, th e de mand to know what function in the
sentence a word h as , ought to be put for ward.
T h e ex am p l e b el o w i l l u s t r at es t h e w a y o f t es t i n g r e co gni t i o n o f t h e w o r d
cat e gor y:
fig.118
8
Misztal, Lechowski ( 2001 : 16)
1 . 6 . M a t c h i n g w or ds t o t h e i r Pol i s h / E ng l i s h e q u i v al e n t s .
1-h
2-a
3-e
4-g
5-d
6-c
7-f
8-b
fig. 129
1 . 7 . T h e o d d man o u t .
fig. 13
9
Misztal, Lechowski (2001 : 122)
As it can be seen fr om the ex am ples provided, the odd word ma y be
i d ent i fi ed at t he fi rs t gl anc e, as i t di ffe r ence i s cl e arl y ex posed.
2 . 1 . Gap f i l l in g .
C o m p l et e t h e s en t en ces w i t h o n e w o r d :
W r i t e t h e c or r ec t w or d f o r i t s d ef i ni t i o n :
1 . It i s a r ou n d pl a s t i c p a r t of a ve h i c l e
t h e an s w e r : s t e er i ng - w h e el
fig.15
The definition provided in this ex ample is a poor one as the testees ma y
have conside rable p roblems with fi n d i n g t h e n am e o f t h e r i ght i t em .
W r i t e t h e c or r ec t w or d f o r i t s d ef i ni t i o n :
1 . It i s a r ou n d pl a s t i c p a r t of a ca r , us e d
f o r s t e e r i n g t h e ve hi c l e .
T h e a n s w e r : s t e e ri n g- w he e l
fig.16
In c o m p a ri s o n t o t h e p r e v i o u s d e f i n i t i o n , t h i s o n e i s b e t t e r a s i t i s m o r e
precise one. Unfort unatel y, it is not good enough b ecaus e the content of
the definition partl y contains the ri ght a nswer.
W r i t e t h e c or r ec t w or d f o r i t s d ef i ni t i o n :
1 . It i s a r o u n d pl as t i c p a r t of a c a r , p l a c ed
i n f r on t of t h e dr i ver , h e l d an d t ur n e d t o
c o n t r o l t h e d i r e ct i o n i t t r a ve l s i n
T h e a n s w e r : s t e e ri n g- w he e l
fig.17
From all the three definitions provided, t he l ast one i s acc ept abl e as i t
ex haust i vel y p resent s t he i ssue.
2 . 3 . Pro vi d i n g w ord s t o p i c t u r e s .
This technique r eveals the similarit y to the one des cribed i n 1.2, but
the onl y diffe renc e is that here student s are requi r ed t o p ro duce an answ er
on their own. It is not supplied for them.
W h at needs to be mentioned while talking about this partic ular appro ach is
t h at t h e t as k m a y s e em t o b e d i f f i cul t t o co p e w i t h i f t h e pict u r e w i l l s h o w
some abstract noun, an adje ctive, or a verb? Obviousl y it should be clea r
w h at i s b ei n g d ep i c t ed i n t h e p i ct u r e, s o t h at t h e t es t i s o f t h e m eani n g o f
t h e w o r d , n o t t h e t e s t ee 's ab i l i t y t o i n t e r p r et t h e p i ct u r e.
2 . 3 . 2 . 4 . Word f ormation .
Co mp l ete th e s en te n ce w i th th e corre c t f o rm of th e w o rd i n b o ld :
These peopl e are __ hom el ess __ The y live on the street. HOME
I can `t d o t h i s ex erc i s e, p er h aps t h i s b o o k w i l l b e _ _ helpful __ HELP
fig.18
2.3.2.5. Translation.
T ra n s l a t e i n t o Pol i s h t h e f o l l ow in g w ord s :
happ y – s zcz ę śl i w y
a kennel – b u d a
to draw - rysow ać
fig.19.
T r a n s l a t e i n t o E n g li s h th e f ol l ow in g word s:
środowisko- en vi ro n men t
bud yn ek – a b u i l d i ng
go t o wa ć – to cook
fig.20
1 . W h i c h ar e yo u r f a vo u r i t e ve ge t a bl e s : …( k a p u s t a ) or …( o g ó r k i ) ?
2 . T he b es t w a y t o… ( z a g o t o w a ć ) … w a t e r i s t o p ut i t i n a . . ( c z a j ni k ) .
3 . C a r r o t s c a n b e s t e ame d o r t h e y c a n be e at e n …( s ur o w e ) .. .
4 . C o u l d yo u …( o b r ać ) … t h es e or a n ge s f o r me , p l e a s e?
5 . A t hr e e … ( da n i o wy ) . . me a l of …( z u p a) … me a t a n d .. ( d es e r ) … i s
e n o u gh f o r me .
T h e a ns w e r s : 1 . ca bb a g e , c uc u m be r s , 2 . b o i l , k et t l e , 3 . r aw , 4 .
p e e l , 5. c o u rs e , s o u p , d e s s er t ,
fig.21